Dirt and Trail MARCH 22

Adventure
touring
on a sensible budget
We FF..f…fff…Flippen’ love stories like this,
(and if you have one we would love to hear
about it and maybe even publish it. While,
(boredly), scrolling through social media we
happened upon this really cool post with
the most amazing pictures… Who says you
need to have a big, expensive, recognised
adventure bike to enjoy adventure riding.
All you need is the desire, the terrain and
anything with two wheels and an engine as
Wayne Duck and his Missus proved…
He Says:
Touring the dusty Klein Karoo two-up on our Sym Symphony
150cc scooter.
While staying at De Vlugt, (Prince Alfred Pass), in our
camper truck for two months, my wife and I decided to
take our scooter on two 3 night, 4 day trips:
First to Gamkaskloof, (Die Hel), and a second through
Baviaanskloof via Grootrivierpoort.
Off to ‘Die Hel’ a total distance of 450 km’s.
•Day 1 - 115 km: De Vlugt to Oudtshoorn via Nolshalte and Eseljagpoort, (Kammanassie).
•Day 2 – 96 km: Oudtshoorn to Gamkaskloof via Swartberg Pass. We spent quite
a bit of time freewheeling down the hills on the Gamkaskloof road. The fuel range
is not too much on the little scooter so we had to save where we can!
•Day 3 – 61 km: Gamkaskloof back to Swartberg Pass and then to Prince Albert.
As we joined the Swartberg Pass again from Die Hel, we met a friendly couple
about to ride into Die Hel. Their 1250 GS has the equivalent of 8 of our scooter’s
engines in it, should have NO problem doing the road down into the kloof and
back!
•Day 4 – 178 km: Prince Albert to De Vlugt via Meiringspoort, De Rust, Hoekplaas,
Uniondale and Prince Alfred Pass.
The scooter handled this route with ease, and might I add with a lot more giggling
than if I was on a ‘proper’ adventure bike. I’m not a fan of tar roads hence us
following as much dirt road as possible. The road down into Gamkaskloof from
the Swartberg Pass is not very technical but very scenic! Take it slow as there are
many photo opportunities and also places to enjoy a swim in the cold mountain
streams.
The machine that carried us two-up on this trip was our Sym Symphony 150
scooter. We have had this scooter since 2016 and it continues to bring us much
enjoyment… not least because of the ease with which it carries us on these types
of little adventures. Okay - maybe also the looks of astonishment we get from
people when we arrive at some “middle-of-nowhere” destination on it!
I’ve been racing and riding off-road/adventure bikes since 1980, and have done
many hundreds of thousands of kilometres through Southern Africa over the
years.
Just over the period 2005 to 2020 on my last two bikes, a KTM 950 S and KTM
990 R, we… my wife as pillion, have done a combined 130 000 km through seven
African countries.
Nothing beats the feeling of month long trips through Africa over gravel roads and
tracks on a capable and reliable bike!