- Joined
- Aug 28, 2006
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- 7,436
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- Location
- Hilton KZN
- Bike
- Boss Hoss (all models)
The idea for this trip started with a phone call from Kevin, a riding buddy of mine who is not a registered WD, but browses the forum from time to time.
"If I ever see another Solo Lesotho Ride Report of yours I am going to kick your ass" he says.
"What are you talking about?" says I, "I haven't done a solo trip to Lesotho for ages".
"Well I have just read a Solo Lesotho Ride Report of yours on the WD forum" he says.
So after having a look at the Ride Report section, I see someone has commented on a RR that I did over a year ago, bringing it to life again.
Reading the RR again made me decide that I needed to get to Lesotho and the Rhodes area again, so I called Kevin and we decided to go on the long weekend 1 -3 May.
I couldn't get away until late on the Friday, so the plan was to trailer the bikes to Cedarville, spend the night there and set out early the next morning on our bikes for Ongeluksnek Border Post into Lesotho.
We stayed at the Cedarberg Guest Farm, owned by Gerrie, father of Plaasjaap on the forum. This is a great place to stay, comfortable rooms at very competitive rates. We only arrived there at about 20h30, and knew that there is no restaurant at the farm and were preparing to get in the car and drive the approx 30km to Matateille to go get something to eat, when Gerrie said no man they have got plenty of food, would we like some mince vetkoeks that his wife had made that afternoon. This sounded like a fantastic offer which we jumped at. When it came to paying the bill Gerrie refused payment for the vetkoeks and koeksusters that he had supplied, saying they were on the house.
I would highly recommend this place, Gerrie can be contacted on 083 262 5464.
Some not so good early morning pics of the Guest Farm:
We left early and got to Matat before 08h00, unfortunately Kevin had a problem with starting his GS, so we went to Midas and Kevin bought a new battery and fitted it, but still the GS would not start.
What to do?
We decided to carry on with the trip as planned, it just meant that each time Kevin wanted to start his bike, the GS had to be towed by my KLR to jump start it.
We got to the Ongeluksnek Border post fairly early, notwithstanding our battery hassles.
Now, Ongeluksnek has been an enigma for me for the last few years. I first heard about it when reading MetalJockey's "Camel Man" RR a few years ago.
https://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124550
Shortly after reading this I tried going up the pass by myself on the KLR, but it was a failure, as I forgot my passport at home, and even though the South African border guard let me through without it, I only got about half-way up as it was wet and muddy and the pass was in atrocious condition.
It was therefore with a sense of anti-climax that I rode up the pass, now in perfect condition and a dead-easy ride.
Even though it was easy it was still exhilarating to be in Lesotho again, especially an area that I have never seen before.
This is the natural lake at the top of Ongeluksnek
The road from the top of the pass to where it meets the tar A4 is brilliant and must be one of the nicest stretches that I have done in Lesotho.
We got to the A4 and turned left towards Mount Moorosi, where we stopped for fuel. Had an uneventful ride to Tele Bridge where we crossed back into SA.
From Tele-Bridge we turned left and headed for Lundean's Neck and the DangersHoek Road, one of my very favorite parts of South Africa, and an absolute "must" to ride down if ever you are in the area.
From there we climbed up Lundean's Neck, which was spectacular as always.
After coming down the Rhodes side of Lundean's Neck we took the first turn-off to Tiffendel. It was by now quite late in the afternoon, so we did not have time to stop and take any pictures, which is a shame as this is a great section of road. After going through what seemed like twenty gates which we had to stop and open and close behind us we got to Tiffendel without incident.
From Tiffendel we took the track to Ten Ahead Lodge, where we would be staying for the evening. The track starts off fairly rough and rocky, with patches of mud along the way, but seemed to get better as we progressed. The only problem though was that the sun was quickly disappearing, and before long it was completely dark.
It is funny how some form of adversity always makes an experience more memorable than if things had been plain sailing.
This was one of those occasions.
Negotiating that track in the dark was not easy, and it was with great relief that we came upon the lights blazing from the windows at the Ten Ahead Lodge.
Now if the trip was made memorable by our ride in the dark to get to the Lodge, our stay there was memorable for completely different reasons.
The lodge is the ultimate in 5 star luxury and was a fantastic experience. The five course dinner that we had in the restaurant that evening was just perfect, a meal fit for a king.
I would highly recommend the Lodge to anyone looking to be spoiled rotten in an exotic location. The Lodge is situated above Naude's Nek, right on the Lesotho border.
