BlouVark
Race Dog
I wanted to spent Christmast with the family this year as I have'nt seen
them in a while, but I NEEDED to spent some time byself as well,
so I took the bike & headed out to Tzaneen where I grew up.
The road there was quite boring as I took the N1 all the way so it was quite uneventfull.
Except for the guy in his bakkie who skipped a stop street as I came blasting down George's Valley,
this about 6km's before I reached Tzaneen. :?
I took a quick ride through town, stocked up on some "refreshments" for the weekend as I wasn't
planning on going anywhere in the next 4 days.
The road to my sister's farm.
Small dam next to the road.
When I left for home a week & a half later, just the grass on the side of the road was visible,
the road under water because of all the rain the area had.
Lekker, the house is 2k's from the tar road.
The day after Christmast I finally got g@tvol of too much time with the familly & hit the road.
View from my sister's place going up Agatha.
This river runs just below the farm I grew up on. Me and a friend
who lived on a nearby farm used to spent a lot of school holidays
swimming & fishing at this spot. Ah, the memories :wink:
I think this one, she's flucked :shock:
After riding around all the places I used to know as a kid growing up here, I headed out to Duiwelskloof,
or Modjadjiskloof as it's now called. Fl... ah forget it. Anyway, after 16 years I guess the Alzheimers
lite have finally set in as I could not even find the road to the little waterfall me & my then girlfriend
used to visit on Saturday nights for some "quiet time":wink:
Merenski dam.
Road just past Coach House towards Georges Valley.
Looking back towards Letsitele Valley
The view from the Georges Valley road with Ebernezer dam in the distance.
Just for interest, the plaque in the bottom of the pic:
"For John Buchan (lord Tweedsmuir) 1875 - 1940"
"Two pictures I have always carried to cheer me in dismal places.
one is of a banking moon on the highveld, the sky merciless blue,
the brown earth shimmering in a heat wave......the other picture,
is the wood bush in the north Transvaal which lies beneath
Pietersburg and the eastern flats. You climb to it through bare
foothills where the only vegetation is the wait-a-bit thorn and
then suddenly you cross a ridge and enter a garden.....here is
a true lodge in the wilderness with on the one side the stoney
Pieterburg uplands and on the other side the bushveld.
The contrast makes a profound impression since the wood bush
is the extreme of richness and beauty.
I have entered the place from different sides........and on each
occation I seem to be crossing the borders of a Temenos.
A place enchanted and consecrate.
I resolve to go back in my old age. Build a dwelling and leave
my bones here..........Memory hold the door"
Up towards Wolkberg
See the contrast John Buchan spoke about as you cross the "ridge" on the
Pietersburg side
The ride up was fun but I was a bit disappointed with the view.
The road leads up to a locked gate at a plantation, so down I go again, this time turning off towards
Heanertsburg.
Rain clouds beginning to look threatening.
Looking back.
Standford Lake
View down from Magoebaskloof pass.
Took the dirt road from Magoebaskloof towards Debegini waterfall.
After paying R10 to go in, they wanted another R10 for the bike :shock:
The guys attitude pissed me off completely and it used to be free, I
asked my 10 bucks back & buggered off towards Houtbosdorp.
Small streams were plenty on the way up.
This road was simply awesome. The trees created such a thick canopy
that my gps lost signal a lot of times but it was welcome as even with
a thick cloud cover it was bloody hot and humid.
Small waterfall right next to the road.
John Buchan's words coming back again.
Bliss.
Another small waterfall.
A bit of a clearing, looking back down on the valley
Road conditions got better as I entered the plantaion towards Dap Naude dam
The sky was alive with lightning & I did'nt really like being right up the
mountain. I was concerned as I was really not looking forward to get
rain on the road back towards Cheerio as it is used by trucks, so mud would be guaranteed.
At the crossing I stopped for a smoke break, then all hell broke loose.
It pissed down in buckets but I relaxed a bit (idiot) as I was no longer
chasing clear skies. What's done is done :? I decided to forget Mooketsi and
rather take the shortest route out.
