- Joined
- Jan 24, 2006
- Messages
- 5,159
- Reaction score
- 345
- Location
- Brakpan, South Africa
- Bike
- BMW R1200GS HP2
Where is this fcuking gravel road? Frantically scrolling on the GPS while trying to maintain 180 km/h wasnâ??t easy, but I had to find the damn gravel road else I was in for a hop, skip and a jump.
As per usual I â??m getting carried away, so let me start from the start. Our fearless bike club, BMW Motorcycle Club Pretoria had it annual year end function this past weekend in Badplaas. Seeing that I have not done a decent trip since Mozambique last month, I decided to join the club on this one. Due to my own stupidity I only managed to leave home at 5 pm and was going to get to Badplaas at 20:13 according to my 276. I decided to up the pace a bit, ducktape over the plate and no camera was going to take my pic. Life was sweet, sitting on the N4 between Dronkwordspruit and Witbank at about 180 km/h when this kakie coloured KK suddenly spoiled my moment. As I tapped off, he turned around and headed back to fetch his fine book, and that was my sign to give it stick. As I went over the next rise, I could check this white car with blue lights giving chase so I new fun was to be had by all. Up ahead the Wilgerivier turn off loomed into sight and just past the T junction about 200m was a gravel road and then I would be in my comfort zone. As I turned right I was looking for the familiar turn off but someone had moved the road (WTF) and behind me the flashing lights was getting bigger and bigger. Frantically scrolling to find the next gravel road I was suddenly overtaken by this noisy vehicle and gradually pushed off the road. Damn those Kompressor Benzs' are fast :3some: Well to cut a long story short, he had to arrest me, I wasnâ??t going to be arrested and seeing this is the new SA, we settled outside of court.
eepwall:
The rest of my trip was even more interesting to say the least - riding at night in a mother of all thunder storms with a gail force wind trying to blow me off the road and roadworks between Belfast and Machadodorp all while being sprayed with rain from cars and trucks certainly ensured that I was wide awake when I stopped in Badplaas at around 20:40.
The majority of the club members were staying in the hotel and chalets, this is the BMW club after all, but myself and a handful other poor baastids had decided to do the camping thing. They were nowhere to be found, so I headed for my regular camping spot, pitched my tent and headed for the club braai. Unfortunately I was hopelessly late, so after a few toots I got myself some coke, a pack of ice and a packet of cheese and onion chips and headed for my tent to spend some quality time with my thoughts. Ya I know only alcoholics drink on their own, but seeing that I donâ??t go to meetings I donâ??t consider myself an alcoholic.
The spot I picked was under a massive thorn tree with space for ± 20 tents but nobody in sight.
Amazing how fresh you feel after a good night sleep all the while breathing fresh mountain air. Although it had rained one could see the area needed some more water, as the mountains, etc were lacking some green colour.
Saturday morning, myself, hh and Harry headed for a local restaurant, De Kletzen for a moerse breakfast @ R45 - real value for money before we headed for the surrounding areas. The GS guys from the club were also doing an outride but with 18 people in attendance we opted to ride on our own.
Our route took us East towards Swaziland as we wanted to do the ride up to the Bulembo border post.
En route we saw some amazing scenery and stuff. Hereâ??s hh pointing to the 7th wonder of the world, a 20mm thick solid brass plate which hadnâ??t found its way to the local scrap metal dealer â?¦.yet. Somebody had already tried, but so far they have not managed to loosen it.
All the rivers were in flood after the previous nightâ??s downpour and green was returning to the countrysideâ??s cheeks.
All the fresh air certainly aided this mother of a goat to grow to its size. It was the size of an Impala â?? huge mother.
Higher up the route was a little wetter, but the going was still fairly easy.
A shit day on the bike still beats an excellent day in the office, but this was a great day spend biking in beautiful countryside.
Awesome scenery, the higher we went up into the mountains.
Unfortunately some parliamentarian has decided to tar the road from Bulembo to Baberton, but fortunately the scenery was compensating.
We even had time to view some geological rock formations
That same fcuker who decided to tar the road also dropped a nail here and hh had to put his puncture repair skills to the test.
It was obviously not his first time for repairing a puncture and practice certainly makes perfect. The headband was to keep the sweat out the eyes as this is hard work for a toppie, while Harry and I provided moral support.
Between Baberton and Bulembu runs this old cable way which stopped working about 6 years ago. Small koekepanne were attached to these cables and transported asbestos between the two towns across border. Today all the steel just stands there and gradually rusts away. Hopefully some nature conservationist will decide to remove this, sell the scrap metal for millions and restore the country side to its former splendour.