Biker scum looking very out of place:
The view from my window:
Some pics of the Lodge
We left the Lodge early the next morning, as you can see it was very cold:
We headed down Naude's Nek to Rhodes, in need of fuel.
Naude's Nek was in great condition and enjoyable to ride as always
Unfortunately when we got to Rhodes we were told they had no fuel, so we had to change our plans slightly, and headed for Barkley East to get petrol.
The ride to Barkley East was easy and uneventful, nice gravel all the way. We filled up in Barkley East and heade out on the Lady Grey road.
About two years ago I was in this area and I by chance came down the Otto Du Plessis pass.
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=13556.0
I could see that it looked fantastic, but it was misty and raining so I could not see too much, so I have always wanted to come back and ride it again on a clear day.
It certainly did not disappoint, it is a very remote and unused pass, certainly worth the effort to get there
After coming down the pass we took a dirt road towards Elliott, and then turned left up the tar road to the Barkley Pass. Before the pass we saw a place on the left where we could get some food as we had not eaten yet. Had a burger here, which was ok, but would not rave about it, but the place was fine and situated in a nice setting.
From here we headed up the pass, then turned off after a few kilometers onto the Rhodes road and the turned off to the Baster Voetslaan Pad after a few minutes.
I have read good reports of this road from various RR's here on the forum and I was keen to try it myself.
Well all I can say is that I was not at all disappointed, it was great.
Here I must give credit to my riding buddy kevin. The skill with which he handled his big GS throughout the trip was awesome. Added to this was the fact that he was not able to switch his ABS off due to the problem with his bike's electrics, yet he managed superbly on all the dirt roads and passes we road. Plus he rode all of this in the knowledge that if he stalled even once he would not be able to restart his bike, as there is no way on earth we could have jump started the GS in this terrain.
Big Respect man.
Some of you might have seen him at the Alfie Cox Weekend where he placed well in the Skills Challenge on his GS.
This is the view I had of him for most of the weekend:
Maybe some credit should also go to my old faithful KLR, who did not complain once at having to tow the heavy GS each time it needed to be started.
The rest of the trip was very uneventful.
We got to Ugie, then hit the tar to Maclear, Mount Fletcher and Matat. Then loaded our bikes on the trailer at the guest farm and headed back home, arriving back here at about 21h30.
Man this is a great place to live!
"If I ever see another Solo Lesotho Ride Report of yours I am going to kick your ass" he says.
"What are you talking about?" says I, "I haven't done a solo trip to Lesotho for ages".
"Well I have just read a Solo Lesotho Ride Report of yours on the WD forum" he says.
So after having a look at the Ride Report section, I see someone has commented on a RR that I did over a year ago, bringing it to life again.
Reading the RR again made me decide that I needed to get to Lesotho and the Rhodes area again, so I called Kevin and we decided to go on the long weekend 1 -3 May.
I couldn't get away until late on the Friday, so the plan was to trailer the bikes to Cedarville, spend the night there and set out early the next morning on our bikes for Ongeluksnek Border Post into Lesotho.
We stayed at the Cedarberg Guest Farm, owned by Gerrie, father of Plaasjaap on the forum. This is a great place to stay, comfortable rooms at very competitive rates. We only arrived there at about 20h30, and knew that there is no restaurant at the farm and were preparing to get in the car and drive the approx 30km to Matateille to go get something to eat, when Gerrie said no man they have got plenty of food, would we like some mince vetkoeks that his wife had made that afternoon. This sounded like a fantastic offer which we jumped at. When it came to paying the bill Gerrie refused payment for the vetkoeks and koeksusters that he had supplied, saying they were on the house.
I would highly recommend this place, Gerrie can be contacted on 083 262 5464.
Some not so good early morning pics of the Guest Farm:
We left early and got to Matat before 08h00, unfortunately Kevin had a problem with starting his GS, so we went to Midas and Kevin bought a new battery and fitted it, but still the GS would not start.
What to do?
We decided to carry on with the trip as planned, it just meant that each time Kevin wanted to start his bike, the GS had to be towed by my KLR to jump start it.
We got to the Ongeluksnek Border post fairly early, notwithstanding our battery hassles.
Now, Ongeluksnek has been an enigma for me for the last few years. I first heard about it when reading MetalJockey's "Camel Man" RR a few years ago.
https://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124550
Shortly after reading this I tried going up the pass by myself on the KLR, but it was a failure, as I forgot my passport at home, and even though the South African border guard let me through without it, I only got about half-way up as it was wet and muddy and the pass was in atrocious condition.
