Clocolan Farm Culture and Maluti Adventure – 5-7 March

Gentlemen, start your engines!!

We left for Clocolan at 5:00 on Friday the 5^th and had to ride pretty hard to get there in just over four hours. My husband was on a Can Am Spyder and this was his first long trip – he was not impressed with the length of time spent in the saddle! There were very few people on the Friday but the organisers (XKulcha and Woema!)had arranged a number of events to draw the crowds, including Bok van Blerk for the evening’s entertainment.

Saturday was much better attended and a huge number of people arrived to view the biggest collection of vintage tractors still in operation. Vintage cars in pristine condition were also on display together with a steam-driven thrasher and baler. Ten tractors took part in various “games”, including two races – fast and slow.

One of the specifications for the slow race was that the cameraman could interview the driver while on the move

The John Deers beat the rest of the field soundly in the fast race, which caused some of them to turn around there and then

Musical tractors

A 1958 Fordson with the farm version of high-end security

There was a display of bicycle riding skills as well as the guys from Country Trax showing everybody what can be done on a bike in dirt – truly great riding skills! The guys from Stunt Riders were also showing off and entertained the crowds with their antics. The local ladies had day-long demonstrations of almost forgotten skills such as making patchwork quilts, proper way of cooking tripe, making vetkoek the boere way and biltong making.

The bicycle guy with some very nervous volunteers!

Friday and Saturday were also full of biking events and the off-roaders were kept busy on both days with outrides to hard-to-reach places on local farms. Coetzee from Woema! worked hard to give the guys something to talk about.

There weren’t too many road riders so the ride I took on Friday consisted of two participants – one chap on a Kymco scooter and a couple on a cruiser. We rode from Clocolan to Ficksburg and around to Rosendal, Vredendal, Marquart and back to Clocolan – about two hours through a very scenic part of the Eastern Free State.

On Saturday there were no takers for the morning ride but the afternoon was a bit better attended. We reversed the Friday route and found one of the best roads going to Vredendal. Unfortunately they were still doing roadworks so we had to turn around and do the back road back to Ficksburg. It was full of potholes but could easily be dodged by bike – the Spyder had a bit of a hard time though.

On Sunday we departed at about 8:00 and decided to go to Clarens for breakfast. Again we found the road between Fouriesburg and Clarens to be perfect with wonderful long sweeps which competed with the beautiful scenery.

Next year’s event promises to be even bigger and better and I’m looking forward to attending again! THIS time I will make sure my camera has more battery though.

I had a Suzuki DL650 V-Strom for the weekend, courtesy of SuzukiSA.