Peat
Race Dog
Lesotho, Underburg Trip Solo with HDR pictures.
I have been to Lesotho on many occasions, but this trip was going to be different.
“Different” I hear you say, how so? Well this time I took along a really nice camera to record some of the Mountain Kingdom. I wanted to try and show all those people that ask “Where did you go?” and then when I say Lesotho, they say “Why do you go there?” Well to put it simply, it’s a stunningly beautiful wild place, to get away from the hum drum, boring day to day schlep of life in Gauteng!
So in this report I will let the pictures do the talking and hopefully do the new camera proud.
Day 1
Before I was off I took a picture of my Rear Tyre, just to see how it faired on this trip.
I also got my verniar (don’t know how to spell that) out and measured the depth of the tread, and then wrote it on the tyre along with the mileage.
68557Km and depth 9.4mm See above, more on this at the end of the report.
The day of the trip dawned, I packed the final things into the tank bag and was off down the N3 to Golden Gate. Getting to Golden Gate down the N3 is boring, so as soon as I could, I was off onto the R23 just after Heidelberg and onto the dirt. Then onto Villiers, Frankfort, and Reitz.
I stopped at Reitz and took this picture of the local church.
I then went down the R57 to Kestell turned right onto the R712 and into the Golden Gate Highlands National Park.
This is the view on the left as you get into the Park.
This is a view looking East from one of the side roads that you can ride up.
This is the view looking East, a bikers paradise, just look at those twisties.
The view of the rock face just outside of Glen Reeman Rest Camp.
The same rock face from within the camp site. Yes that is the Moon.
Sun set looking East from the Camp Site.
Sun Set and my Bike
Autumn Shades rich in colour, with the moon over looking it all (Three Pic HDR)
Day 2
I was up early to capture the sun rise but was to-deep in the valley to get anything worth while.
So I turned the camera on the camp.
This is a Panoramic view of the camp from my tent.
I packed up and headed out. I went down one of the side roads looking for a short cut across into the mountains, but the road was bad and riding solo is not a good idea to explore little used roads that are barely passable. So I had to head back and ride a round.
I did however see some Zebra.
This colourful herdsman spoke good English and his blanket matched the surroundings.
So it was on to the Monantsapas Border Post.
The Monantsapas Border Post.
Just a few kilometres after the Border Post is some of the most beautiful parts of Lesotho.
In this picture I positioned the bike and the rock in a V, with the road going into the distance.
More of the same. The sheep are grazing next to the river, the Shepard is out of picture to the right,
This is his “office for the day” What an office view, I was asking myself the question, have these people with their simple way of life not got it right?
Just around the corner I happened upon this river and tree nestling in the mountains.
A difficult shot right into the sun, if I had time I would have camped in this area and waited for the sun rise or sun set to really exploit the beautiful surroundings.
But alas, a long day and a long way was still a head.
Much further down the road I stopped and took this picture, this is a typical Lesotho land scape,
with the mountains and road winding out in front of you, just saying open up that throttle.
Open up that throttle and explore me.
Further down the road is what I call The Face In The Mountain.
Face In The Mountain.
Then I joined the A1 Tarred road. Yes a tarred road, one day I will bring a BMW 1000 RR to this pass, just to blow all the cobwebs away forever!
The start of the pass. This is possibly the very best tarred pass in Southern Africa!
This is on the A1 just pass the Oxbow Hotel/Lodge.
Further down the A1 is the AfriSki Resort, seen here on the left in the valley.
I stopped for lunch at the Resort and took this picture.
Looking onto the Gondola at the base of the sky slope.
After lunch I headed out onto the A1 and then turned right onto the old mine road.
This road is like a highway, it has recently been scraped and is in pristine condition.
This picture is taken some distance down the Old Mine Road, as the shadows where getting longer and is an HDR comprising of three pictures.
Just prior to this, I had come around a corner and in the middle of the rode stood four horsemen.
I slowed down and waited for them to give me a gap to get through. I always wave at the locals, and raised my hand in friendship to greet them. Three of them gave me a gap to pass and where in various stages of waving back, but the fourth stood his ground, whip in hand, as if to challenge me. I was still moving forward, at a walking pace. I thought this is strange, I wonder what his problem is? I edged forward and slipped around the fourth horseman. He brought the whip down, it just missed me, but I was past, and accelerated away. I looked into my mirror to see him at full gallop pursuing me. I thought what is this all about? I contemplated stopping to find out what the fuss was all about, but another glance into my mirror convinced me not to bother and to get the hell out of there, which is exactly what I did! To this day I have no idea what I did to warrant such a display, maybe he, the one that chased me, was just out to have some fun with the dark invader on the steel horse.
The sun was getting low in the sky, I had more than 100Km to go to get to katse.
I got to the camp site behind the dam at about 19h15 in the dark. I have HID Zenon, bright’s and dim’s on the GS Adventure, they turn night into day, but because the road is so twisty, and hilly, they always seemed to be pointing in the wrong direction.
The wind blew like hell in the middle of the night, and the havens opened and the rain came down.
Fortunately I had knocked the tent pegs in as far as I could into the unforgiving stony ground at the camp site, and only one pig came out, so I stayed warm and dry.
