Where has your bike taken you today?

[FranE]

On 4/12/2026 at 11:08 AM, Eugene Oppelt said:

Kill Arnie📍

Great to see WPCA racing league thriving 

Race highlights of Cat 1 @wpcyclingsnaps Instagram  

[Jackal355]

Some Botties, Eden and Mont Marie

👌after some rain

Edited April 16 by Jackal355

[Jackal355]

Few weeks back,trek from Stellenbosch,via Franschhoek, to Hermanus 

[DJR]

14 hours ago, capediver said:

I'm still here..waiting at Boplaas for the river to drop...maybe Friday...going back up is the last resort...unthinkable right now...

 

I can think of worse places to get stuck!!

Good move. If the water is high because the dam upstream is letting water out then it can drop suddenly if they close the sluices. If it is overflowing then it depends on the rainfall in the Great Karoo. 

B.t.w. About how to get out of Hell ....... I had the amazing / terrifying / probably never to be repeated experience to land and take off and fly out of the Hell as part of a casevac operation many years ago. Climbing out of that valley in a small plane on a hot day was plenty stressful. Luckily I was young, stupid and invincible ..... and I implicitly trusted the pilot, even though he flew with one prosthetic leg (lost his real leg in ..... yes .... a plane crash!! But that is a story for "after beers".

I hope you get out of there as safely as I did.

[Sepia]

There is also  a book about the goings on in Die Hell. All about each individual family and what they did including the car disassembly  and the Tiger Moth.

[tubed]

13 minutes ago, DJR said:

Good move. If the water is high because the dam upstream is letting water out then it can drop suddenly if they close the sluices. If it is overflowing then it depends on the rainfall in the Great Karoo. 

B.t.w. About how to get out of Hell ....... I had the amazing / terrifying / probably never to be repeated experience to land and take off and fly out of the Hell as part of a casevac operation many years ago. Climbing out of that valley in a small plane on a hot day was plenty stressful. Luckily I was young, stupid and invincible ..... and I implicitly trusted the pilot, even though he flew with one prosthetic leg (lost his real leg in ..... yes .... a plane crash!! But that is a story for "after beers".

I hope you get out of there as safely as I did.

Amazing story, thanks for sharing, this is a place of many stories, I guess anything that goes on there is quite unusual for us City folk. The pictures of the sluice gates at the dam on FBook are quite surreal - Fox finally getting to let it all go

 

[mazambaan]

22 minutes ago, tubed said:

Amazing story, thanks for sharing, this is a place of many stories, I guess anything that goes on there is quite unusual for us City folk. The pictures of the sluice gates at the dam on FBook are quite surreal - Fox finally getting to let it all go

 

Old Foxy 🤣. No one seems sure why the dam (Gamka Poort that is) was ever built. Flood control was the standard answer but, back then particulalry, there were only one or two dwellings likely to be threatened by flooding. It was built by then DWAF.

[capediver]

11 minutes ago, mazambaan said:

Old Foxy 🤣. No one seems sure why the dam (Gamka Poort that is) was ever built. Flood control was the standard answer but, back then particulalry, there were only one or two dwellings likely to be threatened by flooding. It was built by then DWAF.

If its Uncle Fox you talking about, im in contact with him daily and he's sent pics and video of the dam overflowing and the gates open...impressive but demoralizing at the same time but understood as the area has had water issues for a while...Die een se brood...anyway...it has allowed me to slow down and explore the area ..it really is fascinating here and the current property owners have done a fantastic job of preserving what they can...the cottages in the Valley are awesome...

The story of getting a car down here piece by piece via the ladder is unbelievable...so my little descent was by no means a feat!!!

And as plane landing here..yoh...no way...in the upper part there's only a small stretch that's not under bush canopy and way too short to land or take off... have to take you up on that beer offer to get the skinny!!

If the Causeway isn't safe by Saturday then a climb back out will be the only way....🫣 

Edited April 16 by capediver
Spelling

[DJR]

2 hours ago, Sepia said:

There is also  a book about the goings on in Die Hell. All about each individual family and what they did including the car disassembly  and the Tiger Moth.

The one legged pilot was the very same maverick owner of the Tiger Moth. (Of which I also have some stories to tell.)

He, later, thank goodness when I was away at varsity, did a landing there to deliver medical supplies after heavy rains had cut the inhabitants off for a while, and broke the undercarraige of the same plane in a washed out ditch in the rough runway. The plane was stranded and later airlifted with a heavy lift helicopter and repaired.

Altogether I count him having crashed 4 times in his flying career. First time he lost a leg from the knee down in a crash while he was in the airforce. Second one he was a passenger in a military plane. Then he went on to study medicine. Third one was the crash-light in the Hell. Fourth one was flying an experimental plane and in that crash he lost his remaining leg. After that he started an air ambulance business which he later sold and went farming. He lived to well into his 80 and only passed away a couple of years ago.

I know I sound like an old ballie when I say that they (perhaps for the better?) don't make them like that anymore!

Edited April 16 by DJR

[Cardiogoth]

1 hour ago, DJR said:

The one legged pilot was the very same maverick owner of the Tiger Moth. (Of which I also have some stories to tell.)

He, later, thank goodness when I was away at varsity, did a landing there to deliver medical supplies after heavy rains had cut the inhabitants off for a while, and broke the undercarraige of the same plane in a washed out ditch in the rough runway. The plane was stranded and later airlifted with a heavy lift helicopter and repaired.

Altogether I count him having crashed 4 times in his flying career. First time he lost a leg from the knee down in a crash while he was in the airforce. Second one he was a passenger in a military plane. Then he went on to study medicine. Third one was the crash-light in the Hell. Fourth one was flying an experimental plane and in that crash he lost his remaining leg. After that he started an air ambulance business which he later sold and went farming. He lived to well into his 80 and only passed away a couple of years ago.

I know I sound like an old ballie when I say that they (perhaps for the better?) don't make them like that anymore!

Was his surname Coetzee, by any chance?

[DJR]

1 hour ago, Cardiogoth said:

Was his surname Coetzee, by any chance?

There was only ever one, yes!

[Cardiogoth]

13 minutes ago, DJR said:

There was only ever one, yes!

I worked with his son in my first job straight out of university and heard a lot of those stories. Apparently after he lost his other leg he was much happier because he could dance at weddings again!

[Eugene Oppelt]

Grateful to still have a healthy body and mind to head out again to meet the sunrise. 

[patham]

Pleasant morning in the forest.

[W Smith]

The ladder was not the only route out.The ladder was used to take produce with donkeys up the mountain where traders coming from Laingsburg and other areas would buy it .You can see the ruins where produce was stored  in the background of one of the photos.There were several routes out of the Hel.Bo kloof(along Gamka river bank),Onder kloof opposite direction also along Gamka river bank.Over the mountains via Wye nek ,to mention a few.

[W Smith]

The ladder was not the only route out.The ladder was used to take produce with donkeys up the mountain where traders coming from Laingsburg and other areas would buy it .You can see the ruins where produce was stored  on top of the mountain in the background of one of the photos.There were several routes out of the Hel.Bo kloof(along Gamka river bank),Onder kloof opposite direction also along Gamka river bank.Over the mountains via Wye nek ,to mention a few