Big sky

Wow, what an amazing few days.  The ride through the Northern Cape, on dirt road all the way, winding through mountain passes which open out into the most incredible vistas.  Riding up a climb and coming through a corner with a large dome rock in front of you, dripping with water running like sweat down a balding head.  I suspected that this part of South Africa had some impressive scenery, but it exceeded my wildest imaginations. 

The last section of dirt road before the tarmac to Kammieskroon held a surprise for my dad, distracted by the GPS he took the corner too wide and hit the soft sand on the shoulder, swerved right, swerved left, went through 2 thorn trees, swerved right, almost recovered and then hit the dirt.  A bruised ankle, a broken indicator and brake lever, and a slightly dented ego, he was back in the saddle before we could wipe the dust off his trousers.  That night we gathered around a heater in freezing cold Port Nolloth, with a glass of whiskey, and recounted the events and scenery of the day, with the bush bounce taking pride of place.

The 160km dash to the South African / Namibian border at Sendelingsdrift passed quickly, the temperature rising steadily as we headed away from the coast.  We are all getting used to our bikes, and used to the twitches that they give us on dirt roads, once you’ve got your head around the fact that they dance a bit, and the best way to deal with this is to turn the throttle a bit more, then its all sorted – but it seems incredible counter-intuitive at the time, carrying such a heavy load on the back end. 

Sendelingsdrift was a relatively painless procedure, a small pontoon ferry carried our the 3 Tenors and the little blue squirrel across the Orange River and into Namibia and into the heat and the dust.  We stripped out the lining from our riding gear on the Namibian side of the Orange, and made sure our camelbacks were fully loaded. 

Sendelingsdrift ferry

The road on the Namibian side of the border was quite an experience, it winds along the northern bank of the Orange River and is the closest you will ever come to combining a rollercoaster with a dirt road motorcycle ride.  Tight switchbacks followed by steep climbs which launch your bike into the air at the top and then drop you down into a trough which leaves your stomach dropping through the saddle of your bike, followed by another switchback, and a panoramic view of goliath herons fishing in the river.  I could have spent a day just riding that stretch of road up and down. 

The rollercoaster road was followed by the road of ball bearings, round pebbles littered this road, like great big goony marbles.  It was a bit like riding a bike on an ice rink, talk about flying by the seat of your pants!!!! The back end coming past the front at every opportunity.  We eventually arrived in Ai Ais, a spa resort at the bottom of a box canyon at the southern tip of the Fish River Canyon.  We’ve derived a rating system for places on our trip, it’s a simple system consisting of a D and an E rating – with D for disappointing and E for excellent.  Ai Ais scored a definite ‘D’, the hot springs were luke warm at best, while the showers were cold. 

Gary and Debbie riding the twists

Today we had an early start – none of us realised that Namibia is an hour behind South Africa – its no wonder I got funny looks when I went to rinse the dust off my bike at 7am!!!! 

We left Ai Ais to make our way north to Hobas, to find accommodation as early as possible in the day so that we could offload our gear and go and play on the bikes along the edge of the Canyon.  The road was another wonder – I hung back to ride behind my dad and realised that we were going just about as fast as Go-For-It Gary and Psycho-Racing Pleitz.  The road climbed a rise, and wound around to the left and opened up over the Fish River Canyon – a breath taking sight!  Africa’s largest canyon, its as impressive as the Grand Canyon, layer upon layer of horizon, colours and depth that you can’t describe in words. 

We found an incredible lodge on the top of the world, with a view of the canyon, but a price tag that didn’t suite a 5 week bike trip, and so we headed on to the next stop, the Cañon Roadhouse.  What we found is a bit like Tarantino’s From Dusk till Dawn, a surreal desert roadhouse sporting rusted old cars with cactuses growing through them and inside a full on diner with immaculate old cars, the walls decorated with a million different things, and space out the back with a camp site for our tents – tonight we will sleep under the stars and hope the desert chill doesn’t get too far into our bones.

Cañon Roadhouse tractor

The ride along the Canyon was spectacular, without the luggage our bikes felt like race horses, and we roared down the approach road playing with GoPros, practicing drifting the bikes on the corners and generally behaving badly.  The Canyon lived up to every expectation I had, it is spectacular, and one day I would like to hike its length, a 5 day excursion.  We sat on the rim and soaked in the view in the evening light as the sun set on another brilliant day.

Vital statistics:

Days on the road: 4

Distance travelled so far:  1,458km

Fuel used by Placido:  67.6 litres

Borders crossed: 1

Bottles of wine and beer consumed:  A lot

Wipeouts:  1

You call that a big bike????

Go-For-It Gary

Tenere Sunsets

Scary twins 

Vistas