16 Nights, 10 stops, 5622km – The last journey of its kind

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Rooies

Race Dog
WD Supporter
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
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Location
Johannesburg
Bike
BMW R1150GS
December 2010

After a few weeks of planning and preparation the 15th of December is finally upon us.  The wife and I are off on a trip that we have been wanting to do for long time.  In the back of our minds we knew it would probably be the last of its kind for many years to come, but more about that later…

Anyway, we are invited to a wedding in Paarl, and what better excuse than this to make 17-day trip of it!

Eeking out the most of our available leave, we work half-day on the 15th.  I ride in to work with the fully loaded bike (but I mean FULLY LOADED). It’s raining and manoeuvring the bike through Jo’burg peak traffic is interesting to say the least.  We have been listening to the weather reports in detail because rain is on its way.  Lots of rain.  If you can recall, places like Centurion were flooded the next day.  Well, all that rain came from the south, and we were heading into it.



We leave Joburg at about 1400 and it’s a dash to Bloemfontein where we are sleeping over at family.  We hit rain like you won’t believe, but there is no turning back, and riding in the dark, in the rain, is not an option.  We make it to Bloem just after dark, having seen a horrible accident near Kroonstad. These things makes me consider my mortality.  But we’re safe and we start to relax.

Our plan was always to sidestep the main routes where we can, the Jhb-Bloem dash was a necessity, but know time is ours.  We head out on the Jagersfontein-road at a leisurely pace, next stop Beaufort-Wes.


 
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