Mr. Badger visits the farm

I needed to visit our mountain farm to check on it. Andy and Anne were attending a Lafite clan gathering at the Sandveld Cottages nearby, so we arranged to meet and ride together. Rendezvous is Piketberg at 08:30. Leave at 6. By 7:00 I realize that I am not far from the Rendezvous so tap off (gawd but Mr. Badger has legs). Very windy around Morreesburg - skydiving experience comes in handy here ;-) Get to Piketberg before 8, stop at the Caltex on the right. No places open for breakfast until 9! Phone Andy - him and Anne are minutes away - also tapped off when they realized they were early. Piketberg does '''not''' have a place open for breakfast before 9am on a Saturday morning in summer! '''The local Spar to the rescue'''. There's a friendly Spar...: Mr. Badger is introduced to Little Miss Padlangs We are relieved and impressed by the coffeeshop hidden in the back corner. Smile, the food is coming The waitress was very friendly and the food was brilliant! It came quickly, tasted delicious, and the photo shows a R16, R19 and R24 meal. Just the stuff to get you going before 9 in the morning. Good food, good value... ===Mr. Badger's First Dirt=== Headed out along the R365 towards ''Het Kruis'', and took the left turn onto a dirt road towards the Sandveld Cottages along the road to Redelinghuis and Aurora. I let my Maxxis Presa Detours down to 1.5 back, and 1.1 front (I meant to go 1.3 but overcooked it). First dirt The road started out fine, but gradually got more and more sandy. I passed Annie, who probably doesn't like having an eager badger on her tail anyway, so was able to open up on the sand to get through it. This bike certainly does not skip over sand the way Brenda Buttercup does... ===The Sandveld Cottages=== We stopped at the cottages to drop off Andy and Annie's things, because they were staying here for the weekend with the rest of Annie's family for an early family christmas. I met her brother(s) (is Bob your brother too?) and sisters, and her mom. We stayed for a swim and drink, and Andy got together his trinkets and instructions for finding and laying a Geocache. Then we saddled up. Anne elected to stay behind with her family, partly because the sand only gets worse as you progress towards Redelinghuis. Ready to go The sand did get worse, and I was apprehensive. It was 8km of thick sand to the Aurora-Redelinghuis road, and a further 16km to Aurora on a slightly less sandy road. On a few occasions Mr. Badger swayed from side to side, and I was convinced I was about to go into a tank-slapper oscillation. But I realise now that the motion is normal, and Brenda does it too - only much faster because she is lighter. Once or twice I even had the steering go sideways, but the weight of the bike keeps it going straight for a while before it 'takes', and in that time even a slow codger like me can turn the wheel straight and avoid a mishap. ===Sun Mountain Farm=== We turned left up the rocky tweespoor that leads up the mountain to [http://sunmountainfarm.co.za Sun Mountain Farm]. There we met with the hosts (Colette and Geonasha) and explained to them that we wanted to lay a geocache on their mountain. They told us they had the perfect place. We rode along a forest track to the other side of the mountain and were presented with the 'Picture Frame'. The Picture Frame: Colette Haynie and Geonasha Suvramani of Sun Mountain Andy laid the cache, with this entry in the log book: Geocache log entry Sun Mountain Farm is biker-friendly, and they have many under-used tracks that you can explore. Colette told us about a family with bikes and quads that had booked to stay the weekend, but had been turned away at the foot of the mountain by a certain Anne Vilensky, who owns guests cottages on the other side of Sun Mountain (an establishment called 'Mountain Mist'). Anne Vilensky had lied to the family and tried to convince them that Sun Mountain would also not accept bikes. Luckily the lady phoned through to the girls and they confirmed that bikes are most welcome, and that Anne Vilensky has no right to prevent them from staying at Sun Mountain. We said our goodbyes and proceeded further up the mountain to my property - Fijnbosch Farme. But first, we had to pass through our servitude right of way on Mountain Mist... ===Mountain Mist Madness=== The ride up is stunning - narrow road but easy gravel. Stunning cutaways, cliffs and views. When we got to Mountain Mist, the gate was open and we rode in. The owner, Anne Vilensky, came running to the road and asked us to stop. This we did. She told us we were on private property. Andy and I told her we were on a servitude right of way, 15m wide, registered on Mountain Mist (Anne Vilensky is my neighbour, and I have the erf diagram of Mountain Mist). Eventually, Anne Vilensky recognized me, and said "Oh, you're brave coming up here without a police escort seeing as you have a charge of common assault outstanding against Blaine". (Blaine Busky is her boyfriend and he had threatened me with assault if I were to visit my property via the servitude over Mountain Mist, so I laid a charge.) Anne Vilensky said she would call the police, to which I replied that she should do so - I would be around for a while. Anne Vilensky also pulled some kind of rude sign at me in a bit of a spasm, but Andy and I rode on up the mountain to look at the view, then rode down to my gate. As murphy would have it, I could not find the key to the gate, and just then Anne Vilensky and Blaine Busky got into their bakkie