Barberton - Cape Town and the wrong way home, my Epic Solo ride (Finally done)

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Chrissie B

Race Dog
Joined
Feb 16, 2006
Messages
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Location
Costa Blanca, Spain (NC750X)
Bike
Honda NC750X
Firstly, thank you to all of those who made this trip possible.   :deal: My official sponsors: Tytan Solar & LED Warehouse (Jozi), Friendly Supermarket/Amazing Water (Barberton), Rissington Inn (Hazyview), Total Signs (Nelspruit, thanks for making the stickers), Annatjie of Perfect Nails (Great job, the paw prints held up the whole trip and it's still looking good, never mind that my doggie is missing a toe :imaposer:) .
And then of course all the family, friends and new friends who contributed in some way, you guys rock!  :thumleft:

For over 25 years I have wanted to see this city built around a flat hill that everyone makes such a big deal of!  But I'd pretty much given up on ever actually getting there.  Somehow there was either not enough cash, or not enough time, or some other disasters got in the way.  

So when my ex-Roomie, Wanita, sent me an invite to join her for her birthday at Kirstenbosch on Sun 3rd Feb, to watch Freshly Ground perform, I didn't have much hope of actually getting there, but just in case, I ticked the 'maybe' reply box.

Then I got the crazy idea to find sponsors and make it into a Epic (for me anyway) solo bike trip.  I didn't think I would get any offers, but WOW, I cannot believe the response I got!  The first one to offer a tank of fuel was my ex-mother-in-law (seriously!!! She likes me)  :lol8:... and it all kinda came together from there.  I only had a few weeks to plan, get my household sorted, service the Africa Twin and determine a sort of a route.  I also had a time constraint, as I had to be back by Fri 15th Feb, as my daughter was moving back to Jo'burg the following day  :'( .  

Now as some of you know, I don't do the GPS thing, so I got out the maps, logged onto Google Earth and started researching possibilities.  I didn't really want to do gravel as I was alone with a fully loaded 'Broom', so initially I looked mainly at tar roads.  But that changed a bit when I discovered that the road from Ladybrand to Bethulie is not tarred and neither is the (northern) road to Nieu Bethesda... no matter, I guessed I could manage a bit of gravel without incidents.

The last few days before my impending departure, I was sooooo nervous as hell, but also really excited.  I actually couldn't believe I was doing this!  It was almost surreal.  
But on the morning of Tuesday the 29th January 2013, I was no longer nervous, just keen to get going.  I hugged my daughter, Natascha, good-bye and promised her I would not ride like a maniac, I would take all due care to come back in one piece.  
Tascha took this pic of me and my fully loaded Broom, ready for action and hoping we could both make it at our old ages.  :lol8:

And so my adventure began and what a perfect day it was:    :3some:




 

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