In the bustling metropolis of Baberton on a Saturday morning hh promised to take us to a friends place high up in the mountains towards the south of Baberton. Unfortunately management of the African Pioneer Mining group had closed him down and the pub was gradually going to ruins.
hh who knows this areas like the palm of his hand decided to take us on a loop over the mountain and a back to Baberton down the Kruger pas or piano staircase as it was also known. Our route took us up, up into the mountains
still going up
through a very dense forest
smelling of wet pine
till we eventually touched the clouds
On top of the mountain there are enough roads to keep you busy for a full week. I wonder what it costs Sappi to maintain all these roads.
Amazingly we were on a public road as these old mile markers still graced the countryside.
I guess not every car will manage here
Going up assures that one have to go down at some stage and soon we were heading for the piano staircase.
Harry claims he had travelled very little off road, but he was doing a great job. Only afterwards he claimed that he almost shat himself a few times.
This was it â?? the Kruger pass or Piano staircase
��just enjoy the moment
In the old days the miners used to come down this road on donkey cars filled with gold. How the hell did they brake?
The 800 GS with hh in the pilot seat certainly ate the route for breakfast. What an awesum smooth bike. I like, except for the damn tubes and chain.
The road almost turns back on itself, Honey on the left and Harry on the right almost 20 meters below.
All this brought us back to Baberton and the Old Rock pub for a few cold ones. Go visit it â?? lovely place. Rose will serve you a cold one with a lovely smile, unless sheâ??s made it back to Boksburg by the time you get there. Sorry no pics.
Our party Sat evening was great, courtesy of Gonedown, Dot and club management and many prizes was handed out to individuals for things done good or bad. Sunday morning I was up at 7:30 and by 8 I was all packed and ready to rock and roll. Harry and hh were still fast asleep in their bungalow, so I hit the road to Chrissiesmeer. The road was graded recently, and after the rains it was smoother than a tar road â?? shit another lovely day in paradise on a bike.
This type of gravel road lends itself to flat out riding â?? awesum
Yes colour was returning to mother naturesâ?? cheeks.
Thanks to hh and Harry for the excellent ride â?? I had lotsa fun. Also to the club, thanks for all the organizing â?? lekker to just drop in and have a great time.
Disclaimer: Everything stated here is only fictional and has no resemblance on actual events. Thatâ??s my story and Iâ??m sticking to it!
See you all at the bash this coming weekend. Ainâ??t Life great? :ricky:
As per usual I â??m getting carried away, so let me start from the start. Our fearless bike club, BMW Motorcycle Club Pretoria had it annual year end function this past weekend in Badplaas. Seeing that I have not done a decent trip since Mozambique last month, I decided to join the club on this one. Due to my own stupidity I only managed to leave home at 5 pm and was going to get to Badplaas at 20:13 according to my 276. I decided to up the pace a bit, ducktape over the plate and no camera was going to take my pic. Life was sweet, sitting on the N4 between Dronkwordspruit and Witbank at about 180 km/h when this kakie coloured KK suddenly spoiled my moment. As I tapped off, he turned around and headed back to fetch his fine book, and that was my sign to give it stick. As I went over the next rise, I could check this white car with blue lights giving chase so I new fun was to be had by all. Up ahead the Wilgerivier turn off loomed into sight and just past the T junction about 200m was a gravel road and then I would be in my comfort zone. As I turned right I was looking for the familiar turn off but someone had moved the road (WTF) and behind me the flashing lights was getting bigger and bigger. Frantically scrolling to find the next gravel road I was suddenly overtaken by this noisy vehicle and gradually pushed off the road. Damn those Kompressor Benzs' are fast :3some: Well to cut a long story short, he had to arrest me, I wasnâ??t going to be arrested and seeing this is the new SA, we settled outside of court.
eepwall:The rest of my trip was even more interesting to say the least - riding at night in a mother of all thunder storms with a gail force wind trying to blow me off the road and roadworks between Belfast and Machadodorp all while being sprayed with rain from cars and trucks certainly ensured that I was wide awake when I stopped in Badplaas at around 20:40.
The majority of the club members were staying in the hotel and chalets, this is the BMW club after all, but myself and a handful other poor baastids had decided to do the camping thing. They were nowhere to be found, so I headed for my regular camping spot, pitched my tent and headed for the club braai. Unfortunately I was hopelessly late, so after a few toots I got myself some coke, a pack of ice and a packet of cheese and onion chips and headed for my tent to spend some quality time with my thoughts. Ya I know only alcoholics drink on their own, but seeing that I donâ??t go to meetings I donâ??t consider myself an alcoholic.
