345km
It was meant to be a leisurely ride today so we had a very relaxed start, only getting up at 8. Not sure what we did last night but everything on the sidecar seat was wet and smelled like brandy, strange but true. Anyways we packed and dried out the brandy-drenched clothes and headed out for breakfast. We stopped just around the corner at the Rose Café. What a wonderful little place. The inside is decorated by a well-known South African artist Portchie and how it came about is a testament to the benefits of making friends wherever you go. While at varsity the owner’s son Christoff did a research piece on the artist and they became friends. He ended up going to Kakamas and when he saw the café decided that it needed some oemf and they started working together creating a relationship that is beneficial to all. Today the café is a place that people visit not only for the great artworks but also for the great food. If you are into art have a look at https://portchie.com and the café at https://www.facebook.com/therosecafekakamas
Last night while working on Putin we got a tip from Albert at Kaniklani B&B about a nice gravel road we can try called the Bladgrond road. Bladgrond is a small village about 70km from Kakamas (not really sure what the name means). So we decided to try it when we ride from the Augrabies falls which we will visit after leaving Kakamas. These falls are located on the Orange River in the Augrabies national park. It has 2 drops with a height of 56m and is very impressive when the river is in flood.
Looking at the landscape that surrounds the falls you are in awe of just how powerful water can be. Over millennia the river has milled out these perfectly round holes in the rock.
After circling the area a bit we eventually stumbled onto the Bladgrond road. I say stumble because there are no signs anywhere and the GP Ice was all over the place so I just decided to ignore common sense and drive in a general direction. What direction do you ask? Where Putin’s nose was pointing when I got pissed.
Ok, this is going to get ugly now so if you are a person who likes political correctness please skip the next paragraph as it contains foul language, severe negativity, and just plain pissed offness (yes that is a word).
Humans is without a doubt the worse species in the universe. Oh, how can you say that if you have not met all the species in the universe you say? Well, it is difficult to think that there could be anything worse out there. So why this negativity towards your own species? Because we fuck up everything we touch. I’ve traveled the world far and wide and there is one common thread –where humans have been there is destruction. We are probably the only species that needs to be taught to be kind to each other, the environment, and animals. We even need a book to tell us not to kill and maim, yet we do it. Some #@$#$@# decided to travel on this road in this beautiful part of our country then stop to take a leak and decide to dump all his shit right there. WHY!
Ok moving on from that rant that did not make me feel better because it is happening every day all day, despite what I think and say, humans are the scum of the universe. Sorry, I said moving on….
And some of the weird shit you can pick up next to the road. My impersonation of Van Pletzen.
The Bladgrond road spits us out on the blacktop going to Pofadder some 50k’s further.
Pofadder (Afrikaans for puff adder) is very small and a google search reveals that there are exactly TWO things to do in Pofadder, both 4×4 activities in the dunes. Despite being so small the local municipality fail to uphold a standard even vague decent and this is apparent when you stop and the smell of raw sewage hits your nostrils. We stopped to fill up and when we asked the pump attendant about the horrible smell his answer was ‘it is shit mister’. The masks are not for covid but for some fresh air. So sad.
We reached our overnight stop in Springbok late afternoon. After unloading I sat down next to Putin just to see that the rear is going flat, I must have picked up something in the last few 100 meters as it took a few minutes for the rim to come to rest on the ground. So what was supposed to be a ‘rest’ day tomorrow, earmarked for laundry, sightseeing and some light maintenance will not be laundry and maintenance. Oh, I realized that the tire is only flat at the bottom so I will just loosen the nut and turn it so that the flat part is at the top and we are sorted.
As usual, we can find Surkov in the pub enjoying his first drink of the night. To hell with Covid regulation, tonight we go big.
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