Lesotho - an epic ride of note !!!

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Joined
Sep 11, 2006
Messages
4,929
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10
Location
Pretoria East - Home of Jameson
Bike
KTM 1090 Adventure R
When LostDog mailed me a few months ago and asked if I would join him on a trip to Lesotho, I thought â?? Why not, itâ??ll be a nice outing

Little did I know what was in store for myself and the rest of the merry adventurers
With our departure day of 27th September looming, I developed a bout of snotsiekte and considered canceling, but decided that I might be missing out on a lekker trip


The Happy Bunch


LostDog (Our esteemed leader and intrepid route planner)

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Francois (Always positive and always a smile on his face)

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Darren (The man with the vision aka as a SATphone)  8)

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Transalpman (Little did he know what he was in for  >:D)

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Alf (First prize for perseverence and never too far from the sherry when things got tough)  ;)

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Plothond

(sorry - pic went awol)


Our route

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So it was on Thursday morning to bleak skies the I left to meet with LostDog and Francois at the Shell Ultra City in Midrand near Pretoria

The rain started just thereafter and It rained all the way to Ladybrand

Here we are taking a break out of the rain in Senekal. I must confess that at that moment I was pretty miserable. My flu was not letting go and the rain was just crappy, just plain crappy

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In Ladybrand Transalpman joined us together with Francoisâ?? two mates Alf & Darren on their 1200GSAâ??s
Having breakfast in the Wimpy at Ladybrand
We left Midrand at about 06:00 and were sitting down to brekkie at 10:30, so considering the rain, not too bad going

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The Maseru border crossing into Lesotho was surprisingly quiet and painless. I had purchased rear brakepads in Pretoria the day before but I was supplied with the wrong ones and when LostDog mentioned a KTM shop in Maseru, I got excited â?? but was a bit disappointed when they could not help me

This is the KTM shop.
I must admit that I expected a shop like Pro-Action or the like, but then I realised that the market a shop in a region like this serves a far different customer. More offroad and MX bikes. One also cannot expect people rushing in to buy a Motard for example

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Brakepads for a 950 were out of the question, so I had to make do with the remnants of the existing ones. The proprieter was extremely helpful and even offered me pads off his own bike. I cannot remember the reason but I declined the offer

Onwards to Roma where we potentially could expect the last fuel for two days. LostDog purchased a few 5 litre containers in Pretoria and brought them with.
I was testing out my new design and was feeling very happy with myself for my brilliant plan â?? The red jerrycans and their custom built holders. Look how easy it was. Look how the others are battling to fix fuel to their bikes
I was to keep very quiet about this later

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The views in Lesotho are truly tremendous and I was feeling very privileged to be riding in this wonderful setting and in what was turning out to be a beautiful day

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Note how good these two GSA's look. Just a perfect symbol of German engineering and precision  >:D

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Some more beautiful views in excellent riding conditions  :D :D :D

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LostDog

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Looking back towards Roma

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Continually climbing upward, upward. I was glad the rain had eased up a few hours earlier here. Could have made the going VERY difficult

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Rest break on the bridge. Alf and Francois decided that we needed some cheery to sherry ourselves up  >:D, so we took a break

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Just before reaching Semonkong we turned off towards the Falls on the Maletsuyane river. They were referred to by all as the Maletsuyane falls but I see the the maps refer to them as the Le Bihan Falls (192m

On the way there, Francois demonstated why you do not come to Lesothoâ??s black turf whilst your ride is shod with Anakeeâ??s.
This is also maybe time to explain that Francois does not own a bike. The 1200GS was rented from Motorrad. I would have loved to see their faces when he returned the bike on Monday

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What a spectacular sight. They apparently also hold the world record for the highest abseil down a waterfall (over 200m)
Semonkong can be seen over the gorge in the background

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The happy bunch (even in the face of impending adversity - we were happy). I might add here that before this day, the only person I knew on this ride was LostDog, so all things considered we were getting on like a house on fire

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I did not hold high expectations for Semonkong Lodge, and damn was I surprised. The bunkhouse was neat and tidy and the food was just excellent.
I have NEVER had such a decent dinner anywhere before as that evening. The soup was excellent and the lambchops could not have been bettered. Dinner was also served with a local bread that was very more-ish.

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The view down the river from the lodge

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The bunkhouse

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Our bar bill was somewhat high that evening, but it was a perfect end to what had become a perfect day.

.... day two to follow...
 
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