Wrong way round

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HHHusky

Pack Dog
Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
244
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0
Location
Melbourne
Bike
Husqvarna (all models)
Around Christmas each year we head down to the in-laws in Port Edward, and spend a few days being fried on the beach while trying to stop our little mermaids from turning into fish food. Although certainly relaxing, I have always had the nagging suspicion that we should spend less time on the beach and more time exploring this part of the world. So this year we decided to do it a bit differently, with the Husky and Pajero joining us on this trip ;D

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First chance I had the Husky was off-loaded, and I was over the Mtamvuna River into the Eastern Cape (old Transkei.) I climbed a long winding track on the hill opposite the Wild Coast Casino Entrance â?? what a view :eek:

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From there on I headed inland, with green rolling hills as far as the eye can see

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The road wound through fields of grass, sugarcane plantations, and deep valleys with clumps of natural forest. Not many people about, and after about an hour I got the Greenville Hospital, where I turned around and headed back home. As I thought â?? breast is better!

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Two days later I took the coastal road again, and I randomly selected a gravel road heading in the general direction of the sea

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This road soon split into a maze of smaller two-spoor tracks heading randomly into the hills. See the sea sticking out above the red roof â?? how far can it be? Eeny meany mini mo, which way am I gonna go

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Soon the two-spoor started petering out, and it was replaced by some wonderful single track winding through the hill connecting the smaller villages. After following one of these tracks for a while the track dropped into a steep valley, and got to this rocky drop-off. Going down was no problem, but there was no way of coming back this way. The drop-offs are deceptively high, and there was a rocky hill on the left and a swampy river on the right. Common sense did not prevail, so down I went, and I followed the track until I found a spot to cross the little river

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The crossing point was a nice mix of rock, snotty black clay and steep climb to get out, and with much mud-flinging and leg flaying I managed to get over, much to the amusement of the locals

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Then more single track, and here I hit some heavy traffic at another river crossing

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After about an hour of this wonderful stuff I got to the top of a hill, and I realized that I was never going to reach the sea today - doesn't seem much closer does it ;D

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So I headed back inland, and made my way back to the main road. A few hours of magical riding, and I want to go back. Port Edward to Port St Johns, all along these coastal tracks, 2-3 days of biking bliss.

After a couple more days of slow roasting we headed home, but going the wrong way round. We headed into the Eastern Cape along the R61, and the road wound through beautiful green valleys. But the drivers are all insane, with their natural sense of self preservation dulled by some of the local ganja. We hit gravel at Mount Frere, heading in the general direction of Mount Fletcher, and the Husky was offloaded

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What followed was a long, hot and dusty ride through the foothills of the Drakensburg, with some amazing views along the way

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And for Megan

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General happiness at reaching the end of the road, and teaching my little girls all about responsible bike behavior

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Filled up at Mount Fletcher (dump), and headed towards Rhodes along Naudeâ??s Nek Pass. First half is an easy drive along the beautiful valley

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But then it was up

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And more up, till we reached the top

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Many Kodak moments along the way, but as we had a Canon it started misbehaving, and Nokia moments will have to do. (Tip - take spare batteries). Because my wife was following with the Pajero and trailer the pace was really slow, which gave plenty time to sight-see along the way, and I was amazed by the beauty of the place. I also loved to huge smile on my wifeâ??s face when we reached the top â?? not an easy trip with the empty trailer bouncing along behinds, but she was clearly enjoying it. Ok, so the smile wasnâ??t quite as big as the time I dropped the bike in front of the Pajero while pulling off all windgat and cross-rutting myself and landing on my face, but still. Then panic set in, as it was getting late, we still had to find a place to sleep, and we had no food (not quite true â?? we had two mangoes, a Christmas cake and a box of chocolates, so in retrospect not sure what the panic was all about.) The pace hotted up as we made our way down towards Rhodes through more hairpins bends I care to remember, but it ended well with us having a few cold beers at the Rhodes Hotel, followed by a dinner of luverly fatty lambtjops. Nice place Rhodes, but really in the middle of nowhere. Next morning we headed west towards Barkley East, but took the R393 over Lundinâ??s Nek Pass, and some more stunning scenery. Not as high as Naudeâ??s, but the scenery was even better, and there were some beautiful sandstone formations along this route. At the top of the pass my roadcrew joined me for a picture (to be added as soon as I can find my cellphone charger! - DONE)

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And then down the other side

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From here we followed the Telle river all along the Lesotho border, and all of a sudden it was hot, dry and dusty again. We pushed on to Zastron, but then I called it quits as my derriere was on fire, and the bike was put on the trailer. Bought a kg of biltong, and we headed north through towns I had only heard of (Wepener, Ladybrand, Clocolan, Ficksburg, Fouriesburg.) Stopped for lunch at a farm stall near Clocolan, and met two guys on KLRâ??s who were doing a round trip through Lesotho from Sedgefield (â??â?¦ too many tourists this time of the year.â?) As they left I saw them look at the Husky on the trailer and shake their heads â?? Stofdonkie versus the Italian Stallion. We were due to spend the night at some mountain farm between Fouriesburg and Clarens, and when we finally got to the â??Receptionâ? at around 17:00 after a long long day I nearly got turned into a chew-toy by a psychotic 150kg boerboel hovering around outside. So we hooted to draw some attention, and all that happened was each time we hooted another dog came wandering out of the house. So we will wait five minutes, and then hoot again, and this went on for about 30 minutes until finally this twenty-year old half-blind and lame mutt came stumbling out. When we hooted again, the mutt felt compelled to howl. So we started playing a game to keep us busy â?? beep, hoooooooooouuuuww, beeep, hoooooooooouuuuww, bee-eep,  hoooooooooouuuuww - but after another half hour the dog started going hoarse and the game was no longer fun. So vaark you, hope your dog has laryngitis, and at 18:00 we decided to head home, stumbled into bed at 23:50 last night â?? Happy New Yzzzzz


 
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