Farmers Rally – En Route

Today is the start of our journey to the Farmers Rally and subsequently the Karoo 2022 trip, both starting in Nieu-Bethesda. Both these are group events and most trailer their bike down but we prefer to trip there and back as part of the journey, all 890km of it. We break the trip into two days covering just over 440km per day. Our first stop will be in the small town of Soutpan. But first something about Nieu-Bethesda. This small village is located at the foot of the Sneeuberge (Snow Mountains) in the Eastern Cape. You won’t find any banks, ATM’s or petrol stations here and there is only one small shop that sells the bare necessities so you need to take whatever you need with you. But luckily the closest town is about an hours drive away. Nieu-Bethesda is probably best know for the Owl House, the home of now deceased Helen Martins. She spend her time here to create weird artworks, mostly owls hence the name Owl House.

Back to the trip. Our 6am start is quite chilly but that will soon change to very chilly as we get closer to Johannesburg South where we will meet up with Brian who will join us. The going is slow as we navigate traffic that sometimes crawls along at walking pace and it takes us 1.5 hours to get to our meeting point about 60km away. But from here it is smooth sailing as we drive down the hi-way toward Soutpan. Luckily we get off onto some quieter back roads towards Parys and by now the cold has made itself felt. So getting to Parys was a small victory that was celebrated with breakfast.

We take the time to stock up on some wine since there are no liquor stores in Nieu-Bethesda and we don’t want to miss the opportunity. While filling up in Bothaville we are warned about the ‘little’ holes on the road to Wesselsbron. It turned out to be huge potholes but luckily it was only on a short section. As per usual we got pulled over by the traffic police not because we did something wrong but because they were curious.

By the time we got to Bultfontein, just 50km from Soutpan I was ready for a nice long rest. With all my ailments (and Brian’s) the body starts complaining after an hour of riding. Almost 2 weeks ago I decided to chop of a piece of my thumb on the throttle hand with an axe. They stitched it back on but it is a bit uncomfortable getting it into a glove and riding with it. Based on feedback on todays ride I’m a bit concerned about the beating it will take with all the off-road riding coming in the next two weeks. Time and my thumb will tell.

We made it to Soutpan where we are booked to stay at the Truksvy Koffie Sjop. What a lovely place. Definitely worth the visit.

Interesting fact – There used to be a bank but it only opened for a few hours on a specific day. The bank official would then pack some cash and drive to Soutpan, do some banky stuff and leave. Today, the building is still there but is used as sleeping quarters, hence Standard Bunk instead of Standard Bank.

The inside of Truksvy Koffie Sjop is like a museum of Soutpan an surrounding with articles and newspaper clippings dating back to the 60’s (maybe even earlier) on all the walls.