DjfLoYd
Pack Dog
With the recent long weekend, and an overdue promise to take the family away for a break, I found myself just outside of Memel. And somehow my
KTM 690 was there too.
I had booked us at Flintstones for a quiet weekend away. No electricity. No traffic. No noise (other than the kids). Lots of firewood and lots of wine.
I dragged my bike with because, well, because KTM. Because Memel. Because riding! The deal was though that I could not go riding the whole
day and leave the family all alone. So a quick loop was conceived on Basecamp and here are the resulting pictures.
(I did miss photos of two passes, LafrasHoogte and KoffieKloof Pass because I was enjoying the ride too much).
The route is easy and is big bike/pillion friendly. Watch out for some tight/switchback type corners here and there (as with most mountain roads)
and the occasional rocky rough patch (mostly on the Sundays River pass). Normandien is steep but easy with cement strips and the rocky section near
the top is a doddle with no big step ups or such like. I had a rather windy day and that can make it a bit interesting. Rain would turn most of these roads
to mud puddles I'm sure. The whole trip took me around 4 and a half hours with stops for photos here and there but not much else.
The route is 95% gravel. There is a short tar section just before KoffieKloof Pass if I remember correctly.
I did the route on a Sunday and there was a small amount of car/farm vehicle traffic on the roads so don't assume you are alone on the road.
Attached is the GDB file for your downloading pleasure.
The Route
BesteHoogte Pass Summit
Mullers Pass Summit
Sundays River Pass Summit
Collings Pass Summit
Normandien Pass Summit
On Normandien is the Ark View Point
The Free State/KZN escarpment. There was a strange "smog" in the air that smelled like a veld fire but I could not find the source.
The kind of night skies you can see out there.
View from the farm.
Playing around with the flash after some copious amounts of wine. In the dark. And cold. With the wife looking on as if I'm crazy running around in the pitch black
KTM 690 was there too.
I had booked us at Flintstones for a quiet weekend away. No electricity. No traffic. No noise (other than the kids). Lots of firewood and lots of wine.
I dragged my bike with because, well, because KTM. Because Memel. Because riding! The deal was though that I could not go riding the whole
day and leave the family all alone. So a quick loop was conceived on Basecamp and here are the resulting pictures.
(I did miss photos of two passes, LafrasHoogte and KoffieKloof Pass because I was enjoying the ride too much).
The route is easy and is big bike/pillion friendly. Watch out for some tight/switchback type corners here and there (as with most mountain roads)
and the occasional rocky rough patch (mostly on the Sundays River pass). Normandien is steep but easy with cement strips and the rocky section near
the top is a doddle with no big step ups or such like. I had a rather windy day and that can make it a bit interesting. Rain would turn most of these roads
to mud puddles I'm sure. The whole trip took me around 4 and a half hours with stops for photos here and there but not much else.
The route is 95% gravel. There is a short tar section just before KoffieKloof Pass if I remember correctly.
I did the route on a Sunday and there was a small amount of car/farm vehicle traffic on the roads so don't assume you are alone on the road.
Attached is the GDB file for your downloading pleasure.
The Route
BesteHoogte Pass Summit
Mullers Pass Summit
Sundays River Pass Summit
Collings Pass Summit
Normandien Pass Summit
On Normandien is the Ark View Point
The Free State/KZN escarpment. There was a strange "smog" in the air that smelled like a veld fire but I could not find the source.
The kind of night skies you can see out there.
View from the farm.
Playing around with the flash after some copious amounts of wine. In the dark. And cold. With the wife looking on as if I'm crazy running around in the pitch black