One more day in amazing Namibia 🇳🇦.
This time we left Luderitz and made our way towards the Sossusvlei area.
Before we left Luderitz we took a short drive to see Agave beach.
After yesterday wrestling with the wind, I was a bit apprehensive that I would have to eat some sand for breakfast but the wind was much calmer and we could enjoy much better the scenery of the dunes on the side of the road.
We did about 120kms on asphalt and really enjoyed as for the next 3 days or even longer we would have no more asphalted roads.
We stopped to refuel and get some supplies at Aus and saw the destruction the Namibian desert can do to a tire. It was from a 4x4 of a German couple who told me the look is much worst than what they felt when the tire blew out. On a motorbike with only two tires I cannot afford for something like this to happen so I would have to be supper attentive on our Iver than 300kms of dirt we would face during this day.
So let me tell you about these 300kms. When I prepared the trip, for me this one would always be one of the most difficult days because it is a very long way and there is absolutely nowhere in the middle to stop so once you start you have to finish or then sleep in a tent or in the car on the way.
The other issue I was concerned about was the conditions of the road. Dry packed is good, sand or lots of small stones that gather up and create ruts is bad for motorcycles.
As I got into the dirt road I knew this was not going to be a piece of cake, there were lots of ruts and if you got off a track the bike would go unstable and start to weave from side to side. I had to get up and start riding standing up but as I am not in top tip shape to be able to ride over 4 hours standing up this was looking like a daunting task. Time to stop and change tire pressures to 1.3 bar. Could not go lower because there were enough exposed rocks that could damage the rims. That helped a lot and bike was much more stable so I now could ride sitting down most of the time and only get up if weaves were stronger.
Temoerature was about 35C so being in the sun starting to take its toll. It was one of the toughest rides I have done and was glad we took the decision not to come two up in the bike. It would have been too dangerous and we would have to slow down dramatically the speed and would not have made it through in the time we would have in a day.
Stopped a number of times to hydrate (not enough) and take some energy food but when I got to the lodge I was totally beaten down. Took a good cold ice beer to cheer me up. Not or the faint at heart and if you ever do this route on a motorcycle make sure you know how to ride well off-road, have the right knobby tires and are prepared psychologically and physically for a long day.
On the way we also had a number of encounter with Oryx. What a beautiful animal. Most of the time they were by themselves. They may have been 4 or 5 in the same area but they were never close to each other.
As we were approaching the lodge the last 20kms have deeper sand but the Michelin Anakee Wilds behaved greatly and I was able to make it without any incident. Very happy of the many hours I have spent doing sand roads as had I not had them it would have been a more daunting experience.
I was very happy when we saw the gates to our lodge. The sun was starting to set so we made it just in time.
Riding Namibia 🇳🇦 is a treat because it is just you and nature and such a beautiful one at that. We saw less than 10 cars for over 4 hours and over 300kms ...
Another unforgettable day.
Make Life a Ride !
Facebook post with some photos of the DAY
Click HERE for all the photos of the DAY !
This time we left Luderitz and made our way towards the Sossusvlei area.
Before we left Luderitz we took a short drive to see Agave beach.
After yesterday wrestling with the wind, I was a bit apprehensive that I would have to eat some sand for breakfast but the wind was much calmer and we could enjoy much better the scenery of the dunes on the side of the road.
We did about 120kms on asphalt and really enjoyed as for the next 3 days or even longer we would have no more asphalted roads.
We stopped to refuel and get some supplies at Aus and saw the destruction the Namibian desert can do to a tire. It was from a 4x4 of a German couple who told me the look is much worst than what they felt when the tire blew out. On a motorbike with only two tires I cannot afford for something like this to happen so I would have to be supper attentive on our Iver than 300kms of dirt we would face during this day.
So let me tell you about these 300kms. When I prepared the trip, for me this one would always be one of the most difficult days because it is a very long way and there is absolutely nowhere in the middle to stop so once you start you have to finish or then sleep in a tent or in the car on the way.
The other issue I was concerned about was the conditions of the road. Dry packed is good, sand or lots of small stones that gather up and create ruts is bad for motorcycles.
As I got into the dirt road I knew this was not going to be a piece of cake, there were lots of ruts and if you got off a track the bike would go unstable and start to weave from side to side. I had to get up and start riding standing up but as I am not in top tip shape to be able to ride over 4 hours standing up this was looking like a daunting task. Time to stop and change tire pressures to 1.3 bar. Could not go lower because there were enough exposed rocks that could damage the rims. That helped a lot and bike was much more stable so I now could ride sitting down most of the time and only get up if weaves were stronger.
Temoerature was about 35C so being in the sun starting to take its toll. It was one of the toughest rides I have done and was glad we took the decision not to come two up in the bike. It would have been too dangerous and we would have to slow down dramatically the speed and would not have made it through in the time we would have in a day.
Stopped a number of times to hydrate (not enough) and take some energy food but when I got to the lodge I was totally beaten down. Took a good cold ice beer to cheer me up. Not or the faint at heart and if you ever do this route on a motorcycle make sure you know how to ride well off-road, have the right knobby tires and are prepared psychologically and physically for a long day.
On the way we also had a number of encounter with Oryx. What a beautiful animal. Most of the time they were by themselves. They may have been 4 or 5 in the same area but they were never close to each other.
As we were approaching the lodge the last 20kms have deeper sand but the Michelin Anakee Wilds behaved greatly and I was able to make it without any incident. Very happy of the many hours I have spent doing sand roads as had I not had them it would have been a more daunting experience.
I was very happy when we saw the gates to our lodge. The sun was starting to set so we made it just in time.
Riding Namibia 🇳🇦 is a treat because it is just you and nature and such a beautiful one at that. We saw less than 10 cars for over 4 hours and over 300kms ...
Another unforgettable day.
Make Life a Ride !
Facebook post with some photos of the DAY
Click HERE for all the photos of the DAY !
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