Asterix, the Lady Smith and the very long ride.

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When I bought my eldest son "Asterix" the CRF80 I've already decided that this bike will do more than one night trips. I wanted to take him on an extended trip. Three days at least. So when EtienneNXR started organizing a get together at the new campsite on their Game farm near Ladismith the perfect opportunity presented itself.

Ride Report:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3






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Day 2

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We slept in a bit this morning and only got up around 7am.

JAmber headed for "signal hill" to phone his mom and soon a bunch of us were there chatting and admiring the view.





Looking down at the campsite:



The group would split in several directions today. Operator, Mrs Operator, Asterix and I would head to Ladismith to get supplies and watch the rugby after which we'd go explore the Anysberg Reserve.

Ladismith is a beautiful little town.

The little town of Ladismith, not to be confused with the Natalian version of Ladysmith, lies in the shadow of the Towerkop Mountain peak on Route 62. Ladismith is essentially a prosperous farming community producing fruit (grapes, a third of South Africa’s apricots, and plums), milk, wine, flowers and mutton.

Ladismith takes her name from a woman with great fortitude. Young Juana Maria de los Dolores de Leon became the 14-year old bride of Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith in the early 1800s - thereafter known simply as ‘Mrs Henry Smith’ or Lady Smith. A childless couple, their devotion to one another is legendary. Juana often set up camp close to battle scenes in a bid to remain close to her husband - they so hated being apart.

Another legend dominate the history of the town. The peak of the ‘magic mountain’ or Towerkop, which looms over the town, is said to have been struck by a witch in anger because it blocked her way over the mountain. The result was a deep split at the top of the mountain, producing two perfect halves.
(source)

Operator knew this cosy little spot where we could watch the rugby.
(which turned out to be a massive waste of time )



Back in camp this is the scene that awaited us:



JAmBer lost his bike in a corner due to the ABS being on. This is the umpteenth incident I know of where ABS was the cause.

Some pics from the scene of the accident courtesy of Rovrat:







Operator also had an incident with a nasty hole causing a flat and a gash in his tyre the day before. With JAmBer's bike temporarily out of commission, Operator's worries about his tyre and the heat of the day, the plan to ride to Anysberg today was abandoned (much to the dismay of Asterix who was very much looking forward to riding in a bigger group).

He and Etienne started talking bikes and trails and before long Etienne tried the CRF80 (his first ride since his fall - broken arm and all)



They just had to ride come hell or high water so Asterix and Etienne set of with the CRF and the farm quad to go explore the trails on the farm. Some pics of the ride courtesy of Etienne:







Asterix really enjoyed this ride - both the wildlife and adrenalin side of it. Thanks Etienne

Back in camp Paramed arrived with his bike on a trailer The mood in camp was rather festive already so Paramed had to endure quite a bit of lip with the Yamaha being on a trailer



Late afternoon in the Karoo:



Not much riding happened today, but it was an enjoyable day spent with friends old and new. We spend the evening around the campfire and luckily got in bed quite a bit earlier than the night before.



Tomorrow we do some serious riding again, going home via Attakwaskloof.

Continue to Day 3.

Index Page.


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Day 1

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When I bought my eldest son the CRF80 I've already decided that this bike will do more than one night trips. I wanted to take him on an extended trip. Three days at least. So when EtienneNXR started organizing a get together at the new campsite on their Game farm the perfect opportunity presented itself.

Their farm is 17km out of Ladismith on the Laingsburg road. From our farm next to George to theirs, following gravel most of the way, the farms are 200km apart. The perfect distance for a CRF80 shakedown ride.

Our Route:


(Clickable map)

Friday morning early we hit the road, direction Herbertsdale.



Still on the farm. The Southern Cape is in the grip of a crippling drought. We are blessed to still have some irrigated grazing. In the distance you can see how the usually green Southern Cape is turning brown



A quick stop at the Groot rivier. This eventually turns into the Great Brak river.

The ride was going well so far. I had to ask him to slow down a bit though. The roads were graded recently and very loose, so his power sliding through the corners were just asking for trouble before we got to our destination.
(The TA couldn't keep up )



Some wildlife en-route. I have never seen this area so barren and dry. Some say it's the worst it's been in decades.



In-ride shot



Crossing the Moordkuil river.



At the Haelkraal turn-off from Robinson Pass we saw that Diesel & Dust was open. I calculated that the CRF80 would need to achieve a consumption rate of 40km/ℓ to be able to do today's distance, so it would be stupid to ride past a petrol pump. We stopped and filled the CRF80 to the brim. After 48km it took 0,8ℓ - that calculates to 60km per liter! The CRF80 with a 5.5ℓ tank will be able to ride in excess of 300km!



The Haelkraal road towards Herbertsdale:





Some more game farms along the way. Somehow I was hoping we won't see some of these:



A snack stop near Herbertsdale just before crossing the Langeberg mountains via Cloetes Pass.

With the arrival of white settlers at the Cape, the need for a route between the Cape and the interior enjoyed a high priority and in 1689 the first documented crossing of the mountains over the Attakwaskloof took place. This pass remained the most important route linking the “Grasveld” around Mossel Bay with Kannaland3 in the vicinity of Oudtshoorn. The Cloetes Pass was built in the 1850’s to give the area around Mossel Bay access to the Little Karoo north of Herbertsdale. The pass was since altered several times. The need for better linkage between the “Grasveld” and Kannaland led in 1869, after numerous petitions by the farming community of Oudtshoorn, to the construction of the Robinson Pass. - HAP Smit

(source)

There is very little information available on Cloetes Pass. Apparently it was built around 1850 and served as the main route between Mosselbay and Ladismith. It's the direct link between Herbertsdale and Van Wyksdorp but these towns were only founded in 1865 and 1904 respectively. Being very small towns Cloetes Pass is mainly used by the farmers in the area and the Pass only carries an average of 47 vehicles per day.

Cloetes Pass is 11.5km long and reaches a height of 480m. It has three block houses dating from the Anglo-Boer war and like the block house on Attakwaskloof Pass these were build by the Mossel Bay District Mounted Troops.



Across into the Klein Karoo and we head West towards the Gourits River.



We usually stop at the scenic spots so I stopped up here to photograph the bridge. I knew he would stop at the bottom on the bridge where I planned to photograph him again.



Crossing the bridge I realized he wasn't slowing down Usually when I stop I hoot to let him know. I didn't hoot when I stopped here cause I wanted him to carry on to the bridge. He of course didn't know that I had stopped and carried on on his merry way... I really had to wind-up the TransAlp to catch up from here!



The turn-off to Van Wyksdorp. From here it's long straight dirt highways crossing the Klein Karoo.







Needless to say Asterix did not enjoy this stretch. Small bikes are made for the tight and loose stuff. He found riding along on these straights at 70 - 80 km/h quite boring with very little too see. It's not like the scenery changes after every corner. In fact, a corner in the road was scenery!



Eventually, five hours after we set off, we reached our destination.



We were the first arrivals for the weekend and chose a nice and shady spot in the camp.



This is a very neat campsite with great facilities. It is highly recommended!







We had a nice shower and were relaxing with a cold one by the time the rest of the mob arrived. Somehow I did not take a lot of photos tonight but we had a great time.

Full moon over the Klein Karoo:





All in all a very enjoyable day - and the weekend had not even started!

Continue to Day 2.

Index Page.

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