bud500 (R.I.P)
Grey Hound
Out of the blue I had to get to Maselspoort (just outside Bloemfontein) for a 2 day business conference. Taking a look at my map and drawing a straight line connecting Durban and Bloem, guess what is slap in the middle?? Yes the line goes through Sani Pass and Maseru, now how tempting is that... 8)
As I did not want to be late for business I left on Wednesday afternoon and took the tar route around Lesotho through Illovo, Pietermaritzburg, Nottingham Road, Mooiriver, Winterton, Bergville then the N5 to Senekal, my stop for the night.
This is about 30km from Toti.
And me, trying a new lense.
On top of Oliviershoek Pass close to Sterkfontein Dam.
It was getting late so I pushed on through Kestell and Bethlehem to Senekal for my stop with friends.
The next morning I only had about 180km to go and decided to take at least some scenic routes in.
On the road between Senekal and Winburg.
The entertaining road between Verkeerdevlei and Maselspoort.
What started out as an easy early morning jaunt quickly turned into me riding the Dakar Rally :twisted:
So from Thursday to Saturday morning was almost all business and thus no pics. My Saturday started a bit late due to a bit less business Friday evening. But as I was doing mostly tar and planning to sleep at Katse, no problem right...... :?
The ride from Bloem through Thaba Nchu to Maseru was uneventful, although a bit shaky. After a quick lunch at KFC and stocking up on some drinks I set out on the wrong road and did a 100km loop. Got back, refueled again then found the turn off to Roma.
Still on the tar, and man what a road.
The lowlands I just came from, the last flat landscape for a while.
On my way to Thaba Tseka I got a thorough soaking, luckily still on tar. And the dirt started about 50km before I thought it would. There is some major construction happening on this road and some parts have to be done in 1 st gear. I was battling to average more than 40km/h and was losing sunlight fast.
No matter where you stop you are never alone for long.
After trying to make up some time and hampered by wet gravel roads I rode into Thaba Tseka at 18h45 on Saturday evening. Not a chance of me riding the 57km to Katse in the dark so I opted for the Thaba Tseka Hotel.
Afterall I only needed a comfy bed and some sustenance. It was also getting cold out.
Sunday morning I am up nice and early and on my way after a Fanta Orange, Snacker and cereal bar. Refueled quickly and hit the road in the very crisp mountain air.
The scenes enroute to Sani was breathtaking. No straight roads in sight and lots of low level bridge crossings. I was slightly apprehensive about getting lost as there were loads of splits in the road and no signage.
On top of the world.
Stunning scenery.
About 20km to go to Sani and the road was great.
You just have to take this pic when you get there, sorry.
This rider impressed, doing almost all of Sani 2 up.
Only one word to describe Sani at the moment, LOOSE. The surface was really rocky and very loose. I locked the front, the rear or both a few times.
From the SA border for about 10km the road was sort of graded which just meant lots of loose stones and no smooth lines. And construction has started for about 10km from the tar.
The rest of the ride through Himeville, Underberg and Ixopo to the coast was fun, but after another 7hrs in the saddle I wanted to push on, so no pics.
As my first proper solo adventure trip it was fun. But I think sharing some of the scenery with a fellow rider is better. These places are so close to home and we don't get out there often enough.
Now to just recall the business part of the trip...... :wink:
As I did not want to be late for business I left on Wednesday afternoon and took the tar route around Lesotho through Illovo, Pietermaritzburg, Nottingham Road, Mooiriver, Winterton, Bergville then the N5 to Senekal, my stop for the night.
This is about 30km from Toti.
And me, trying a new lense.
On top of Oliviershoek Pass close to Sterkfontein Dam.
It was getting late so I pushed on through Kestell and Bethlehem to Senekal for my stop with friends.
The next morning I only had about 180km to go and decided to take at least some scenic routes in.
On the road between Senekal and Winburg.
The entertaining road between Verkeerdevlei and Maselspoort.
What started out as an easy early morning jaunt quickly turned into me riding the Dakar Rally :twisted:
So from Thursday to Saturday morning was almost all business and thus no pics. My Saturday started a bit late due to a bit less business Friday evening. But as I was doing mostly tar and planning to sleep at Katse, no problem right...... :?
The ride from Bloem through Thaba Nchu to Maseru was uneventful, although a bit shaky. After a quick lunch at KFC and stocking up on some drinks I set out on the wrong road and did a 100km loop. Got back, refueled again then found the turn off to Roma.
Still on the tar, and man what a road.
The lowlands I just came from, the last flat landscape for a while.
On my way to Thaba Tseka I got a thorough soaking, luckily still on tar. And the dirt started about 50km before I thought it would. There is some major construction happening on this road and some parts have to be done in 1 st gear. I was battling to average more than 40km/h and was losing sunlight fast.
No matter where you stop you are never alone for long.
After trying to make up some time and hampered by wet gravel roads I rode into Thaba Tseka at 18h45 on Saturday evening. Not a chance of me riding the 57km to Katse in the dark so I opted for the Thaba Tseka Hotel.
Afterall I only needed a comfy bed and some sustenance. It was also getting cold out.
Sunday morning I am up nice and early and on my way after a Fanta Orange, Snacker and cereal bar. Refueled quickly and hit the road in the very crisp mountain air.
The scenes enroute to Sani was breathtaking. No straight roads in sight and lots of low level bridge crossings. I was slightly apprehensive about getting lost as there were loads of splits in the road and no signage.
On top of the world.
Stunning scenery.
About 20km to go to Sani and the road was great.
You just have to take this pic when you get there, sorry.
This rider impressed, doing almost all of Sani 2 up.
Only one word to describe Sani at the moment, LOOSE. The surface was really rocky and very loose. I locked the front, the rear or both a few times.
From the SA border for about 10km the road was sort of graded which just meant lots of loose stones and no smooth lines. And construction has started for about 10km from the tar.
The rest of the ride through Himeville, Underberg and Ixopo to the coast was fun, but after another 7hrs in the saddle I wanted to push on, so no pics.
As my first proper solo adventure trip it was fun. But I think sharing some of the scenery with a fellow rider is better. These places are so close to home and we don't get out there often enough.
Now to just recall the business part of the trip...... :wink:
