Ten Years After

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Bommelina

Pack Dog
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AJS (all models)
Part 0: - A Trilogy in Two Parts, Ten Years After –
(1280 Words)

Daar probeer ek hierdie lank lank gelede reis verhaal publiseer, toe hierdie Forum die vermetelheid het om my in te lig dat ek te veel op skrif plaas. Verbeel jou 2000 woorde is te veel vir sy kapasiteit van iname.
Heelwat metodes om ‘n kat dood te tik en af te skil, so kom ons probeer weer.

- A Trilogy in Two Parts, Ten Years After –
(This is not about an English blues rock band – Woodstock, where did the years gone by?)

Iets om te lees: **
1. Terwyl jou koffie koud word.
2. Terwyl jou bier warm word.
3. Terwyl die ys in jou dop smelt.
4. Waneer die Baas nie oor jou skouer loer.
5. As jy niks beters het om te doen.
6. Waneer jy vervelig is.
**Skraap wat nie van toepassing is.

It was while reading the trip repport of DjfLoYd (Now how do you pronounce this name?)  https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=197593.0 That I have this recollection of a trip long gone done during my ‘younger’ days of DP Biking.

Lately, due to C.R.A.F.T.# Syndrome, (I forgot my passwords and my mail address has changed) I am more of a ‘Roof Kyker’, abusing the account of SWAMBO that I created in her name to enable me to buy the RedBarron (Honda Bushlander) for her from a forum member.

Any reason why a Guest is not able to access the For Sale section on the Forum?

(# Can't Remember A Fucking Thing syndrome. Usually happens more frequently the older you get. Happens in an instant, you are about to do something and all of a sudden you don't know what?)

This is a repport of a trip we have done nearly ten years ago this year. I wanted to post it many moons ago but never got to it, so I renamed it:  A Trilogy in two parts, Ten years after.

I have removed the photographs from the two-in-one repports to make posting easier, for me. I am a bit of a computor ‘gestremde’. This Cloud thingy, PhotoBucket and Draw Box sound foreign to me. Everytime I’ve been told to create an account, I am getting the heebyjeebies.
Following the written repports I will post the a few of the photographs as taken, in batches, and in chronological order. It will be a series of posts, a lot of it, so please be patient. It may take a day or two three.
So if you can refrain from replying, commenting till the end, thereby not loosing the posting continuity, it will be much appreciated.

Want to add to this that I was told that during March this year (2016)  a group of 4x4 enthusiasts attempted the same route but gave up after 3 hours time and 8km distance covered. Not that they are incapable, but the track condition has deteriorated a bit.
(Apparently published in some outdoor magazine)

So here it are:


NOT FOR KIDS WHO GREW UP WITH PLAYSTATION
The Wolkberg/Strydpoort Berge Adventure
(By hh)
27/28/29 October 2006

One off the Laws of Physics that Sir Isaac Newton has formulated many, many moons ago stated that for every action there is a reaction. There is also a theory, which stated that one action leads to another action. Chain Reaction, as it is known.

There is another law of nature that stated, “Gravity is a Myth, the Earth Sucks”. This could be the reason why a bike sometimes has this tendency to show its ‘Dark & Dirty’ side to the world.

After the Sani Pass trip in the peak rainy season with its flooded rivers and mud slides. Leading to the change of route Low Veldt trip due to Elephants, Rhino’s and an impassable river. Leading to the 8Pretoria trip. Leading to……..

The reaction to the previous actions has lead to the next action. It can also be labelled plain madness or temporally insanity. Or as Brian has remarked during the “madness”: ‘This is not for Kids that grew up with Play-station’.

This trip can be given many more names, a few spring to mind:
• Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread
• Ignorance is Bliss
• Madness takes it’s Toll
• Life is to Short to Drink Bad Wine
• The Weekend we all Kucked – (The wise words of Michael)

During my travellings and studying the odd 1:50 000 topographic maps of certain interesting areas in our country and still trying to decipher the mysteries of GPS navigation, I stumbled on a road less travelled a year or two, three ago, during one of my caving forages in the area. With a bit of research and on site investigations, more information was obtained about the road condition and the scenery.

(Topographic Map RSA Series: 2430AA Serala & 2429BB Bewaarkloof. From the Surveying General’s Office-hh)

But memory is a strange thing, you tend to remember the good and forgot the bad.

It was during one of our trips through the Lekgalameetsi Nature Reserve, that a plan has been formed... ‘A plan I said?” Nothing formulated but more a case of “Opsweep” and ‘I dare you’. As it’s been said in the classics “Talk is cheap but money buys the Klipdrift”. It can be done, we need three persons per bike to cross the rivers, the group must not be too large as we want to do it in one day, and, and, ……… and so this madness has seen the light of day.

Word were send out via the grapevine of the upcoming trip, old photographs were dug out of the archives, dusted off,  to wet the appetite and give a distorted idea of the route. A date was decided upon that suits the majority. In the interim the size of the group waxes and wanes as the time passes, due to various excuses real or imaginary.

The day of reckoning arrives and of the original eight or nine, only four turned up after an (un)eventful trip, dodging Taxi strikes, Police roadblocks, unroadworthy ‘no lights’ vehicles, drunken pedestrians, drunk drivers driving unroadworthy ‘no lights’ vehicles, potholed tar roads, stray animals, trucks with no tail lights, jay walking pedestrians and Taxies not on strike, at our prearranged meeting place.
A beer can, broken booze bottle, plastic bag littered, condom infested old picnic spot on the banks Olifants River between a nice stand of Tamboti trees enroute to Mmafefe.

There were Michael with his Honda TransAlp, Leon with his brand new previously owned Honda TransAlp. The number plate still displaying MP (‘Mathews Phosa’) instead of GP for ‘Grond Pad’. Brian with his Honda AfricaTwin (kitted with the semi smooth Anakee tyres) and me with my 650 Dakar.

After the customary greetings, we pitch our tents, starting the braai on the already burning fire’s red hot coals, while consuming industrial quantities Zama’s and Tafel lagers. It was rather late, or early that we went to bed, listening to the sounds of the bush. People snoring, others farting, some sleep talking about leaking mattresses. But we made it through the night, woken by birdsong, barking baboons and a white donkey scavenging in the riverbed for plastic bags, rusted tins and old newspapers to feed on.
Boy am I glad I did not bump into that animal on my arrival, (I was the first to arrive) would have looked like a real spook during the hours of darkness.

At seven we were packed and ready to start our epic journey. We stopped in Fertilis to greet my connection, Piet Mamba, before proceeding on our way.
(This is a story on its own from one of our previous forages into the conservancy-hh)

To Be Continued.
hh
 
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