wooly bugger
Bachelor Dog
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2008
- Messages
- 12,655
- Reaction score
- 1,128
- Location
- Johannesburg
- Bike
- Buell Ulysses XB12
Not good at putting together a RR but here goes……..
JonW and I were at a shebeen party on the Friday night when he mentioned to me that his planned ride with one of the other KZN dawgs was cancelled. Fuelled by cheap wine I suggested that the two of us go for a ride on the Sunday………………
BIG mistake by me! Those of you who have been out riding with JonW will know what was coming my way! Nursing a rather sore ankle (courtesy of another JonW ride) I woke up early on Sunday morning wondering what the hell I had let myself into?
Too late and I hauled out every single orthopedic strapping device I could find and tied-up my ankle until it was rock-solid like a honeymoon prick. It was so tight I had to change gears with the side of my boot all day.
07h00 JonW rocks up at the meeting point. I had thought that we would just be doing a gentle ride through the KZN midlands stopping for the odd cup of tea…………Not a chance, says, Jonw….we are on out way to the Tugela Valley! Instantly I reach towards my heavily braced ankle and thoughts of imminent horror flash past my visor! What if, what if? I am 1 week away from a follow-up visit to the doc to re-assess the possible surgery to repair the torn ligaments and he has suggested an interim non-surgical rehab program of 4 weeks with the assistance of a bio-kinetics-guru.
Off we go towards the mighty Tugela via Karkloof, Greytown and Kranskop! Awesome gravel roads and JonW buggers off into the distance with a rather worried-looking me following at a pedestrian pace some distance behind. It was bitterly cold with the low winter sun low in the sky and causing me a number of semi-religious moments bursting out of a shady section into the sun! Like a chop I had forgotten to clean my visor the night before! JonW gets fed-up waiting for me and tells me to head-off first, he’ll follow and catch up later. From there we travel along narrow, undulating farm tracks and take in some spectacular scenery along the way (according to JonW!). I was watching the track like a hawk and almost over-shot the T-junction to the Greytown turn-off.
Greytown early on a Sunday morning is, well, quiet. Nothing is open for coffee! Like a girl I switch on the heated grips on the GS but I am still freezing! JonW reckons that there is a small golf-course-lodge place just outside G-town and we hop on the tar heading off towards St. Cathrine’s………………..but they are not open. Bugger that and we fly into Kranskop (what a 1-horse town……..) and take a short trip up to “Die Kop”. It is a massive semi-circular outcrop of rock and vegetation that towers over the Tugela In all its splendour. JonW is not big on taking photographs it seems and I rush through a couple of shots before we saddle up and begin the descent into the valley……….
The winding road down in to the valley is a mixture of dilapidated tar and sand in a 30/70 ratio. Why they even bothered I don’t know! Once along the river we take a short trip on some fast gravel roads to the famous Shu-Shu hot springs on an island in the middle of the Tugela. We go and introduce ourselves to some of the people camping there and the very kindly offer us some stuff to drink. The beers are cold and rather welcome. Some bloke is mixing a concoction that resembles Handy Andy and we get presented with a glass of the same. JonW battles through his dop bravely and we settle in with some more beers. The locals insisted that we stay for lunch and we packed in some divine steak, bacon rashers and lamb chops before we finally allowed to leave!
Up along the escarpment again towards Kranskop and I meet up with JonW just outside of Kranskop where he is getting rid of some excess beer. I stop briefly and as we are about to set-off I shout at JonW: your rear tyre is going flat! True’s nuts, he had picked up a screw into a rather newish-looking 606! Happy days are here again! Tried a “can-of-the-best-inflation-goo” but that didn’t work so we set off looking for a “centre-stand” in the adjacent cane fields. Bike propped up and rear wheel off in a jiffy, replacement tube in and then the long fight with rather short tyre levers sans any soapy water to ease the task. I had my electric pump out and all wired to the GS and we were set to go…………………nothing! The tube got pinched in our frantic efforts to get the last bit of the tyre on the rim. Some steel wires in the side wall of the tyre were exposed and these obviously also cut into the new tube.
Some of the Deliverance-folk that we had met earlier at Shu-Shu came past later and we decided to load the KLR onto a trailer headed for Blythedale Beach. JonW faced the PITA task of having to travel to BB the next day to retrieve his scooter. The two of us hopped onto the GS and managed to get back to Hilton just as the sun was setting. Despite the puncture issue is was a most enjoyable 350km ride.