The spot I picked was under a massive thorn tree with space for ± 20 tents but nobody in sight.
Amazing how fresh you feel after a good night sleep all the while breathing fresh mountain air. Although it had rained one could see the area needed some more water, as the mountains, etc were lacking some green colour.
Saturday morning, myself, hh and Harry headed for a local restaurant, De Kletzen for a moerse breakfast @ R45 - real value for money before we headed for the surrounding areas. The GS guys from the club were also doing an outride but with 18 people in attendance we opted to ride on our own.
Our route took us East towards Swaziland as we wanted to do the ride up to the Bulembo border post.
En route we saw some amazing scenery and stuff. Hereâ??s hh pointing to the 7th wonder of the world, a 20mm thick solid brass plate which hadnâ??t found its way to the local scrap metal dealer â?¦.yet. Somebody had already tried, but so far they have not managed to loosen it.
All the rivers were in flood after the previous nightâ??s downpour and green was returning to the countrysideâ??s cheeks.
All the fresh air certainly aided this mother of a goat to grow to its size. It was the size of an Impala â?? huge mother.
Higher up the route was a little wetter, but the going was still fairly easy.
A shit day on the bike still beats an excellent day in the office, but this was a great day spend biking in beautiful countryside.
Awesome scenery, the higher we went up into the mountains.
Unfortunately some parliamentarian has decided to tar the road from Bulembo to Baberton, but fortunately the scenery was compensating.
We even had time to view some geological rock formations
That same fcuker who decided to tar the road also dropped a nail here and hh had to put his puncture repair skills to the test.
It was obviously not his first time for repairing a puncture and practice certainly makes perfect. The headband was to keep the sweat out the eyes as this is hard work for a toppie, while Harry and I provided moral support.
Between Baberton and Bulembu runs this old cable way which stopped working about 6 years ago. Small koekepanne were attached to these cables and transported asbestos between the two towns across border. Today all the steel just stands there and gradually rusts away. Hopefully some nature conservationist will decide to remove this, sell the scrap metal for millions and restore the country side to its former splendour.
In the bustling metropolis of Baberton on a Saturday morning hh promised to take us to a friends place high up in the mountains towards the south of Baberton. Unfortunately management of the African Pioneer Mining group had closed him down and the pub was gradually going to ruins.
hh who knows this areas like the palm of his hand decided to take us on a loop over the mountain and a back to Baberton down the Kruger pas or piano staircase as it was also known. Our route took us up, up into the mountains
still going up
through a very dense forest
smelling of wet pine
till we eventually touched the clouds
On top of the mountain there are enough roads to keep you busy for a full week. I wonder what it costs Sappi to maintain all these roads.
Amazingly we were on a public road as these old mile markers still graced the countryside.
I guess not every car will manage here
Going up assures that one have to go down at some stage and soon we were heading for the piano staircase.
Harry claims he had travelled very little off road, but he was doing a great job. Only afterwards he claimed that he almost shat himself a few times.
This was it â?? the Kruger pass or Piano staircase
��just enjoy the moment
In the old days the miners used to come down this road on donkey cars filled with gold. How the hell did they brake?
The 800 GS with hh in the pilot seat certainly ate the route for breakfast. What an awesum smooth bike. I like, except for the damn tubes and chain.
The road almost turns back on itself, Honey on the left and Harry on the right almost 20 meters below.
All this brought us back to Baberton and the Old Rock pub for a few cold ones. Go visit it â?? lovely place. Rose will serve you a cold one with a lovely smile, unless sheâ??s made it back to Boksburg by the time you get there. Sorry no pics.
Our party Sat evening was great, courtesy of Gonedown, Dot and club management and many prizes was handed out to individuals for things done good or bad. Sunday morning I was up at 7:30 and by 8 I was all packed and ready to rock and roll. Harry and hh were still fast asleep in their bungalow, so I hit the road to Chrissiesmeer. The road was graded recently, and after the rains it was smoother than a tar road â?? shit another lovely day in paradise on a bike.
This type of gravel road lends itself to flat out riding â?? awesum
Yes colour was returning to mother naturesâ?? cheeks.
Thanks to hh and Harry for the excellent ride â?? I had lotsa fun. Also to the club, thanks for all the organizing â?? lekker to just drop in and have a great time.
Disclaimer: Everything stated here is only fictional and has no resemblance on actual events. Thatâ??s my story and Iâ??m sticking to it!
See you all at the bash this coming weekend. Ainâ??t Life great? :ricky:
