Sometimes the best laid plans go out the window, and then new plans need to be made. Such was my planned trip to George. The plan was simple: ride down to George, stay a few nights with a friend and meander back to Gauteng. To do this though, I arranged the ultimate mile muncher in the BMW stable, the BMW R 1300 RT. If I were going to do this in the allotted timeframe, at least I would be doing it in Business Class. No sooner had I arranged a bike when my friend’s plans changed, and I was left with a road to ride, but nowhere to rest my head. I quickly had to make alternate plans for accommodation. Being December did make it a bit more difficult, but I managed to find accommodation in central George. Having mentioned this predicament to my colleague, Dave Cilliers, he offered to ride down with me. He was planning to ride to Port Elizabeth later anyway, so now he would arrive a little ahead of schedule.
We left Pretoria around 5 am to get the worst of the Big Smoke behind us. Dave rides this road a lot, so he had all the fuel stops laid out, and I merrily followed in the wake of Dave’s Honda NC 750. We hit a few patches of rain, but nothing that warranted a stop to change to rain gear. I had the added advantage of the exceptional weather protection the RT provides. The RT has body panels on either side of the fairing that lift up, and once in the up position, they deflect wind and rain away from your legs. It does make the bike look slightly awkward, but the new RT’s look is a bit of a sore point anyway. Where the older 1250 RT had flowing lines, the 1300 has a more angular look. The look is definitely polarising. In my opinion, the RT is not a pretty bike, but its practicality will make you overlook its appearance.
The model I had was decked out in Option 719 extras, but the luggage-carrying ability of the RT was the real clincher for me. The top box holds 57 litres and has a USB-C socket to keep your phone juiced up. This came in handy as I was using the BMW connected app, and that is one power-hungry beast. Although the app records trip details, it only has turn-by-turn navigation, which is a bit rudimentary. Come on BMW, give me Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. That massive TFT screen had more than enough space for that. The two side panniers hold 27 litres each, and use BMW’s Vario system that can expand their carrying capacity to 33 litres. For the first time in a very long time, I had more than enough space to pack all my stuff. My camera bag is usually my biggest challenge, but the RT gobbled up everything with ease.
It also gobbled up the miles, and before long, we pulled in at our breakfast stop, 35 km south of Bloemfontein. We were making good time, despite the traffic. Everywhere we stopped, people would walk over and chat. The most common phrases were: “we are from Pretoria,” and “we are going to Stilbaai.” It sounded like Stilbaai was the destination of choice for the whole of Pretoria this year.
After our breakfast, we headed further towards Colesberg. Here, we treated ourselves to a proper milkshake as the weather was turning out to be quite pleasant. One thing I noticed about Dave is that he will happily sit behind me for miles on end until the Márquez in him smells a twisty bit coming up. Then, the NC would come flying past, and I have to engage the thrusters on the Starship Enterprise to try and keep up. Coming from Pretoria, the Loodsberg Pass outside Middelburg has a few gentle curves in the road that serve as a warm-up. Once over the pass, the road has some glorious kinks in it. The Honda was coming perilously close to scraping footpegs, and the BMW was in its tracks. It is quite remarkable how nimble the big RT can be when the road gets twisty. The Telelever suspension makes this heavy bike feel surprisingly nimble.
Past Loodsberg Pass is the less impressive Naude’s Mountain Pass that consists of a left and a right, and that is about it. After these two, we turned off the N1 towards Nieu-Bethesda, our overnight stop. Dave knew a few locals, and of course, we had to have a well-deserved beer. We stopped at “The Brewery and Two Goats Deli” where we had a delicious platter served, and of course, a beer. We had some time to kill, so we took the bikes and just rode through parts of Nieu-Bethesda that I had never seen. This is really a fantastic little stopover on your way down to the Garden Route.
The next morning, we headed to Graff-Reinett, where we said our goodbyes and parted ways. Dave was heading to Port Elizabeth, and I was headed straight to Willowmore for breakfast. I had to make a quick stop in De Rust to pick up an old stopwatch, and then I headed to George over the Outeniqua Pass. Again, I was impressed by the handling of the RT. I met up with some friends in George and Hartenbos. Dinner was spent with good food in good company.
The sun was out the next morning, so my plan was to go to Stilbaai. A part of me wanted to go, but I knew that the place was going to be anything but still, as was evident by the number of people who were heading that way. So, as I got to the Mossel Bay turnoff, I pushed the RT off the highway and headed in the direction of Robinson Pass. I stopped at the first farm stall and ordered coffee and something sweet. Two riders on GS’s also stopped, and we had a long chat about bikes and riding.
Just as I was about to leave, a tow truck pulled in, towing a very broken truck. It collided with the barriers on the pass, spilling mangoes down the ravine. As I rode past the accident scene, the barriers were already being fixed, and they were not even hosting a G20!
I continued to Oudtshoorn, stopping at two more farmstalls, hoping that my small monetary input would make a difference. From here, I headed back to George, and I got to ride the Outeniqua Pass again.
I planned to leave George the next morning and see how far I could get before sunset, and then find a place to sleep. I decided to get an early start and left George in the pouring rain. But, as everyone who lives here knows, once you clear the Outeniqua Pass, the rain will stop, and they were not wrong.
Past Willowmore, the sun was starting to bathe the mountains in warm light. I could see the remnants of some good rain that fell in this area. My heart goes out to the people who make a living in this barren landscape, knowing that the rain was very welcome. I kept going and only stopped when the RT needed fuel. I had the occasional smattering of rain, but if I kept my speed above 100 km/h, the RT mostly kept me dry.
The heavens opened outside Kroonstad, and riding at 100 km/h was simply not an option. It rained so hard that the front radar gave an error – it simply could not pierce the water to see ahead, so it assumed the worst. When I cleared the worst of the storm, everything on me and around me was soaked. I switched on the heated seat and grips to ward off the cold, and just kept going. I reached Pretoria long before sunset, and here I rode into another cloudburst, this time with the added challenge of late afternoon traffic.
I stopped at home, absolutely drenched, but I must give the RT credit for the fact that, even after all that rain, the contents of my panniers stayed dry. The BMW R 1300 RT is made for this type of trip, and it did not disappoint. Even the looks were starting to grow on me. I have to say that if you ever had to do an Iron Butt challenge, doing it on the RT would be like cheating.
BMW R 1300 RT
For more information on the bike that we tested in this article, click on the link below…
