After last weekend’s amazing ride onto Ngilanyoni mountain, I was all fired up to see if we could find a way to the top of the long flat-topped mountain a few kilometres North of the much-visited Nanda (Matata) mountain.
I have to report that we failed to find a track up there, but it was a helluva lot of fun failing, and the good news is that I now have another reason to visit my favourite valley and try again.
The ride was planned with a few objectives. The first was to ride a track from New Germany down to the new bridge over the Mgeni river between Kwadebeka and Kwamashu. At the moment this is just an impressive bridge in the middle of nowhere, but I believe the bridge is part of a long-term plan to build a freeway from the Pinetown/New Germany area to the rapidly expanding Gateway & Umhlanga areas to relieve the pressure on the M19, N2 and N3 freeways. IanTheTooth had kindly posted the track a few weeks ago, and I am pleased that Ugie suggested we ride it as it turned out to be a lot of fun.
I also asked The Badger to show me Butlers farm, which I had never visited but I have seen in a few RRs and picks.
We were then going to go mountain climbing North of Nanda, and then meander home through the Valley.
It ended up a really great day, and thanks for the guys who came along – never took an “inventory” of bikes and riders, but I think we were seven bikes, and I’m sure they will check in over the next few days.
A few pics from me from the ride.
Ugie at the start.
Boys will be boys, and a deserted new bridge is a great place to wheelie a 1150
The view South from the new bridge
Looking North
The pack on the bridge
A small waterfall near the bridge
Riding through the cemetery – lots of new graves.
A small low water bridge over the Mgeni
Climbing a stony road up to Butler’s farm
Onto the open fields on the hill-top
I then realized that the F800 behind me was missing, so I turned back and found the reason. A nasty piece of wire sticking from the back Heidi. We had no choice but to pull it out and the psssshhh told us we had repair work.
Tyre levers, patch and pump did the trick, and about 40- mins later we riding the hill again.
(funny how easy it is to fix someone else's puncture, but when I had one on the Tenere, I had to be towed home
)
The view from the deserted lounge of the farmhouse. Badger can tell the story, but after a spate of robberies the owners just gave up and left.
We then headed towards Nanda to climb the mountain. This was a dead-end, but a nice ride anyway.
This –err-road is a routable road in mapsource, but proved quite tricky, steep and rutted. The two lighter bikes, myself on the 660 and Ugie on the Dakar got through, but the other big bikes decided to head back.
We found a way around back to them, and it was cappuccino time.
The Badger found us a really nice road back to the Comrades route between Drummond and Botha’s Hill.
The photographer being photographed.
The Mgeni above Inanda Dam.
The track Home – great riding area.
I have to report that we failed to find a track up there, but it was a helluva lot of fun failing, and the good news is that I now have another reason to visit my favourite valley and try again.
The ride was planned with a few objectives. The first was to ride a track from New Germany down to the new bridge over the Mgeni river between Kwadebeka and Kwamashu. At the moment this is just an impressive bridge in the middle of nowhere, but I believe the bridge is part of a long-term plan to build a freeway from the Pinetown/New Germany area to the rapidly expanding Gateway & Umhlanga areas to relieve the pressure on the M19, N2 and N3 freeways. IanTheTooth had kindly posted the track a few weeks ago, and I am pleased that Ugie suggested we ride it as it turned out to be a lot of fun.
I also asked The Badger to show me Butlers farm, which I had never visited but I have seen in a few RRs and picks.
We were then going to go mountain climbing North of Nanda, and then meander home through the Valley.
It ended up a really great day, and thanks for the guys who came along – never took an “inventory” of bikes and riders, but I think we were seven bikes, and I’m sure they will check in over the next few days.
A few pics from me from the ride.
Ugie at the start.
Boys will be boys, and a deserted new bridge is a great place to wheelie a 1150
The view South from the new bridge
Looking North
The pack on the bridge
A small waterfall near the bridge
Riding through the cemetery – lots of new graves.
A small low water bridge over the Mgeni
Climbing a stony road up to Butler’s farm
Onto the open fields on the hill-top
I then realized that the F800 behind me was missing, so I turned back and found the reason. A nasty piece of wire sticking from the back Heidi. We had no choice but to pull it out and the psssshhh told us we had repair work.
Tyre levers, patch and pump did the trick, and about 40- mins later we riding the hill again.
(funny how easy it is to fix someone else's puncture, but when I had one on the Tenere, I had to be towed home
)
The view from the deserted lounge of the farmhouse. Badger can tell the story, but after a spate of robberies the owners just gave up and left.
We then headed towards Nanda to climb the mountain. This was a dead-end, but a nice ride anyway.
This –err-road is a routable road in mapsource, but proved quite tricky, steep and rutted. The two lighter bikes, myself on the 660 and Ugie on the Dakar got through, but the other big bikes decided to head back.
We found a way around back to them, and it was cappuccino time.
The Badger found us a really nice road back to the Comrades route between Drummond and Botha’s Hill.
The photographer being photographed.
The Mgeni above Inanda Dam.
The track Home – great riding area.
