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Taylored Trips – Mad Max llA year ago I was invited to attend Mad Max 1 with Cousin Mark in his Toyota Hi-Lux, all tricked out in black apparel specially for the inaugural event. (see tayloredtrips.wordpress.com – Mad Max 1). A few guys from

the Langkloof had attended the Vosburg Bull Run and decided they were going to do a similar thing in their area and so Mad Max was born. A themed car/bike run where you can dress yourself and your car/bike to anything Mad Max and go for a fun ride with some like-minded people.Well, this

year I was lucky enough to be invited again. Same theme, similar crowd but a different route. The route in the invite below had to be changed because there was a marathon through Meiringspoort and everything in De Rust was fully booked.

Mad Max ll route

It all started at 7.00am on Saturday 12th

October outside the Langkloof Bottle Store at Herold on the N9 National road. And yes, the bottle store was still closed at that time of the morning. There was a healthy crowd of 11 cars and two bikes, totalling around 30 people.

Herold

After the usual meet & greet, we got going on a gravel road that crossed the N9 and headed north directly opposite the bottle store.Actually, let me back-track a bit, because it all started

the previous evening at K’Buku Pub in the Klein Langkloof on the De Vlugt road. It was Ricky’s birthday and we were invited to enjoy a peri-peri chicken and fried rice feast for his birthday. Oh yes, it was my birthday too.

Birthday boy with the tongs K’Buku Pub

Getting back to the event, the gravel road north out of Herold led straight into a gorgeous little gravel

pass called Paardepoort Pass. Just what we needed to whet the appetite for what lay ahead.

Paardepoort Pass

This first section of the route was quite similar to last years route,

just a bit more to the west and also ending up going through Dysselsdorp on the way to the Oudemuragie road.

The views and vistas were amazing and it was like they were ordered out of the top drawer.

Scenery like this must rank high up there with what the rest of the world has to offer

Pierre needed fuel so at this classic little turn-off we turned right to De Rust while the rest of the crew turned left to wait for us on the Oudemuragie road. That also gave me the opportunity to get some to-die-for pies at the coffee shop at the filling station. More about that later.

Turn-off to Rietvalley

Ok, so after the fuel-stop we turned right on the Oudemuragie road after coming back out of De Rust and this is where the clan were waiting for us.

The Oudemuragie road winds through some spectacular farming valleys with hills and dales that go on forever. The absolute

beauty of this stretch of road is truly amazing.

Oudemuragie Road

Along this road and only about 3.5kms from the Schoemanspoort road if you come from the other direction is the Koos

Raubenheimer Dam and the Cango Mountain Resort. This was our brunch stop for a leg-stretch, something to eat and a group photo.

Cango Mountain Resort brunch stop

Some people braaied, some had a skottel, some just chatted to their hydraulic sandwiches and Mark and I had a scrumptious

artisanal pulled lamb pie from Beans about Coffee in De Rust. Delicious!

Kango Bergoord

After brunch, we did the 3.5kms to the Schoemanspoort road and joined the lovely winding tar R328 towards Cango Caves and the

Swartberg Pass.

We pulled in to De Hoek Mountain Resort to have a look as Cavert thought it could be a possible venue

for next year’s Mad Max outing. It’s a very nice place and showed some real potential. The Springbok Rally is held here as well.

De Hoek Mountain Resort

Back on the road again, we took a left turn at the Swartberg Pass road and took the scenic back road to Calitzdo

rp all along the foothills of the Swartberg Mountains. Soon the tar turned to gravel and we had a glorious winding road which goes past Matjiesrivier, Kruisrivier and eventually the Calitzdorp Dam as well as traversing the Huis se Hoogte Pass and the Kruisrivierpoort Pass. Back roads made in heaven!

Swartberg Mountains

Beautiful mountains, beautiful roads

Along the way we stopped at what was an old post office, now an art gallery/coffee shop at the turn-off to Peter Bayly Wines.

Oude Postkantoor

Art Gallery/Coffee Shop

At the art

gallery, Dawie’s right rear tyre decided to go flat, only at the bottom as Cavert said, and the old Chinese proverb of “many hands make light work” proved itself once again.

Puncture!

All too soon, the

picturesque town of Calitzdorp appeared and some of us stopped for some emergency supplies.

Calitzdorp – The Port Capital of South Africa

We threade

d our way through town and headed for the Bosvarkie Pub which finds itself tucked away on the desolate plains south of the town. There is a campsite, bar, pool table, second hand shoppe, you name, they’ve got it.

Bosvarkie

We even found something that could be a contender for next year’s Mad Max lll. It could be a partner

to Ian’s legendary Mad Max Kombi bakkie which is a veteran of two Mad Maxes already. Imagine that! Mack even started it for us and it runs like a dream.

Next year's possible Mad Max Mutant vehicle

The next stop was our destination for the night – Karoo Water or Uhuru as it used to be, just a few

kilos from the Bosvarkie. We all pulled in, booked in and got ourselves set up for the night. Some camped, some had rooms and some had chalets.We chose the best camp spot which was nicely secluded and out of the wind which couldn’t make up its mind whether it wanted

to blow or not. Every time it stopped blowing we thought it was settling down for the night, only to start blowing again.The wind didn’t actually matter anyway because we all gathered in the lapa for a night of celebration. The lapa was warm and cosy with some serious fires going so we were sorted for the

evening.

Campsite

Lapa

Kuier

And so ended another epic Mad Max. A good time was had by all and besides an electrical problem on Ian’s Kombi, Samuel’s Isuzu’s tailgate flying open

and Dawie’s puncture, everyone had a trouble-free run and everyone got home safely the next day. Thanks to all for a super trip and thanks Mark for the invite.Roll on Mad Max lll.Until next time, “Keep on Tripping!”