We departed from Barkley East at 07h00. And what a magicaL ride it was out on the road to Elliot. We could not stop and take photos, but the images remain vivid in my mind. It has rained through the night, but the sky was mostly clear and blue. It was cool with no wind blowing at that stage. IT looked like riding through a postcard! The autumn colours in this region are spectacular, and the road winds through some sand stone hills. In near silence our group rode on, mirroring each other’s lines through the curves and bends. One of those extremely rare, just perfect rides! I am so glsd my wife was with me on this ride!
It could not last… a bit later on the road got dangerous with potholes everywhere. A mighty wind also started blowing near the town of Indwe we had to lean at an angle that felt like 30 degrees into the wind. Quite scary!
Our group visited three schools in the Indwe region.
Afterwards we went on through Dordrecht to our final destination at the Gariep Dam.
It was a long day in the saddle, more than 400 km. It was also an eventful day with some falls in one of the other groups. A rider on the big BMW 1600GT had a fall, we initially thought he has just broken his collar bone. But it later turned out that he has also broken some ribs, puncturing his lung. He was operated on yesterday, and is recuperating well… The other yellow BMW R1150 GS also took a slight tumble on a wet piece of lawn, but no injuries or damage to the bike resulted.
That evening we as a group was really tired. We had dinner at a beautiful lodge alongside the Orange River.
Me and the owner of the other yellow GS offered to help people joining our Yellow BMW club…
We would have resprayed their bikes for a small donation for materials used- special tour price. Unfortunately there was no takers, and our business floundered before it got started.
Some of the characters on tour- Clive on his Brick…
I will share some more tomorrow…
The Rider 
Will you be coming back to this blog, Rider? I hope all is alright by you and your family.
Thanks, still trying to keep head above water, been a difficult two months since my last post. Thanks for asking, I really appreciate it!
Gosh, Vosper – a fall from a 1600 !! No wonder he ended up in hospital !
What makes it so weird- it was actually a very minor fall. They were riding slowly at a school ground and as I understand his sidestand hit a rock and the bike toppled over.
Just as well, eh …?
Cool ride! I I painted my FJR YELLOW, could I be part of your Yellow BMW Motorcycle Club? We can put a BMW LOGO on the FJR to make it more German.
Every one on two wheels is most eelcome in our club! Yellow BMW is a sstate of mind… but I expect some negative comments from my Harley friends….
Was julle by die Waschbank lodge? Ek het vir Shane skoolgehou!
Einste! Ek kon nie die plek se naam onthou nie… maar dis ‘n pragtige lodge.