It was therefore with a sense of anti-climax that I rode up the pass, now in perfect condition and a dead-easy ride.
Even though it was easy it was still exhilarating to be in Lesotho again, especially an area that I have never seen before.
This is the natural lake at the top of Ongeluksnek
The road from the top of the pass to where it meets the tar A4 is brilliant and must be one of the nicest stretches that I have done in Lesotho.
We got to the A4 and turned left towards Mount Moorosi, where we stopped for fuel. Had an uneventful ride to Tele Bridge where we crossed back into SA.
From Tele-Bridge we turned left and headed for Lundean's Neck and the DangersHoek Road, one of my very favorite parts of South Africa, and an absolute "must" to ride down if ever you are in the area.
From there we climbed up Lundean's Neck, which was spectacular as always.
After coming down the Rhodes side of Lundean's Neck we took the first turn-off to Tiffendel. It was by now quite late in the afternoon, so we did not have time to stop and take any pictures, which is a shame as this is a great section of road. After going through what seemed like twenty gates which we had to stop and open and close behind us we got to Tiffendel without incident.
From Tiffendel we took the track to Ten Ahead Lodge, where we would be staying for the evening. The track starts off fairly rough and rocky, with patches of mud along the way, but seemed to get better as we progressed. The only problem though was that the sun was quickly disappearing, and before long it was completely dark.
It is funny how some form of adversity always makes an experience more memorable than if things had been plain sailing.
This was one of those occasions.
Negotiating that track in the dark was not easy, and it was with great relief that we came upon the lights blazing from the windows at the Ten Ahead Lodge.
Now if the trip was made memorable by our ride in the dark to get to the Lodge, our stay there was memorable for completely different reasons.
The lodge is the ultimate in 5 star luxury and was a fantastic experience. The five course dinner that we had in the restaurant that evening was just perfect, a meal fit for a king.
I would highly recommend the Lodge to anyone looking to be spoiled rotten in an exotic location. The Lodge is situated above Naude's Nek, right on the Lesotho border.
Biker scum looking very out of place:
The view from my window:
Some pics of the Lodge
We left the Lodge early the next morning, as you can see it was very cold:
We headed down Naude's Nek to Rhodes, in need of fuel.
Naude's Nek was in great condition and enjoyable to ride as always
Unfortunately when we got to Rhodes we were told they had no fuel, so we had to change our plans slightly, and headed for Barkley East to get petrol.
The ride to Barkley East was easy and uneventful, nice gravel all the way. We filled up in Barkley East and heade out on the Lady Grey road.
About two years ago I was in this area and I by chance came down the Otto Du Plessis pass.
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=13556.0
I could see that it looked fantastic, but it was misty and raining so I could not see too much, so I have always wanted to come back and ride it again on a clear day.
It certainly did not disappoint, it is a very remote and unused pass, certainly worth the effort to get there
After coming down the pass we took a dirt road towards Elliott, and then turned left up the tar road to the Barkley Pass. Before the pass we saw a place on the left where we could get some food as we had not eaten yet. Had a burger here, which was ok, but would not rave about it, but the place was fine and situated in a nice setting.
From here we headed up the pass, then turned off after a few kilometers onto the Rhodes road and the turned off to the Baster Voetslaan Pad after a few minutes.
I have read good reports of this road from various RR's here on the forum and I was keen to try it myself.
Well all I can say is that I was not at all disappointed, it was great.
Here I must give credit to my riding buddy kevin. The skill with which he handled his big GS throughout the trip was awesome. Added to this was the fact that he was not able to switch his ABS off due to the problem with his bike's electrics, yet he managed superbly on all the dirt roads and passes we road. Plus he rode all of this in the knowledge that if he stalled even once he would not be able to restart his bike, as there is no way on earth we could have jump started the GS in this terrain.
Big Respect man.
Some of you might have seen him at the Alfie Cox Weekend where he placed well in the Skills Challenge on his GS.
This is the view I had of him for most of the weekend:
Maybe some credit should also go to my old faithful KLR, who did not complain once at having to tow the heavy GS each time it needed to be started.
The rest of the trip was very uneventful.
We got to Ugie, then hit the tar to Maclear, Mount Fletcher and Matat. Then loaded our bikes on the trailer at the guest farm and headed back home, arriving back here at about 21h30.
Man this is a great place to live!