Some pic’s to follow……………..
JonW and I were at a shebeen party on the Friday night when he mentioned to me that his planned ride with one of the other KZN dawgs was cancelled. Fuelled by cheap wine I suggested that the two of us go for a ride on the Sunday………………
BIG mistake by me! Those of you who have been out riding with JonW will know what was coming my way! Nursing a rather sore ankle (courtesy of another JonW ride) I woke up early on Sunday morning wondering what the hell I had let myself into?
Too late and I hauled out every single orthopedic strapping device I could find and tied-up my ankle until it was rock-solid like a honeymoon prick. It was so tight I had to change gears with the side of my boot all day.
07h00 JonW rocks up at the meeting point. I had thought that we would just be doing a gentle ride through the KZN midlands stopping for the odd cup of tea…………Not a chance, says, Jonw….we are on out way to the Tugela Valley! Instantly I reach towards my heavily braced ankle and thoughts of imminent horror flash past my visor! What if, what if? I am 1 week away from a follow-up visit to the doc to re-assess the possible surgery to repair the torn ligaments and he has suggested an interim non-surgical rehab program of 4 weeks with the assistance of a bio-kinetics-guru.
Off we go towards the mighty Tugela via Karkloof, Greytown and Kranskop! Awesome gravel roads and JonW buggers off into the distance with a rather worried-looking me following at a pedestrian pace some distance behind. It was bitterly cold with the low winter sun low in the sky and causing me a number of semi-religious moments bursting out of a shady section into the sun! Like a chop I had forgotten to clean my visor the night before! JonW gets fed-up waiting for me and tells me to head-off first, he’ll follow and catch up later. From there we travel along narrow, undulating farm tracks and take in some spectacular scenery along the way (according to JonW!). I was watching the track like a hawk and almost over-shot the T-junction to the Greytown turn-off.
Greytown early on a Sunday morning is, well, quiet. Nothing is open for coffee! Like a girl I switch on the heated grips on the GS but I am still freezing! JonW reckons that there is a small golf-course-lodge place just outside G-town and we hop on the tar heading off towards St. Cathrine’s………………..but they are not open. Bugger that and we fly into Kranskop (what a 1-horse town……..) and take a short trip up to “Die Kop”. It is a massive semi-circular outcrop of rock and vegetation that towers over the Tugela In all its splendour. JonW is not big on taking photographs it seems and I rush through a couple of shots before we saddle up and begin the descent into the valley……….
The winding road down in to the valley is a mixture of dilapidated tar and sand in a 30/70 ratio. Why they even bothered I don’t know! Once along the river we take a short trip on some fast gravel roads to the famous Shu-Shu hot springs on an island in the middle of the Tugela. We go and introduce ourselves to some of the people camping there and the very kindly offer us some stuff to drink. The beers are cold and rather welcome. Some bloke is mixing a concoction that resembles Handy Andy and we get presented with a glass of the same. JonW battles through his dop bravely and we settle in with some more beers. The locals insisted that we stay for lunch and we packed in some divine steak, bacon rashers and lamb chops before we finally allowed to leave!
Up along the escarpment again towards Kranskop and I meet up with JonW just outside of Kranskop where he is getting rid of some excess beer. I stop briefly and as we are about to set-off I shout at JonW: your rear tyre is going flat! True’s nuts, he had picked up a screw into a rather newish-looking 606! Happy days are here again! Tried a “can-of-the-best-inflation-goo” but that didn’t work so we set off looking for a “centre-stand” in the adjacent cane fields. Bike propped up and rear wheel off in a jiffy, replacement tube in and then the long fight with rather short tyre levers sans any soapy water to ease the task. I had my electric pump out and all wired to the GS and we were set to go…………………nothing! The tube got pinched in our frantic efforts to get the last bit of the tyre on the rim. Some steel wires in the side wall of the tyre were exposed and these obviously also cut into the new tube.
Some of the Deliverance-folk that we had met earlier at Shu-Shu came past later and we decided to load the KLR onto a trailer headed for Blythedale Beach. JonW faced the PITA task of having to travel to BB the next day to retrieve his scooter. The two of us hopped onto the GS and managed to get back to Hilton just as the sun was setting. Despite the puncture issue is was a most enjoyable 350km ride.
Some pic’s to follow……………..
