A Piece of South Africa

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

LeonDude

Bachelor Dog
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
10,278
Reaction score
300
Location
Gauteng - Centurion
Bike
Suzuki DR650
A Piece of South Africa
(Solo Op die Rug van my Basterbrak)

Day 1
Where to begin a ride report such as this?
I’m not sure where the beginning is, but I’m pretty sure it’s not with my bike standing outside the house, packed and ready and waiting. This whole trip probably started brewing in my mind as soon as I swung my leg over the saddle for the first time after breaking said leg.
With a light heart I pull out, and get all the way to Irene before I have to deploy my middle finger for the first time. Pretty impresive!
At the Vaal dam the roads are wet, but it’s not raining. Yet.
100_0421.jpg

The first dirt road, from the Vaal dam to Heilbron, is really bad. It was built using big stones in the mix, and these are now sticking out on the road surface, so that I have a choice between standing while riding or starting a thread about my balls aching when I ride bike. The fact that these stones are still wet from an earlier rain shower is not helping either.
A piece of Vrystaat dirt.
100_0424.jpg


I stop in all the little towns on the way down to get photies. I love stopping for photies often, because I use them as a screensaver on my computer, so that my memories are always close by. I won’t bore you with all my photies of the churches, but you can see them in the future in our gaming thread – Spot the Location!
The roads down are wet, but it only starts raining in Petrus Steyn.
The sky in Petrus Steyn. The rain started as I pulled out.
100_0431.jpg

The dirt road when the rain lets up for a moment
100_0434.jpg

The tar road – the dirt road was in much better condition!
100_0435.jpg


From here, everything is wet, most notably my gloves and boots. With myself and all my gear wet, I decide to rent a caravan instead of sleeping in the tent. A good decision. I have a few beers with my supper at the pub, then head back to the campsite. On the way back I have the absolutely brilliant if beer – inspired idea of parking my bike in the middle of the muddy road in the pouring rain and using my cell to take a photo.
Goodbuy cellphone, it was good knowing you!
The photos that caused all the cellphone problems.
DSC00626.jpg
DSC00627.jpg

The first day of my trip is over, and even though I’m wet I feel great. Runner might kill me for this, but I end the night with a Jack mixed with Appletizer.
The caravan leaks water, but it’s still better than a tent and I sleep while the thunder and rain crashes around.
Todays riding was fun, even though it was mostly tar.



 
Top