We decided to take a last minute bike trip to Clarens in the Freestate. We checked the weather on the Friday evening, and saw that it was going to be FREEZING! So we made sure to pack warm clothes. Now with it being a bike trip, we had very limited space, and still had to fit in a tent, blow-up mattresses, a ground cover and our food! It was a tight squeeze, (Paul nearly left me behind due to lack of space!!) but we managed to fit all the necessary items on the bike, myself included!
We left fairly early on Saturday morning, just after 5:30am. It was really cold that time of the morning, and still very dark! By the time we got to Nottingham road area, we were frozen stiff, and in desperate need of a hot coffee! The temperature was in the region of 6 degrees... very chilly.
We stopped at Nottingham Road Spar, and had to wait outside in the freezing cold until it opened at 7am. After a hot coffee, and a slight thaw out session in the morning sun, we hopped back on the bike and continued. The roads were not too busy and it was great riding in the early morning. We made a brief stop at Little Switzerland where we had a filter coffee and small snack. We were taking the alternative route to the main Highway, along Oliviershoek pass. There were about four "stop-and-goes" along the way, and the roads were particularly bad along the Sterkfontein Dam.
Our BMW 1200 GSA went brilliantly! It climbed those steep mountains like a beast! We arrived at the Glen Reenens Camp at about 10:30am, and checked in. We decided to go into Clarens first, then head back to set up camp. Clarens was beautiful, we had a coffee at a qaint little coffee shop, then walked around for a while. We parked the BMW 1200 GSA along the sidewalk, and observed many people stopping and having a good look at our beautiful bike! We had lunch at a German restaurant called, Roter Hahn. They were even playing German music, it was rather festive!
It was time to head back and set up our tent... the sun was dipping behind the magnificent Golden Gate, and the temperature was dropping. Being a bike trip, we had only the essentials, two small sleeping bags. No pillows. And it was now very cold. So we ran to the camp site reception, and very sweetly asked them to lend us a blanket or two! They gave us 3 blankets! We quickly set up and tried to insulate the tent as much as possible. It was very cold... The bathrooms were great!! We had a steaming hot shower, and began to layer ALL the clothes that we had packed in! We looked quite absurd!
We ate out of tins for supper, curried pilchards and curried veg! Followed by a hot cup of tea, it was rather tasty. The Glen Reenen Camp site is very jacked up!! The kitchen area has sinks and a few small stoves! It was bitterly cold when we went to sleep, but we survived the night! The morning sunshine was heavenly! It started to melt the ice around us, and warmed up our frozen bodies. The Golden Gate is truly majestic early in the morning! We took quite a few photographs with the sun's rays just reaching the mountain top.. gorgeous. We were very keen to ride back into Clarens and have one last coffee at that same coffee shop, which actually doesn't even have a name yet because it is still new! They do make 100% Arabica coffee, hand roasted in Clarens! It was a very reasonably priced coffee shop too! Once again, our 1200 GSA got alot of attention! People asking us all sorts of questions. It was pushing lunch time, time to head home! By this time the tent had properly defrosted!! We packed up, took a last few photies, kitted up and hit the open road back to Durban! Thanks Clarens, it has been real, and it has been awesome... it has been real awesome!!
The journey home was amazing, it truly is a beautiful stretch of SA! Rolling hills, animals, dams! One of the best places to be on a bike! So much to see. We took the same route home... Clarens, Sterkfontein, R74, Bergville, Winterton, then went onto N3, past Estcourt. Then Nottingham road, stopped at the Spar and had another one of their GREAT coffees, then the last stretch home! We were exhausted! But it had been a fantastic weekend of riding and adventure! Clarens is definitely a town that you can visit regularly!