They don't have mud here. It's red clay that sticks like
sh@t to a blanket & slippery as hell.
Every now and then, you'd get a patch of "white" sand which had
amazing traction but as soon as you relax, you see red, then sky....
TKC's were useless in this crap.
A couple of times I had to scrape the mud out from the front mudgurad
as the front wheel locked which of course made things so much more
interesting and I forgot how many times the bike just slid underneath
me. I tried going REALLY slow, fast, did not matter. There just was
no control.
The camera was forgotten by now as I just struggled to stay upright.
The rain was relentless and I wanted to get out as quick as possible.
I came across two guys in a Telkom bakkie who was stuck in the mud.
I offered to help and they gave me one look and said I'm the lightest,
I drive, they push
Eventually got to a spot with some traction
& waved them good bye. I did'nt think taking pics of their situation would
have been in good spirit.
"Clutch Hill" :? The photo flattens this climb a bit but it was'nt really that
steep either, but BlouVark refused to go up :evil:
The TKC's just spun merrily in the mud. Not forward but side to side. I
even tried walking the bike but finally found that with just enough throttle
and clutch while sitting on the bike bouncing the back end, she started
inching forward with a lot of clutch smoke.
(Missing that riverbed now)
Finally some traction at the top.
They were'nt kidding :?
Smoke were still coming out of the clutch at this stage & it did not hook up :shock:
What a sorry state. I took a breather for about an hour, letting the
clutch and me cool off in the rain at the top of Clutch Hill.
I still had about 8k's to go before reaching tar and there were plenty
more slipping, sliding and falling before I reached it. I was tired and
did'nt give a damn about scenery anymore and my clutch was'nt doing
too good either. I eventually reached the Magoebaskloof road again and
waited another half an hour or so to let the clutch cool down before hitting
the road again. It was raining hard and the trip down Magoebaskloof
provided some real butt clenching moments as the TKC's really did'nt
come to the party on this day.
Two days later it was still raining as I returned home.
I shalll return.........................in winter.
them in a while, but I NEEDED to spent some time byself as well,
so I took the bike & headed out to Tzaneen where I grew up.
The road there was quite boring as I took the N1 all the way so it was quite uneventfull.
Except for the guy in his bakkie who skipped a stop street as I came blasting down George's Valley,
this about 6km's before I reached Tzaneen. :?
I took a quick ride through town, stocked up on some "refreshments" for the weekend as I wasn't
planning on going anywhere in the next 4 days.
The road to my sister's farm.
Small dam next to the road.
When I left for home a week & a half later, just the grass on the side of the road was visible,
the road under water because of all the rain the area had.
Lekker, the house is 2k's from the tar road.
The day after Christmast I finally got g@tvol of too much time with the familly & hit the road.
View from my sister's place going up Agatha.
This river runs just below the farm I grew up on. Me and a friend
who lived on a nearby farm used to spent a lot of school holidays
swimming & fishing at this spot. Ah, the memories :wink:
I think this one, she's flucked :shock:
After riding around all the places I used to know as a kid growing up here, I headed out to Duiwelskloof,
or Modjadjiskloof as it's now called. Fl... ah forget it. Anyway, after 16 years I guess the Alzheimers
lite have finally set in as I could not even find the road to the little waterfall me & my then girlfriend
used to visit on Saturday nights for some "quiet time":wink:
Merenski dam.
Road just past Coach House towards Georges Valley.
Looking back towards Letsitele Valley
The view from the Georges Valley road with Ebernezer dam in the distance.
Just for interest, the plaque in the bottom of the pic:
"For John Buchan (lord Tweedsmuir) 1875 - 1940"
"Two pictures I have always carried to cheer me in dismal places.
one is of a banking moon on the highveld, the sky merciless blue,
the brown earth shimmering in a heat wave......the other picture,
is the wood bush in the north Transvaal which lies beneath
Pietersburg and the eastern flats. You climb to it through bare
foothills where the only vegetation is the wait-a-bit thorn and
then suddenly you cross a ridge and enter a garden.....here is
a true lodge in the wilderness with on the one side the stoney
Pieterburg uplands and on the other side the bushveld.
