Canopy tour 26 April – 3 May
At last 8
bikes and 11 people confirmed to take part in the tour. Accompanying us was
Chris & Lindie in the Peogeot
Boxer towing the trailer as backup and Deon & Lynn that only rode along up
to Oudtshoorn.
The group before take-off at Atterbury
Shell. High spirits
The bikes
partaking was 3x RT’s with Johann & Marisabel Strauss,
Our route
took us to
The passes
Of all the
passes ie Swartberg, Naude’s Neck, Bloukrans, Outeniqua and many others the Swartberg
and Bloukrans will be remembered for different
reasons.
The
A recent landslide scene in the Bloukrans road reserve. Johann & Richard in the fore
ground
The
The scenery
is however tremendously beautiful and it will be a sorrow day when one cannot
go down the pass anymore to experience this wonderful piece of old road
engineering. Although understandable that the new N2 tollway
uphill is taking the full strain it is just maybe possible that the local parks
board allow some sort of concession to people who still want to venture down
memory lane.
Outeniqua
pass between George and
The Ride
Some of our
mates had other commitments in the area and had to split away to their own destinies
while the others carried on the chosen route only to be re-joined after a day
or so. Every time a pleasant experience to meet up again with people that we
haven’t really known well before the trip but in this short time became a close
knitted bunch of bikers who all looked out for the others and were always there
to lend a hand when it was needed. Never was there a token of unpleasantness
amongst the bikers and the end came just a bit too quick for everybody.
One picture says a thousand words…
We usually
rode in staggered formation where the leader set the speed. It was allowed to
pass when one wanted to clean barrels somewhat and that usually happened in far
outlying stretches of road where one could see so far into the future that it
had to happen to get away from real life. Chris and Lindie
in the Boxer tagged along at the rear trying to keep up but also enjoyed the
ride at their leisure.
In urban
areas we always adhered to the local speed limits where possible. At one
instance I the leader at the time was stopped by officials claiming I was
speeding. They were friendly and we had a few good chats and laughs. Richard
even challenged them to their laser’s accuracy and went back to set a stable
60k/h GPS speed. Arriving at the scene the laser was spot-on – also at 60.
Well, that cancels that argument of speeding. They said I was doing 71km/h in a
60 zone. Well I didn’t argue and accepted my fine of R150 with grace but was
still annoyed by the rules. The law says that we get 10km/h grace when caught
speeding so they were only stopping “offenders” from 71km/h as in my case. As I
personally can walk faster than 1km/h I feel it is not fair to fine me R150 for
a speed of 1km/h. Or is there something wrong with my reasoning?
Anybody recognising this bum?
While still
in Bloemfontein Johann Strauss suggested we take the Koffiefontein/Phillipstown
road to Hanover rather than the boring N1 with (what we learnt later) the many
Stop/Go detours that would’ve taken up a few hours of idle waits. This
suggestion took us on another road of life that none of us expected could
happen to us. More later.
Zipline Tour
The
highpoint of the trip was the Zipline in the
Tsitsikamma over the Kruisriver where one slide on a Foefieslide 8 times across the river. The
longest slide being just over 200m long. At the beginning everybody
looked forward to this experience but when our bus that collected us from Dijembe lodge stopped in front of the building and our
group got out and saw the harnesses, gloves and helmets they had to don some
got very quiet. The funniest jokes came out only to show/hide the little fears
that are creeping up. It takes a walk of about 7 minutes to reach the first
slide and then most where quiet when the instructor explained the rules and
safety principles. Tammlynn refused to slide first
and first wanted to see someone else do it. The dice fell on her father Abe who
just couldn’t wait to go.
Lindie
after the first slide: “I tried to scream, but nothing came out…”
Trudie coming in for the landing
Nick Sendall enjoying the ride
Tammy’s perfect landing
From the
second slide everybody’s confidence rose in bounds and leaps and the chatter
and jokes never stopped after that. At about the 4th we insisted
that the first were not good and wanted to do everything over again. This from
people too scared to say a word in the beginning!. The
best landings was performed by Marisabel,
no doubt.
Most of us
complained of sore stomach aches the next day.
The lodge, the dog, the singer, the stick and… Marisabel
Abe,
Sue, Tammy along with Richard enjoying the slide show.
The second
evening at Dijembe in Stormsriver
we all decided to arrange our own braai around the campfire on the premises. At
the time I loaded everybody’s pictures to the laptop where possible and had it
running as a slide show for the evening. Everybody spent some time at the show
while others braaied, drank, talked (mostly nonsense)
and others just being quiet and enjoying the cool coastal evening. At one time
Chris and Abe tried to outwit each other with their respective knowledge of old
rock, folk and pop songs and singers.
Jerry the Singer
Early the
evening we heard the sound of a guitar somewhere outside the perimeter of the
stand and then a male vocal song followed the cords. Wow, that sounded good!
Richard, being only Richard, jumped the fence in the direction of the singing
and came back with a male living body holding a guitar. The offer; the man will
sing for us as part of his usual evening practise for no fee at all, only his
glass had to be kept to the brim. What a bargain, a singer doesn’t have a lot
of time to drink when he sings! I think his name is Jerry, and he did a
splendid job that evening.
