- Joined
- Jan 24, 2006
- Messages
- 5,159
- Reaction score
- 345
- Location
- Brakpan, South Africa
- Bike
- BMW R1200GS HP2
Mid Life crisis is that period in life when woman develop menopause and hot flushes while men buy sports cars and starts dating 21 year old women once divorced 
My mid life crisis however causes me to take a look at a map and see all those weird and wonderful places that I have never visited, or would like to re-visit.
Excalibur had been threatening for some time to go and show us the Van Collier pass near Alldays, and with the riding day courtesy of our government on 9 Aug, it was decided we would take leave for the Friday and have an extended long weekend where we could ride to this spot to check it out. Then about 2 weeks ago our plans changed dramatically as I received an invitation to attend a night shooting exercise at 1 SA Tank Regiment, a unit of which I was a former commander, which was held on Friday night at De Brug training grounds outside Bloem. I asked Excalibur if he would mind if we changed our plans, but neither he nor any of the other guys who were going to join us on the Alldays trip had any complaints, so that was it. We were going to Bloem.
Seeing that we had four days, though, I decided lets go up Sani, ride through Lesotho and eventually end up in Bloem for a major pissup with the soldiers. A quick call here, an e-mail there and all was set for a trip to Bloem via Lesotho. Excalibur had a last minute change of plan, and Andre also could not make it, so in the end our group consisted of Zonkelnut, Ama Ride Ride, Antonie, Stef (How far till the tar roads begin?) and myself.
We met at Shell Ultra city on Thursday morning, and by 8 we were well on our way towards Sanitop.
Seeing that we had about 600 kmâ??s to cover for the day, we decided to stick to the black stuff till about Mooiriver, where we would take the road less travelled and eventually arrive at Sani. The N3 was quite busy, with all the major petrol stops buzzing and the Engen in Harrismith running out of fuel with some guys not able to fill their bikes.
Next generation soft luggage for a Harley dangerousâ?¦.
Lunch in Harrismith
Office for the day
We stopped in Warden for fuel seeing that most other places had no fuel. Really a one horse town.
Nice church in Warned
From there we headed towards Nottingham Road, where we had a quick beer before we tackled the dirt.
The local brew from Nottingham ���. Not quite my taste
Antonie was so exited about the trip, he never removed the tags from his new jacketâ?¦
The junction in Nottingham
Lovely scenic road from Nottingham to Himevilleâ?¦
A fuel stop in Himeville ensured that most of us could cross Lesotho without the need to refuel, and in no time we were heading towards the infamous Sani Pass.
Well the rumours that theyâ??re planning on tarring Sani seems to be true as the road towards the Sani hotel was being prepared for the black stuff, but according to the locals this was still a long way from actually happening.
We arrived at the SA border post at 4.20pm, they closed at 4 pm, but a bottle of whisky later, courtesy of the Zonkmobile, we were let through and by 4.50pm we had our passports stamped at the Lesotho immigrations.
Stef (How far till the tar begins) had a slight off, but fortunately no serious damage.
A few glueweins later and we were all talking the usual shit, but by 9 pm most of us had hit the sack as the dayâ??s long and exiting riding had taken itâ??s toll and we didnâ??t exactly have to ride around the block on Friday either, so instead of trying to be macho men we all hit the deck by 10 pm.
Lovely home cooked meals are served â?? R75 well spend
ARR and Stef were not holding back in the snoring department, so I opted to sleep in the lounge in front of the fireplace as my mattress had sprung a leak, and I needed to use the cushions of the benches to sleep on!
Friday morning we were up bright and early as I had asked the okes to be ready to leave by 8 am, so after a lovely breakfast we hit the road to Mothlokong.
By 9.10 am we were at the turnoff towards Thaba Tseka, all in high spirits, as we were slightly up on our calculated travelling time.
From here on things went a little pear shaped, as the road was being prepared for tarring and in several places we had to stop while a massive 6 wheeler was being loaded by a one arm bandit, or they had just blasted the rock formation and we had to wait for the bulldozers to clear the way.
I had originally hoped we could be in Maseru by 1 pm, but have to admit that Zonkel was absolutely right in prdicting there was no way we would get to Maseru by 1 pm.
Fuel stop in Thaba Tseka
Shebeen stop â?? same town
Local Pep Stores
Downtown Thaba Tseka
Certainly some of the most challenging roads I have travelled. Stefâ?¦â?¦ canâ??t believe you didnâ??t have an off on this section
We eventually rolled over the border post back into SA at 5pm and had to make up for lost ground, as the proceeding in Bloem was starting at 6.
We rolled into the School of Armour by 6 and by 6.20 we had all taken a shower and were ready to rock and roll with old friends. Excalibur and Andre had ridden down on Friday afternoon, so the entire group was together for the party which was about to start in all earnesty. Being former members we were treated like royalty, and parked on the shooting range with a cooler box and some liquid refreshments throughout the demo. After several oohâ??s and aaaâ??s, lotsa pictures taken we rolled back to camp for some serious partying. Thanks to Antonie for braaiing, but the rest is a bit of a blur.