The contrast makes a profound impression since the wood bush
is the extreme of richness and beauty.
I have entered the place from different sides........and on each
occation I seem to be crossing the borders of a Temenos.
A place enchanted and consecrate.
I resolve to go back in my old age. Build a dwelling and leave
my bones here..........Memory hold the door"
Up towards Wolkberg
See the contrast John Buchan spoke about as you cross the "ridge" on the
Pietersburg side
The ride up was fun but I was a bit disappointed with the view.
The road leads up to a locked gate at a plantation, so down I go again, this time turning off towards
Heanertsburg.
Rain clouds beginning to look threatening.
Looking back.
Standford Lake
View down from Magoebaskloof pass.
Took the dirt road from Magoebaskloof towards Debegini waterfall.
After paying R10 to go in, they wanted another R10 for the bike :shock:
The guys attitude pissed me off completely and it used to be free, I
asked my 10 bucks back & buggered off towards Houtbosdorp.
Small streams were plenty on the way up.
This road was simply awesome. The trees created such a thick canopy
that my gps lost signal a lot of times but it was welcome as even with
a thick cloud cover it was bloody hot and humid.
Small waterfall right next to the road.
John Buchan's words coming back again.
Bliss.
Another small waterfall.
A bit of a clearing, looking back down on the valley
Road conditions got better as I entered the plantaion towards Dap Naude dam
The sky was alive with lightning & I did'nt really like being right up the
mountain. I was concerned as I was really not looking forward to get
rain on the road back towards Cheerio as it is used by trucks, so mud would be guaranteed.
At the crossing I stopped for a smoke break, then all hell broke loose.
It pissed down in buckets but I relaxed a bit (idiot) as I was no longer
chasing clear skies. What's done is done :? I decided to forget Mooketsi and
rather take the shortest route out.
They don't have mud here. It's red clay that sticks like
sh@t to a blanket & slippery as hell.
Every now and then, you'd get a patch of "white" sand which had
amazing traction but as soon as you relax, you see red, then sky....
TKC's were useless in this crap.
A couple of times I had to scrape the mud out from the front mudgurad
as the front wheel locked which of course made things so much more
interesting and I forgot how many times the bike just slid underneath
me. I tried going REALLY slow, fast, did not matter. There just was
no control.
The camera was forgotten by now as I just struggled to stay upright.
The rain was relentless and I wanted to get out as quick as possible.
I came across two guys in a Telkom bakkie who was stuck in the mud.
I offered to help and they gave me one look and said I'm the lightest,
I drive, they push
Eventually got to a spot with some traction& waved them good bye. I did'nt think taking pics of their situation would
have been in good spirit.
"Clutch Hill" :? The photo flattens this climb a bit but it was'nt really that
steep either, but BlouVark refused to go up :evil:
The TKC's just spun merrily in the mud. Not forward but side to side. I
even tried walking the bike but finally found that with just enough throttle
and clutch while sitting on the bike bouncing the back end, she started
inching forward with a lot of clutch smoke.
(Missing that riverbed now)
Finally some traction at the top.
They were'nt kidding :?
Smoke were still coming out of the clutch at this stage & it did not hook up :shock:
What a sorry state. I took a breather for about an hour, letting the
clutch and me cool off in the rain at the top of Clutch Hill.
I still had about 8k's to go before reaching tar and there were plenty
more slipping, sliding and falling before I reached it. I was tired and
did'nt give a damn about scenery anymore and my clutch was'nt doing
too good either. I eventually reached the Magoebaskloof road again and
waited another half an hour or so to let the clutch cool down before hitting
the road again. It was raining hard and the trip down Magoebaskloof
provided some real butt clenching moments as the TKC's really did'nt
come to the party on this day.
Two days later it was still raining as I returned home.
I shalll return.........................in winter.