Then there
is the dog called Tiger. The lodge dog that is friendly with everybody that
visits the lodge and his stick – a piece of log about 40mmdia and 100mm long
that he brings to your feet to throw. If you don’t respond quickly he will bump
you with his nose to attract attention. This never stops. If he is not happy
with the way you throw he will choose another person. So he came up to Marisabel where she was sitting about 3m to the left of
Jerry the Singer. While Jerry was tuning the strings before another song Marisabel picked up Tiger’s log and throws… WaKlang! Straight on the soundbox of the guitar. Jerry the
Singer, nearly off his chair with shock. And the poor
dog looking for his log further away!
Marisabel
never took another throw that trip…
The dinner at
The last
evening at Stormsriver we decided to dine at the
local Armach restaurant. I took the liberty to SMS
the participants as they were al over the area not to buy hamburgers as we will
dine at
We did not
reckon with our friend in the group, let’s call him “Anonimous”.
As all were
looking and considering the choices Anonimous called
out: “This cannot be the whole menu. Where is the rest?” We all burst out
laughing, realising there is no hamburger or any similar on offer! Anonimous then decided to order Malva
pudding as starter, main course and dessert. Poor Ano!
The waitress realised his predicament and they negotiated a dish that pleased
him somewhat – linefish (dry with no dressing), rice
and salad. Upon arrival he removed the salad to a small plate and we helped him
devour the salad while he enjoyed the fish & rice.
The “Toll Gate”
Just before
Koffiefontein after an enjoyable straight stretch of
riding we stopped at a narrow bridge over the
Richard waiting for his payment – the Zoll!
there was
one other. A cart pulled by two mules came trotting down the hill and Richard
couldn’t resist this opportunity. The driver tried to stop them and make a
u-turn but these mules were on a mission and wouldn’t budge. They stopped right
where Richard were waiting for them! The driver could not pay the R1-00 toll
fee due to lack of funds but then offered Richard a zoll
as payment. A BB zoll, not grass.
Chris & Lindie looking on
One
motorist even enquired whether we are the secret police on a mission! Must have
been the “Think Bike” yellow jackets giving the “secret” away!
The short fall and the high fall
The first
morning before breakfast at Dijembe after a good
night in the tent Ann got dressed and was in high spirit. We decided to ride
the Bloukrans pass that day and she couldn’t wait to
get going. As usual she was dressed properly as a biker but there was just one
flaw… She wore Harley Davidson boots. Being as she says the closest she will
ever get to a Harley with Richard a stern Beemer rider.
Now these boots have leather soles and are more for the looks as for ankle
support – but she looks quite sexy in them high heels. That morning with the
dew still wet on the pillion pegs and Richard anxiously waiting for her to get
on behind him her one Harley slipped and down she is
on the lawn. Bones in the light! Not long enough though for more people to
enjoy the fall nor getting wet on the dewed lawn and she is up this time
properly and blushing.
Tammlynn
on the other hand had a way different fall.
From the
beginning Abe and Tammy was set to do a bungy at the Bloukrans bridge – being the highest bungy
in the world! Their jump was supposed to be after the Zipline
and we all were anxious to see her do that fall after her frightful experience
at the slide. The video they brought with after their fall showed Abe doing a
graceful swallow dive into the river gorge. Tammy well… shame poor Tammy. Even
while she was being tied up for the jump she changed her mind. But then there
is no mind changing allowed. We could hear her calling “NO NO
I don’t want to go anymore” but the helpers with her arms around their necks
just moved her closer to the jump pad and very polity undid her arms and gave
her a gentle shove over the edge.
Oh, that scream!!! Much better than the scream at The Zipline
The suicide
On our way
to Beaufort West on the second day all the bikes stopped at Petrusville
to fill up. As Chris was still OK Richard suggested he push on as we will catch
up soon. Time was running out and we still had to cover some 315 km’s to
Beaufort. As I was the tour leader and usually in front with Abe doing the
occasional sprint past to clean the barrels it was a certain act of God to sent
the Boxer in lead.
Nick,
Chris and me waiting at the scene for the roll-back to take tha
Boxer away
Two km
before Phillipstown with Lindie
driving, they suddenly saw a man came running towards them in the oncoming lane
from the front and just before they passed the runner the man dived into the
front of the moving Boxer. The runner was thrown about 13m to the left of the
shoulder and 50m back from where he came. Very dead and
broken. At first Lindie was so shocked she
asked Chris what se must do now and he said she should stop, they’ve been in an
accident.
The Boxer afterwards.
The Police
and other members of the small community were on the scene very quick and upon
recognising the victim stated he wanted to commit suicide and all tried to
sweet-talk him out of it.
That day he
succeeded… and poor Chris sits with more than R30k damage to his Boxer with
radiator and full frontal wrecked. The Boxer was lifted onto a rollback back to
Such a
waste of life and good money!
Next year?
Why not the
Route 62 from
Halloooo? Anybody there????