Day 3,4 and 5 to follow.
I have been to Lesotho on many occasions, but this trip was going to be different.
“Different” I hear you say, how so? Well this time I took along a really nice camera to record some of the Mountain Kingdom. I wanted to try and show all those people that ask “Where did you go?” and then when I say Lesotho, they say “Why do you go there?” Well to put it simply, it’s a stunningly beautiful wild place, to get away from the hum drum, boring day to day schlep of life in Gauteng!
So in this report I will let the pictures do the talking and hopefully do the new camera proud.
Day 1
Before I was off I took a picture of my Rear Tyre, just to see how it faired on this trip.
I also got my verniar (don’t know how to spell that) out and measured the depth of the tread, and then wrote it on the tyre along with the mileage.
68557Km and depth 9.4mm See above, more on this at the end of the report.
The day of the trip dawned, I packed the final things into the tank bag and was off down the N3 to Golden Gate. Getting to Golden Gate down the N3 is boring, so as soon as I could, I was off onto the R23 just after Heidelberg and onto the dirt. Then onto Villiers, Frankfort, and Reitz.
I stopped at Reitz and took this picture of the local church.
I then went down the R57 to Kestell turned right onto the R712 and into the Golden Gate Highlands National Park.
This is the view on the left as you get into the Park.
This is a view looking East from one of the side roads that you can ride up.
This is the view looking East, a bikers paradise, just look at those twisties.
The view of the rock face just outside of Glen Reeman Rest Camp.
The same rock face from within the camp site. Yes that is the Moon.
Sun set looking East from the Camp Site.
Sun Set and my Bike
Autumn Shades rich in colour, with the moon over looking it all (Three Pic HDR)
Day 2
I was up early to capture the sun rise but was to-deep in the valley to get anything worth while.
So I turned the camera on the camp.
This is a Panoramic view of the camp from my tent.
I packed up and headed out. I went down one of the side roads looking for a short cut across into the mountains, but the road was bad and riding solo is not a good idea to explore little used roads that are barely passable. So I had to head back and ride a round.
I did however see some Zebra.
This colourful herdsman spoke good English and his blanket matched the surroundings.
So it was on to the Monantsapas Border Post.
The Monantsapas Border Post.
Just a few kilometres after the Border Post is some of the most beautiful parts of Lesotho.
In this picture I positioned the bike and the rock in a V, with the road going into the distance.
More of the same. The sheep are grazing next to the river, the Shepard is out of picture to the right,
This is his “office for the day” What an office view, I was asking myself the question, have these people with their simple way of life not got it right?
Just around the corner I happened upon this river and tree nestling in the mountains.
A difficult shot right into the sun, if I had time I would have camped in this area and waited for the sun rise or sun set to really exploit the beautiful surroundings.
But alas, a long day and a long way was still a head.
Much further down the road I stopped and took this picture, this is a typical Lesotho land scape,
with the mountains and road winding out in front of you, just saying open up that throttle.
Open up that throttle and explore me.
Further down the road is what I call The Face In The Mountain.
Face In The Mountain.
Then I joined the A1 Tarred road. Yes a tarred road, one day I will bring a BMW 1000 RR to this pass, just to blow all the cobwebs away forever!
The start of the pass. This is possibly the very best tarred pass in Southern Africa!
This is on the A1 just pass the Oxbow Hotel/Lodge.
Further down the A1 is the AfriSki Resort, seen here on the left in the valley.
I stopped for lunch at the Resort and took this picture.
Looking onto the Gondola at the base of the sky slope.
After lunch I headed out onto the A1 and then turned right onto the old mine road.
This road is like a highway, it has recently been scraped and is in pristine condition.
This picture is taken some distance down the Old Mine Road, as the shadows where getting longer and is an HDR comprising of three pictures.
Just prior to this, I had come around a corner and in the middle of the rode stood four horsemen.
I slowed down and waited for them to give me a gap to get through. I always wave at the locals, and raised my hand in friendship to greet them. Three of them gave me a gap to pass and where in various stages of waving back, but the fourth stood his ground, whip in hand, as if to challenge me. I was still moving forward, at a walking pace. I thought this is strange, I wonder what his problem is? I edged forward and slipped around the fourth horseman. He brought the whip down, it just missed me, but I was past, and accelerated away. I looked into my mirror to see him at full gallop pursuing me. I thought what is this all about? I contemplated stopping to find out what the fuss was all about, but another glance into my mirror convinced me not to bother and to get the hell out of there, which is exactly what I did! To this day I have no idea what I did to warrant such a display, maybe he, the one that chased me, was just out to have some fun with the dark invader on the steel horse.
The sun was getting low in the sky, I had more than 100Km to go to get to katse.
I got to the camp site behind the dam at about 19h15 in the dark. I have HID Zenon, bright’s and dim’s on the GS Adventure, they turn night into day, but because the road is so twisty, and hilly, they always seemed to be pointing in the wrong direction.
The wind blew like hell in the middle of the night, and the havens opened and the rain came down.
Fortunately I had knocked the tent pegs in as far as I could into the unforgiving stony ground at the camp site, and only one pig came out, so I stayed warm and dry.
Day 3,4 and 5 to follow.
