souljacker
Puppy
I got invited to a mate’s timeshare at a place called Verlorenkloof which is just down the road from Lydenburg and decided to make the journey there worth it and take as much gravel/dirt/sand road as I can get. The actual route was as follows which was not really what I planned but it turned out to be a really great ride.
The first half from where I turned off the R50 (Delmas road) till Verena was good dirt roads for the most part with some really bumpy bits and some very sandy bits in between. This combined with no real scenery makes
for a pleasant but not too exciting ride. I re fuelled at Verena and then the really good bits started. The dirt road going past the edge of the Loskop dam nature reserve had a surface that looked hard but once you rode on it became a soft sandy surface which made for a couple of anxious moments. I made it through
unscathed and had lunch at the Celtic Bistro outside the Loskop reptile park. The food was good and the owners very friendly as he also rides.
From there onward to Dullstroom. I veered off my planned route after chatting to the owner at Celtic Bistro and decided at Stofberg to do a loop on some dirt road that went back up the mountain just to get a little of
my planned route done. From Dullstroom I took a road to the Verloren vallei nature reserve (my gps was aiming for that mistakenly and not for the timeshare) which turned out to be really awesome. I saw some buck as I was making my way through to eventually meet the R577 which takes you down this amazing pass
where you can just open the bike up after being on the dirt for so long. This was unexpected and really one of the highlights for me. From there it was all sorts of roads that combined to make the shortest distance to Verlorenkloof where I was meeting friends.
Total length 435Km; Start time: 8:15; End time: 18:00. A really great days riding.
The ride back was on tar all the way but taking the back roads to avoid the holiday traffic which took me up and over the Steenkampsberg pass, through Roossenekal, Laersdrif, Rooikraal, Groblersdal, Bronkhorstspruit and home. Awesome riding as well especially the Steenkampsberg pass.
The first half from where I turned off the R50 (Delmas road) till Verena was good dirt roads for the most part with some really bumpy bits and some very sandy bits in between. This combined with no real scenery makes
for a pleasant but not too exciting ride. I re fuelled at Verena and then the really good bits started. The dirt road going past the edge of the Loskop dam nature reserve had a surface that looked hard but once you rode on it became a soft sandy surface which made for a couple of anxious moments. I made it through
unscathed and had lunch at the Celtic Bistro outside the Loskop reptile park. The food was good and the owners very friendly as he also rides.
From there onward to Dullstroom. I veered off my planned route after chatting to the owner at Celtic Bistro and decided at Stofberg to do a loop on some dirt road that went back up the mountain just to get a little of
my planned route done. From Dullstroom I took a road to the Verloren vallei nature reserve (my gps was aiming for that mistakenly and not for the timeshare) which turned out to be really awesome. I saw some buck as I was making my way through to eventually meet the R577 which takes you down this amazing pass
where you can just open the bike up after being on the dirt for so long. This was unexpected and really one of the highlights for me. From there it was all sorts of roads that combined to make the shortest distance to Verlorenkloof where I was meeting friends.
Total length 435Km; Start time: 8:15; End time: 18:00. A really great days riding.
The ride back was on tar all the way but taking the back roads to avoid the holiday traffic which took me up and over the Steenkampsberg pass, through Roossenekal, Laersdrif, Rooikraal, Groblersdal, Bronkhorstspruit and home. Awesome riding as well especially the Steenkampsberg pass.
