Home to Clarens: 349Km
This is our first trip with Putin after he is back on the road. It’s been a long, difficult one, but eventually we are ready, and nervous. There are two things at play: the memories of the accident still fresh in our minds, even after a year and the idea of going on a long ride when things have only been tested by going around the block. The engine casing has been welded to fix the huge crack, and the right cylinder head was completely rebuilt. Up to this point, the longest ride was about 1 hour and ~60Km. Will it all explode if we keep going for 2,3, or 4 hours? Hell, let’s find out.
We chose one of the coldest weekends to do this. There is a chance of snow in the Free State with average minimum temperatures of less than 5 °C. With a distance of 349 km, it is at the upper side of the daily average we’d normally do, but we will be doing very little gravel, so the going should be good, and we should roll into Clarens after a 5-hour drive. This means an early start, but not early enough to catch any worms.
Our destination is Bubble Valley just outside Clarens. It is something we saw on a travel program, and it promises to be a unique experience. The ‘bubble’ refers to the fact that your accommodation is in a bubble. This bubble concept has pros and cons, both of which we’ll learn about soon enough.
As usual, we stay off the main roads, choosing regional or district roads wherever possible. Just after Petrus Steyn, we tackle our first gravel section of about 70 Km. I don’t say anything or show anything, but I’m very nervous. If something is going to fall off, now is the time. But Putin behaves perfectly, and before you can say “what just fell off”, we exited the dirt just before Bethlehem.
After another 40 Km, we rolled into Clarens and stopped to stock up on some snacks and wine before continuing on to Bubble Valley just 10 km down the road. Finding the location proves to be more of a challenge than anticipated, since there is no sign to indicate that you are now at, or close to, Bubble Valley. But after a few circles and a phone call, we arrive at our bubble.
As we crest the little hill, a friendly lady waves us down and tells us where to park. By the time we have stopped and dismounted, she is there with a big smile and some champagne. We’d find out that her name is Angie and she manages the facilities. She shows us the ins and outs of the bubble, and if I say ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ that is exactly what I mean. There is an ingress and egress procedure that you need to follow; you don’t just walk into and out of your room. The reason is that the bubble is not a rigid structure but rather an actual bubble that is kept inflated by means of an air pump. So you have a ‘decompression’ chamber where you enter before opening the bubble to allow the pressure to equalise, thereby preventing it from collapsing. Exciting times.
Our accommodation included breakfast and dinner, and the food did not disappoint; in fact, it was 5-star quality. We started out eating under the stars, very romantic, but soon realised that 2 °C is not really the right temperature for romantic outdoor dinners, so we moved into our bubble, where we had a small heater going. Sleeping in the bubble is like sleeping under the stars since half of it is transparent. That night, we found the first negative of this romantic bubble. The air blown in to keep it inflated comes from…..yip, outside. Outside, where the temperature is now dipping below 0 °C. So the little heater inside is struggling just to keep the inside temperature from going into a negative number. Oh, and obviously, the air pump is not silent. On the upside, the bedding is next level, enough to keep you nice and warm.
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