- Joined
- Dec 15, 2008
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- Bike
- BMW R1200GS Adventure
GS Eco 2011 – The Lesotho Detour
The tar, wide and spacious, suddenly ended, leaving us with a narrow, rocky and rutted ‘twee spoor’ track. Turns out a good portion of the road we had chosen was Roof of Africa stuff. But, I get ahead of myself ...
The Thursday group to the GS Eco departed from Continental on, well, Thursday, heading for our first stop for breakfast in Bedford.
fltr: Yours Truly(GSA), Gill(F800GS), Trevor(GSA), Francois(Dakar), Dawie(GS), Leroux(GS), Greg & Carla(1150)
Our arrival in Bedford was preceded by our first 15kms of gravel, just to set the pace for the rest of the weekend.
Following a scrumptious breakfast, we set off on the 105kms of the Baviaans River Road, which would bring us out to Tarkastad.
The Baviaans River Road is steeped in History, accommodating not only the grave of ‘Freek’ Bezuidenhout, legend of the Revolt of Slagtersnek (https://myfundi.co.za/e/Slagtersnek_Revolt), but also the Glen Lynden Church built in 1828 by the Government through the influence of Thomas Pringle for the Scottish Settlers and "their Dutch neighbours."
It became a Dutch Reformed Church in 1829.
Some other old graves in the area tell their own sad story.
Age old road signs.
After some awesome roads ...
we stopped in Tarkastad to refuel, both ourselves and the bikes.
Our destination for the day was Burgersdorp, and the home of a friend for the night.
The road from Tarkastad to Burgersdorp was fast but scenic,
even passing a blockhouse-turned-restaurant.
Shadows were getting long by the time we arrived for our overnight stop.
Before settling in for the night, our host’s bike was first fitted with a new set of crashbars, new cylinder head protectors and a new throttle pot cover.
Day 2
We were on the road again at 07h00 the following morning,
headed for breakfast in Aliwal North. We had decided to take the scenic route through Lesotho, entering at Makhaleng border post.
On the bank of the Makhaleng river is an old Watermill, unfortunately without the wheel. I attempted to get to it from the SA side but the road is non-existent. This is the view from the Lesotho side.
The entry into Lesotho was uneventful, but within 2km of entering Lesotho we were stopped for a routine check by the only police we saw on the entire trip.
Shortly after the check, the beautiful tar road ended, and the ride began.
Another refreshment stop, this time for Maluti Beer!
Moving along
we stopped at this scenic spot ...
And met Joseph ...
He has a few sheep, some chickens, some goats, some vegetables, some mielies and a pony. He lives like a king, daily subjected to this view. What a life!!!
Late afternoon saw us approaching Maseru.
And then we were back on tar, after 10hrs 23min and 243kms.
Day 3 to Follow
The tar, wide and spacious, suddenly ended, leaving us with a narrow, rocky and rutted ‘twee spoor’ track. Turns out a good portion of the road we had chosen was Roof of Africa stuff. But, I get ahead of myself ...
The Thursday group to the GS Eco departed from Continental on, well, Thursday, heading for our first stop for breakfast in Bedford.
fltr: Yours Truly(GSA), Gill(F800GS), Trevor(GSA), Francois(Dakar), Dawie(GS), Leroux(GS), Greg & Carla(1150)
Our arrival in Bedford was preceded by our first 15kms of gravel, just to set the pace for the rest of the weekend.
Following a scrumptious breakfast, we set off on the 105kms of the Baviaans River Road, which would bring us out to Tarkastad.
The Baviaans River Road is steeped in History, accommodating not only the grave of ‘Freek’ Bezuidenhout, legend of the Revolt of Slagtersnek (https://myfundi.co.za/e/Slagtersnek_Revolt), but also the Glen Lynden Church built in 1828 by the Government through the influence of Thomas Pringle for the Scottish Settlers and "their Dutch neighbours."
It became a Dutch Reformed Church in 1829.
Some other old graves in the area tell their own sad story.
Age old road signs.
After some awesome roads ...
we stopped in Tarkastad to refuel, both ourselves and the bikes.
Our destination for the day was Burgersdorp, and the home of a friend for the night.
The road from Tarkastad to Burgersdorp was fast but scenic,
even passing a blockhouse-turned-restaurant.
Shadows were getting long by the time we arrived for our overnight stop.
Before settling in for the night, our host’s bike was first fitted with a new set of crashbars, new cylinder head protectors and a new throttle pot cover.
Day 2
We were on the road again at 07h00 the following morning,
headed for breakfast in Aliwal North. We had decided to take the scenic route through Lesotho, entering at Makhaleng border post.
On the bank of the Makhaleng river is an old Watermill, unfortunately without the wheel. I attempted to get to it from the SA side but the road is non-existent. This is the view from the Lesotho side.
The entry into Lesotho was uneventful, but within 2km of entering Lesotho we were stopped for a routine check by the only police we saw on the entire trip.
Shortly after the check, the beautiful tar road ended, and the ride began.
Another refreshment stop, this time for Maluti Beer!
Moving along
we stopped at this scenic spot ...
And met Joseph ...
He has a few sheep, some chickens, some goats, some vegetables, some mielies and a pony. He lives like a king, daily subjected to this view. What a life!!!
Late afternoon saw us approaching Maseru.
And then we were back on tar, after 10hrs 23min and 243kms.
Day 3 to Follow