Saturday we rolled back to Gauteng via several â??fuelâ? stops
and by 5 pm I was watching the Cheetahs thrashing the Bulls. Thanks to all who joined, I certainly had a ball, and Thank You God for bringing us all back safely!
My mid life crisis however causes me to take a look at a map and see all those weird and wonderful places that I have never visited, or would like to re-visit.Excalibur had been threatening for some time to go and show us the Van Collier pass near Alldays, and with the riding day courtesy of our government on 9 Aug, it was decided we would take leave for the Friday and have an extended long weekend where we could ride to this spot to check it out. Then about 2 weeks ago our plans changed dramatically as I received an invitation to attend a night shooting exercise at 1 SA Tank Regiment, a unit of which I was a former commander, which was held on Friday night at De Brug training grounds outside Bloem. I asked Excalibur if he would mind if we changed our plans, but neither he nor any of the other guys who were going to join us on the Alldays trip had any complaints, so that was it. We were going to Bloem.
Seeing that we had four days, though, I decided lets go up Sani, ride through Lesotho and eventually end up in Bloem for a major pissup with the soldiers. A quick call here, an e-mail there and all was set for a trip to Bloem via Lesotho. Excalibur had a last minute change of plan, and Andre also could not make it, so in the end our group consisted of Zonkelnut, Ama Ride Ride, Antonie, Stef (How far till the tar roads begin?) and myself.
We met at Shell Ultra city on Thursday morning, and by 8 we were well on our way towards Sanitop.
Seeing that we had about 600 kmâ??s to cover for the day, we decided to stick to the black stuff till about Mooiriver, where we would take the road less travelled and eventually arrive at Sani. The N3 was quite busy, with all the major petrol stops buzzing and the Engen in Harrismith running out of fuel with some guys not able to fill their bikes.
Next generation soft luggage for a Harley dangerousâ?¦.
Lunch in Harrismith
Office for the day
We stopped in Warden for fuel seeing that most other places had no fuel. Really a one horse town.
Nice church in Warned
From there we headed towards Nottingham Road, where we had a quick beer before we tackled the dirt.
The local brew from Nottingham ���. Not quite my taste
Antonie was so exited about the trip, he never removed the tags from his new jacketâ?¦
The junction in Nottingham
Lovely scenic road from Nottingham to Himevilleâ?¦
A fuel stop in Himeville ensured that most of us could cross Lesotho without the need to refuel, and in no time we were heading towards the infamous Sani Pass.
Well the rumours that theyâ??re planning on tarring Sani seems to be true as the road towards the Sani hotel was being prepared for the black stuff, but according to the locals this was still a long way from actually happening.
We arrived at the SA border post at 4.20pm, they closed at 4 pm, but a bottle of whisky later, courtesy of the Zonkmobile, we were let through and by 4.50pm we had our passports stamped at the Lesotho immigrations.
Stef (How far till the tar begins) had a slight off, but fortunately no serious damage.
A few glueweins later and we were all talking the usual shit, but by 9 pm most of us had hit the sack as the dayâ??s long and exiting riding had taken itâ??s toll and we didnâ??t exactly have to ride around the block on Friday either, so instead of trying to be macho men we all hit the deck by 10 pm.
Lovely home cooked meals are served â?? R75 well spend
ARR and Stef were not holding back in the snoring department, so I opted to sleep in the lounge in front of the fireplace as my mattress had sprung a leak, and I needed to use the cushions of the benches to sleep on!
Friday morning we were up bright and early as I had asked the okes to be ready to leave by 8 am, so after a lovely breakfast we hit the road to Mothlokong.
By 9.10 am we were at the turnoff towards Thaba Tseka, all in high spirits, as we were slightly up on our calculated travelling time.
From here on things went a little pear shaped, as the road was being prepared for tarring and in several places we had to stop while a massive 6 wheeler was being loaded by a one arm bandit, or they had just blasted the rock formation and we had to wait for the bulldozers to clear the way.
I had originally hoped we could be in Maseru by 1 pm, but have to admit that Zonkel was absolutely right in prdicting there was no way we would get to Maseru by 1 pm.
Fuel stop in Thaba Tseka
Shebeen stop â?? same town
Local Pep Stores
Downtown Thaba Tseka
Certainly some of the most challenging roads I have travelled. Stefâ?¦â?¦ canâ??t believe you didnâ??t have an off on this section
We eventually rolled over the border post back into SA at 5pm and had to make up for lost ground, as the proceeding in Bloem was starting at 6.
We rolled into the School of Armour by 6 and by 6.20 we had all taken a shower and were ready to rock and roll with old friends. Excalibur and Andre had ridden down on Friday afternoon, so the entire group was together for the party which was about to start in all earnesty. Being former members we were treated like royalty, and parked on the shooting range with a cooler box and some liquid refreshments throughout the demo. After several oohâ??s and aaaâ??s, lotsa pictures taken we rolled back to camp for some serious partying. Thanks to Antonie for braaiing, but the rest is a bit of a blur.
Saturday we rolled back to Gauteng via several â??fuelâ? stops
and by 5 pm I was watching the Cheetahs thrashing the Bulls. Thanks to all who joined, I certainly had a ball, and Thank You God for bringing us all back safely!
