First ride report on my first "overnighter"...
The intention was to head up to Sani Top Chalet on the Sunday of the recent long weekend (taken leave on Monday with a Public Holiday on Tuesday), unfortunately they were fully booked so we (my wife and myself) settled for Sunday in Himeville followed by a day in Lesotho on the Monday and then back home again...
All kitted out with a set of new Oxford soft panniers from Gear-Up in Umhlanga, we were ready!
The KLR had just been ridden in and performed superbly for the entire duration of the trip, two up on the twisties through the R617 was great; we arrived for lunch in Underberg about 1h40 minutes after leaving Hillcrest (about 30km outside of Durban), after eating far too much at the Lemon Tree Bistro we trundled off to the Himeville Arms where we were to spend the night.
There where clearly a number of bikers staying at the Arms judging by the bikes strewn around the premises, I thought we would be in for a bit of a traffic jam the next day, but, it turned out that most were already on their way back after coming through Lesotho from Gauteng.
There were two bunches who we had opportunity to chat to, both of whom predicted that two-up on Sani Pass wouldn't work out in our favour (and if it did it would take a couple of hours!), anyway, sometimes it's like a fishing story... you should see it before believing it
The following morning we were up super early and tasted the 2 degree morning mist, we consumed a hasty breakfast as we were eager to get going.
On the bike the 2 degrees took on a whole new meaning (time for some more appropriate enduro pants I think)!
The tarring of the road which leads to the border post is well under way, unfortunately the combination of mist (creating little streams of water down our new Airoh S4's (yep, also from Gear-Up... awesome helmets by the way!) combined with construction trucks churning up the dust meant a mask of mud... with visibility down to a murky nothingness, I rode with the visor up... despite the cold my face felt as if it was burning!
Eventually though, we broke through the mist/low cloud where my wife kindly posed for this shot:
The rest of the road to the border post was still nice and rough, the border experience was simple and uncomplicated, two passports stamped in as many minutes, back on the scoot and through we went...
(The border post is at 1900m ASL)
The actual Pass wasn't as bad or challenging as expected, you basically get different perspectives of the same valley all the way up, don't be discouraged though as it is magnificent!
Further up we saw the first indication of what was to come:
There was some surface ice on the Pass which needs to be given the attention it requires, if unchecked could catch you out!
Thankfully we skated through without any eventuality
As we completed the last and steepest parts of the switchbacks at the top of the Pass (total time including stopping for pics was just under 50 minutes), we were struck by the following image:
What a treat for a couple of Durbanites... SNOW!!!
Although the Pass is fairly comfortable on a bike (yes, even with two-up) it is a fairly substantial climb... I'm not sure of the distance as I didn't record that portion, but I think it was around 10km...
After some brief refreshment at Sani Top Chalet we were off in the pursuit of snow!
(highest Sharks supporters???)
About 10 minutes after leaving Sani Top Chalet on the main road to Black Mountain we struck white gold...
And of course... our first attempt at a snow man... turned out to be more of a snow "thing" instead :-\
As they say, "When in Rome...", so I couldn't resist a true snow ride... this was as far as I could get...
Tricky business that snow stuff... especially when it compresses into ice!!!
We continued a little further to Mokhotlong where we turned back to get lunch at Sani Top Chalet...
We took one more pic that I think aptly captures the "Mountain Kingdom"
After a delicious vegetable soup with home made bread we reluctantly headed back down the Pass leaving the snow capped mountains behind us...
The trip home was thankfully without incident, punctuated only by mental images of mountains and snow flitting through our minds :thumleft:
The intention was to head up to Sani Top Chalet on the Sunday of the recent long weekend (taken leave on Monday with a Public Holiday on Tuesday), unfortunately they were fully booked so we (my wife and myself) settled for Sunday in Himeville followed by a day in Lesotho on the Monday and then back home again...
All kitted out with a set of new Oxford soft panniers from Gear-Up in Umhlanga, we were ready!
The KLR had just been ridden in and performed superbly for the entire duration of the trip, two up on the twisties through the R617 was great; we arrived for lunch in Underberg about 1h40 minutes after leaving Hillcrest (about 30km outside of Durban), after eating far too much at the Lemon Tree Bistro we trundled off to the Himeville Arms where we were to spend the night.
There where clearly a number of bikers staying at the Arms judging by the bikes strewn around the premises, I thought we would be in for a bit of a traffic jam the next day, but, it turned out that most were already on their way back after coming through Lesotho from Gauteng.
There were two bunches who we had opportunity to chat to, both of whom predicted that two-up on Sani Pass wouldn't work out in our favour (and if it did it would take a couple of hours!), anyway, sometimes it's like a fishing story... you should see it before believing it
The following morning we were up super early and tasted the 2 degree morning mist, we consumed a hasty breakfast as we were eager to get going.
On the bike the 2 degrees took on a whole new meaning (time for some more appropriate enduro pants I think)!
The tarring of the road which leads to the border post is well under way, unfortunately the combination of mist (creating little streams of water down our new Airoh S4's (yep, also from Gear-Up... awesome helmets by the way!) combined with construction trucks churning up the dust meant a mask of mud... with visibility down to a murky nothingness, I rode with the visor up... despite the cold my face felt as if it was burning!
Eventually though, we broke through the mist/low cloud where my wife kindly posed for this shot:
The rest of the road to the border post was still nice and rough, the border experience was simple and uncomplicated, two passports stamped in as many minutes, back on the scoot and through we went...
(The border post is at 1900m ASL)
The actual Pass wasn't as bad or challenging as expected, you basically get different perspectives of the same valley all the way up, don't be discouraged though as it is magnificent!
Further up we saw the first indication of what was to come:
There was some surface ice on the Pass which needs to be given the attention it requires, if unchecked could catch you out!
Thankfully we skated through without any eventuality
As we completed the last and steepest parts of the switchbacks at the top of the Pass (total time including stopping for pics was just under 50 minutes), we were struck by the following image:
What a treat for a couple of Durbanites... SNOW!!!
Although the Pass is fairly comfortable on a bike (yes, even with two-up) it is a fairly substantial climb... I'm not sure of the distance as I didn't record that portion, but I think it was around 10km...
After some brief refreshment at Sani Top Chalet we were off in the pursuit of snow!
(highest Sharks supporters???)
About 10 minutes after leaving Sani Top Chalet on the main road to Black Mountain we struck white gold...
And of course... our first attempt at a snow man... turned out to be more of a snow "thing" instead :-\
As they say, "When in Rome...", so I couldn't resist a true snow ride... this was as far as I could get...
Tricky business that snow stuff... especially when it compresses into ice!!!
We continued a little further to Mokhotlong where we turned back to get lunch at Sani Top Chalet...
We took one more pic that I think aptly captures the "Mountain Kingdom"
After a delicious vegetable soup with home made bread we reluctantly headed back down the Pass leaving the snow capped mountains behind us...
The trip home was thankfully without incident, punctuated only by mental images of mountains and snow flitting through our minds :thumleft:
