Day Eleven – River Crossings

Shortly after leaving our mountain lodge (we all took the rather severe descent conservatively) we passed through the gates of the National Park of the Baviaanskloof.

The lady selling tickets was keen to tell us to beware of the deep water and hidden boulders in many of the crossings to come. This filled us with confidence (!) Particularly as Donovan at the BMW garage had 2 drowned beamers…water and 800s don’t mix well if they are dropped and water gets in the air intake.

What followed was by far the most challenging biking we had encountered with water wheel high and as the lady predicted boulders and broken concrete.

The last crossing required 3 men per bike, one driving and 2 propping as the back end bounced all over the place….and for a good 200 metres.

The road that followed was steep and water damaged and the sides of the canyon it followed were vertical for many hundreds of feet.

Often, the road was strewn with boulders and sometimes sand but we are all through and now enjoying more carrot cake!!!

Oh and we passed several piles of black rhino droppings, one of the most endangered species on the planet. Mercifully we eventually emerged onto tar, cranked up the speed to 120kph and arrived at the elephant park at 5pm.

The first 130k took 7 hours, fortunately we were off just after 7am and the whole journey of 260k was over 10 hours of riding. A quite fantastic day of riding and certainly the best so far.   J.