and started driving towards us. My mouth went dry, because Blaine Busky had tried to run me over a few months ago, and I didn't want Mr. Badger to get hurt. So Andy and I quickly rode around the gate (the fence is down since the fire) and parked in the long grass. Death in the long grass: R1150GS and GSA striking a pose The bakkie stopped a way away, and eventually drove off. This is the kind of intimidation I have to put up with every time I visit my mountain property, because Mountain Mist's owners are trying to extort money. ===Tjops en Wors=== I am too shaken to move, so the first thing I do is pull out our ''meneer'' chairs. Andy is on a mission, and gets the fire going. We cook 'buchu-picker-style', flame-grilled, no burning down trees and waiting for coals: sommer throw the meat over the burning kindling. There are few things as restorative as a good lamb chop. Soon, we are relaxing, waiting for the police. Watching, waiting... We want to walk up to the buchu and the bushman caves (with neighbours like mine this is important to do), but feel obliged to at least be around when the police arrive. Sorry Tale Soon they do. But now Anne Vilensky and Blaine Busky spend half an hour regaling the poor policemen with their sorry tale. Apparently our bikes were disturbing their guests. I find Mr. Badger's soft purr a bit disappointing when it comes to creating a disturbance. Finally, the police arrive at our gate. And who should emerge from the vehicle? My old friend Insp. Ismail Theron and his lovely wife Judy. We have a good old laugh - Ismail declines my offer of starting the bikes so he can see what a 'disturbance' they cause - he says he knows BMW bikes are quiet. The impression he had gotten from Anne Vilensky was that we were on scramblers. ===Hike at Last=== Finally we get to hike to the buchu and the bushman caves, then take a swim in the bush pool before kitting up and heading for home. Flowers Andy battled a bit because he wore slops, and there were patches of pioneer thorns that had him cursing ;-) But the display of flowers was worth it. ===Sandveld Cottage Celebration=== Given the rule to '''never ride on dirt alone''' we realised that I could not duck off back to Cape Town from Aurora, because Andy would be left to ride back to the Sandveld Cottages without a wingman (ja right, I'm more likely to need help than he is, but rules is rules). So Andy invites me to stay the night and we would make a plan in the morning. Also, it is starting to rain. So we gap the 24km of thick sand back to the cottages, and arrive in time for a big Christmas Dinner. Potentially, I could have been an uncomfortable intrusion - so I proceeded to make myself at home and fit in like I was one of the family. A highlight of the evening for me was the drinking song that Annie's mother seemed so fond of. It goes like this ''Wie auch im Augustus geboren ist, steh auf, steh auf, steh auf. Mit sein vollen glas in der hand, er trinket is aus bis auf dem rand, trink aus, trink aus, trink aus''. (Whomever is born in august, stand up, stand up, stand up. With a full glass in hand, drink up, drink up, drink up.) By december the party was rather festive. I started seizing up. My legs were cramping. Working a heavier bike for the first time took it out of me - and dealing with all the neighbourly trouble and strife left me drained. So I retired to one of the youngster's bedrooms because she was going to sleep with her parents to stop them from making her a sibling ;-) ===Rain rain, go away=== The next day we had rain. We hatched a plan to take the kids to Aurora on a geocache treasure hunt, and I would be escorted by the car to Aurora from whence I could head home. This we did. But the road was no longer sand - it was a squelchy, mushy mudbath. Badger Spoor I rode ahead, and once I started, I could not stop. I focussed on keeping a constant 70km/hr. Slow down and the front digs in, accelerate and the back slides out. There were some scary bits, where Mr. Badger swung from side to side. If Leon Krauwcamp could see me now I thought - he would congratulate me on keeping my legs open to allow the bike to move underneath me. I tried not to look at the way the car tracks swerved and veered and made ruts that intersected my path at all angles. But the truth is, I was often mesmerised by the really ugly bits of mud and ruts, and looked at them with such morbid fear that I ended up riding right over them. Mr. Badger just shook his pelt in disgust and ran on. ===Badger Break=== At last, we reached the first geocache, and the end of the mud. I could hazard a slow-down and stop. A rest at last While I recovered, the kids found the cache and great excitement prevailed. We then sought out the next cache in Aurora itself, at a quaint restaurant called 'Helmuts'. There Andy lent me his pump and I took Mr. Badger to 2.5/2.3 in the tyres for a sprint home. Muddy Paws Muddy Face ===Joys of the 1150=== Cruising home on the N7, 4500rpm in E gear at 140km/hr. Feet are toasty courtesy of the boxer twin pots. But the weather is rainy and cold, and I start to feel a bit chilly. '''Hey, what's this - a switch for heated hand-grips'''. ''Click''. Now it feels like I am hugging a cup of hot chocolate. Toasty hands, toasty feet, toasty speed... Mr. Badger, you are a star! ===Back with the Family=== Next day I bath Mr. Badger for the first time. Then the boyz take out all our bikes and line them up for a photie... Oertel Bike Family Mr. Badger is right at home here and already giving Brenda Buttercup the eye...