Fire-Buckets adventures.

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Race Dog
Joined
Aug 16, 2007
Messages
753
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1
Location
Pietermaritzburg
Bike
Kawasaki KLR 650
This is my first attempt at a ride report...hopefully it works...
Well, here it is...hopefully. I'm still trying to figure the whole photo-bucket thing out!
For those of you who haven't been following the whole Fire-Bucket thing, I have "donated" an old pewter mug to the forum, with the idea that we try and get it as far and wide as possible. It will hopefully be passed on from Wild Dog to Wild Dog as they do trips around the country, and even abroad. This hand over will hopefully be done "bike to bike" with an official photo and maybe a small doppie from said Fire-Bucket. The "transporter" will then do his trip and take relevant photo's, obviously including someone enjoying a beverage out of Fire-Bucket, and then pass it on to the next Dog!

JonW and I kicked it off yesterday with a trip up Sani Pass. After a whole week of watching the terrible weather, Saturday dawned bright and sunny, and we met up in Hilton at 6-00am, and headed off towards the berg. Just past Midmar dam, we took to the dirt on the Petrus Stroom road and headed towards Dargle, where we stopped for the first â??officialâ? Fire-Bucket photo!

1ststopPetrusStroom.jpg


From there, it was out on the Dargle/Impendle road on the way to Himeville. It was here that we took the scenic rout (Ok, wrong turning) and found a â??newâ? dirt route to Himevilleâ?¦looking back, I think it was the better route, the scenery was brilliant!

Rainbow lakes
2ndstopRainbowlakes.jpg

Rainbowlakes7-00am.jpg


We found a low level bridge over the Umkomaas river, just outside Himeville, which was just begging for a few photoâ??s

Umkomaasriver1.jpg

Umkomaas2.jpg

MeonBridge.jpg


And from there it was into Himeville, and then a quick double back to Underberg, to see a friend whom I hadnâ??t seen for around 12 years. Fire-Bucket was â??Christenedâ? here, with itâ??s first Hansa!
Imagine waking up to this view in the morning (excluding WDâ??s)
JonW1stbeer.jpg

1stbeerUnderberg.jpg


We then pushed on back to Himeville and through to Sani border control (You do need passports!) The road to the border post is under construction, with lots of graders and dump trucks etc. Not to mention idiot cage drivers! The closer you get to the border post, the worse the road becomes, but nothing that a WD canâ??t handle!
The border control was quiet, and after a quick sip of juice from Fire-Bucket (It was juice!) we had or passports stamped and we were â??Up, up and away!â?
The pass itself is not too bad, there is the occasional rocky section and a few splashes here and there, but all in all, a nice, not too technical ride. There was a Mountain Bike  race on though, so there was quite a bit of â??trafficâ? in the form of  (silly) cyclistâ??s and their seconds, but they were a chatty bunch and I really take my hat off to them for just attempting Sani on a MTB! Well done guys and gals!

Border Post
SaniborderOrangejuice.jpg

Silly Cyclists
Sillycyclists.jpg

Halfway up

Halfwayupcyclists.jpg

Twisty bits
Oneofthehairpins.jpg


Made It!! Sani chalets/ pub, is the highest pub in Africa, and I think this was the main aim of our trip, to get Fire-Bucket baptized in true WD style.
Madeit.jpg

Theonwevebeenwaitingfor.jpg


Good stuff, this Maluti Lager!
1stMalutilager.jpg

Cheers Fire-bucket!

CheersFire-bucket.jpg

There are some stunning views from up there on the sun deck

From there, we took a quick jaunt into Lesotho, and then it was back down again! Again, nothing too difficult, just keep your wits about you and watch the front brake! (And silly Cyclists!)
Goingdown.jpg

We even found a novel way of cooling the brakes down!!
Water-coolingnearthebottom.jpg

Maybe I should change my name to Splashback?

From here it was a fairly straight forward ride back to Himeville for lunch and a Golden Throat Charmer!! As we pulled up outside the pub we saw a Dakar and two other KLRâ??s parked outside, so we went in and introduced ourselves, and were soon shooting the breeze with three potentially new WDâ??s! Nice meeting you guys! Fire-Bucket even got in on the action!
LunchinHimeville.jpg


Lunch was excellent, and the Golden Throat Charmers worked wonders too! This is one pub that is very consistent as far as food quality and friendliness goes! As Arnie said
â?? Iâ??ll be backâ?

We hit the road at back to Maritzburra via Loteni/Kamberg/Nottingham road and down the old road through Balgowan and then into Hilton where JonW branched off, and I carried on into PmBurg.
As we hit the Cedara flats, just outside Howick, my bike went onto reserve. I looked at my trip meterâ?¦.400 kâ??s on the button! Not too bad on one tank, considering the way weâ??d been riding.
My thanks to JonW for the company and helping get Fire-Bucket there and back in one piece! Cheers Bud!
Hopefully, this is the first of many Fire-Bucket adventures, and I think we could have fun with this!
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