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Friday evening we got to know each other a bit and Saturday morning we took off on the way to Grootbrak.
We took the coastal road to Port Elizabeth and the rest was on the N2. When we reached the Keiskamma cuttings I pushed as hard as I could. Johan and Chris had to calmly stay behind me for 650 km's and I had to at least give them some opportunity to have fun in the turns. They confirmed that the speed was o.k. through the turns because they are used to the roads at Bloemfontein. (You have to drive far to find winding roads:-)
We had coffee at Bira and again at Nanaga. I was lucky to be riding with coffee lovers like my self. We did however realise that time was running fast at this coffee drinking pace and decided to put our butts in the saddle, heads down and get some mileage behind us.
The problem is that you can not drive past places like the Van Staadens River Pass and all those interesting places surounding Tsisikamma, Plettenberg Bay and Knysna. We forced our selves and only stopped at van Staadens and "Die Groot Boom".
Boesmans Rivier
Ons droom almal van 'n aftree en vakansie huis by die see, of hoe? That tree is always worth seeing.
Chris warned an old friend of his who now live in Knysna that we were driving through and he met us at the filling station. He was very disappointed when we asked for coffee in stead of beer and the time we spent with him was way to short for him and Chris to catch up.
Chris, now you a good excuse / obligation to drive to Knysna soon.
We reached Grootbrak a minute too late to buy a beer or wine and were forced to go to a resturant. "Die PeperBoom" I had one of the best piza's ever. I think it was called "Die Boom", but they ensured me it does not have any boom in it.
The next day Johan and Chris washed their roadbikes. In contrast to the Africa Twin, these bikes don't look good with dust on them:-) After the washing was done we had a fantastic breakfast at the point in Mosselbaai. It was like those touris pictures, perfect weather etc.
The next thing was to work the breakfast off on the beautiful R328 in the Robertson Pass to Oudshoorn. The rear 50/50
Nanaga Plaas stal
Hier kry jy nog regte roosterkoek en konfyt. Kenda tyre on my bike still have those little rubber things on the edge, and I tried again to get rid of them on this pass, but have now settled my mind that I am not good enough on tar.
In Oudshoorn we said good bey. Chris and Johan went to Grootbrak and my self to George. I could take gravel roads and wasted no time getting onto the Montagu Pass.
Christ and Johan now took the chance to get cobwebs out of their bikes exhaust systems after the 120 km/h drive the previouse day. The next day they left early, visited someone in Oudshoorn and had enough time to comfortably reach Baufort West. The next day they were back in known territory and the open spaces and straight roads gave an opprtunity to feel the thrill of high speeds again, but in the back of their minds they had this urge to go back and try one of those beautiful passes again.
I took a couple of gravel roads on my way back to East London and arrived with a tired backside 700 km's and 9 hours later.
Conclusion:
Motorbikes are fun to drive
Van Staadens
Vat die afdraai as jy op 'n motorfiets is. Dis nie 'n lang ompad nie. and give a reason for people to get together. It is a fantastic way and excuse to see our lovely country.
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Chris Steyn
non-member comment
Eastern Cape Tour
Extremely pleasant experience with a new friend! Our journey back to Bloem on Tuesday, May 1, was a pleasant one - your guesswork was spot-on. We completey lost focus of the National speed limit and had a whale of a time with numerous fund raising officials in various stages of camouflage along the N1 route trying to spoil our fun. We already miss the exitement of the mountain passes of the beautiful Southern Cape - will be back to taste it again.