Exploring the Beautiful Villiersdorp area

We set off on a heavily overcast day, determined not to let the weather get us down. Meeting halfway, Villiersdorp seemed the ideal place, as it’s surrounded by mountains, dams and forests.

We headed into the mountains from the town, going past a cemetery and then not having any idea where we were. 

Following the front wheels we criss-crossed through a forest, over donga’s and ditches - and down into a spectacular valley where we ended up having our picnic. Well…. Sort of. It was a lovely camp site and the caretaker told us we were welcome to “camp out” on the lawn and have our meal of buns, cold meat and coffee.

Preference to campers

He was extremely knowledgeable and told us about the beginnings of the campsite, where we could explore a bit more and a lot about the vegetation. Unfortunately he did talk a bit much and our idea was to ride, not sit around, so after about an hour (without being able to have our picnic), we excused ourselves and headed off on a back road he suggested, deeper into the mountains.

After some twists and turns we came across a beautiful dam. Called the Elandskloof dam, named after the Elands river running through it and situated in an exotic “kloof” – ravine. Unfortunately we could not get to the dam itself, fenced up and big NO ENTRY signs deterring us from wetting our feet, so to speak.

We took a few detours on our way back, snooping around small dirt road inlets and getting deeper into the mountains. And being forced to turn around a few times, getting ourselves into impossible situations!

We found a nice spot and decided to take a break and have some of the food we were prevented from eating earlier. We were also fairly tired, as Toni had managed to put his bike down a few times – and no, he was not even on that big thing! As a matter of fact, once he was not even touching it, still, Jongosi was heavy and lifting it was hard work - we needed to replenish before we headed home!

It was not long before the drops started falling and by the time we were packed and leaving town it was coming down in buckets! In spite of the rain, we had a wonderful day of exploring and learning. Thank you oom Koos for teaching us more about your valley. And thanks to the bikes, we were able to find some hidden treasures!