DirtyTeNeReLess
Grey Hound
Day 1 (Port Shepstone – Dargle)
After careful consideration and debate I decided to head back home to PE and go through Lesotho as the weather was not playing game on the trip up from PE with a couple other dogs as we intended to enter at Sehlabathebe towards Mokhotlong and exit via Sani pass but skipped that and went around Lesotho instead to Himeville.
I had a big fat lip on that trip as I really wanted to do Lesotho but decided to follow with the group and that turned out to be a really good decision. The up trip being a newbie it was grand to see the forum at work bringing people together.
Anyhow my return leg was to be solo and I Fired up the GPS and took the most direct route to the midlands meander to get to Dargle, friends own a trout farm up that side and I wanted to come meet the new addition to the family so worked that into my first stop over before heading into Lesotho.
So with the trip odometer at 3002ks I headed off from Ramsgate through the heart of kwa-zulu natal. The route offered some fantastic scenes of the best of kzn. I followed KwaDweshula > St.Faiths > KnockKagh > highflats > Ixopo > Creighton > Richmond > iMpendle. Nothing hectic which combined tar and dirt roads and some good views.
The highlight being the pass over the MzimKulu river.
After that followed the GPS into a village and into roads that did not exist!! There were hints of what was a road but has been degraded by weather and inhabitants building dwellings in the path.
I used ‘Garmap SA Streetmaps 2011 .2 NT’ this was a first of a few GPS hiccups through natal. Got some directions from a few friendly self-proclaimed local tstoti’s after I squeezed through a densely populated residential area.
Entered into the midlands meander from the Midmar Dam side into the Mondi forests, which is boomed off but managed to convince the security to let me through on condition I went to see the owner.
He was having a braai and appreciated me coming to him to ask first and gave me the go ahead into the forest. Garmin lost itself a few times and I had to use my sense of direction to get out of the forest after taking more than one wrong turn. Fuel got very low. Garmin took me straight into Inversanda Farm where I had to navigate a few closed gates and a few cow pens only to find that the route went straight into a rather full Mgeni river.
I was looking for adventure so follow this route hoping to see some of the beaten path things… and I did but sadly had to retrace my step which is a cardinal sin for any hardened adventurer. The Moral of this story is although a GPS is a necessary evil in this sort of a trip, should rather be used as reference points than a complete guide.
here is a video of the river.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H21ZK6hTG1s
I Retraced my steps and spoke to the farmer who again offered my some direction tips to get to Dargle a mere 4ks away… arrived and set about to do some fly fishing and bagged two trout of notable weight!!! (1.6/1.8kgs)
Day 2 (Dargle > Katse Dam)
My initial plan which was rather ambitious and was to head to Mokhotlong > Thaba-Tseka > Maseru in a day with the possibility of staying over at Thaba-Tseka if my progress took too long as I had no idea what to expect in Lesotho.
After waiting at the Dargle petrol station to open at 7am re-fueled and headed towards Sani Pass following the Mpendle road which is in good condition and follows the awesome route into Sani. You get a great view of the beginning of the Lesotho mountain ranges in the pic below.
Arrived at Sani pass at 10am. Bumped into a lone rider on a very well kitted out Africa Twin leaving sani after a 2 day solo ride from Monteque with only a map and notepad to record his trip… old school! He says he stayed in a very nice rondavel at some point for R10! he had some great tips about my plan and that it would take two days instead of one unless I push it which wasn’t an option going solo. I Encouraged him to join the forum and share his trip with us.
This time the weather was spectacular. The view up sani pass was breath taking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmUGDDFectY&context=C3d8898aADOEgsToPDskJzCs0t1QO_V8MAUvE_y7eJ
This is an example of how bad the weather can get. We went up the sani pass in the mist on the up trip in the right picture and this is all we saw and was taken in the exact same spot. Wait the bad weather out else you will miss out!
Got myself a souvenir mini Lesotho hat for luck on my solo leg through Lesotho, I was so looking forward to this as the sani-pass is the holy grail of mountain passes and really got into the spirit of things keeping myself well entertained.
Got to Mokhotlong without issue stopped and re-fueled , bumped into 3 riders heading towards Katse Dam but eventually after some confusing gps directions on their side they ended up heading my way to Thaba-Tseka.
This route is brilliant, the passes are not too bad but rather rutted and hammered some nice smileys into my soft Italian rims. 30ks takes an age as the passes are all over the place so don’t under estimate the time you need to reach your location.
The locals I stopped and chatted to were all friendly and helpful despite the language barrier and a common theme was 4 people standing next to each other will give you different explanations of the road ahead (10 minutes / 3 hours / 5 ks). Pretty funny. I had bought a handful of little peaches on the way which were tasty. Another funny incident I missed out on getting a video of were two taxis racing around a pass. One even tried to overtake the other on a path barely wide enough for one. Making sense of the couple dead taxis occasionally found along the passes burnt up in a gorge.
It must be mentioned that on too many times to be a coincidence when over taking taxi’s / vehicles they tend to swerve towards you. First time I wrote it off as simply avoiding potholes but it happened to me more than once. I over took a massive caterpillar truck and the bumper nearly hit my head (that’s how tall its was!) as I went by and im certain the guy was gunning me down for about 600 meters which is pretty scary having a building bearing down on you. Could be in my head but im certain that this was the case as the Mexican called Henry said he experienced the same thing. Watch out for that!
This chap on the bicycle had balls of steel and needs a medal as I myself my new best pal Henry riding an original 30 year old BMW GS were taking in the scenery he came down on his crappy bicycle a upcoming hill dirt road at least 100kph past us… not sure if it was sheer joy or sheer terror on his face…
Got to Thaba-Tseka around 18:00 after taking too many stops for pictures, I was hoping and dreaming of an oasis including Beer on tap, swimming pools and sport on TV here but was rather disappointed (perhaps dehydrated????).
Saw a couple Lodge / B and B signs of suspect quality but decided to head towards Katse Dam while I had light which was a mere 60ks away haha... sure, you can actually see Katse but to get to it following the windy paths is s…l….o….w going.
We bumped into two more riders that looked like poster boys for BMW that just walked out of a BMW shop with ALL the new suspiciously clean gear.
Filled up at a petrol pump run by a couple Asian fellows there and noticed my rear wheel was a little flat. Used my compressor to pump it up and headed on convinced I had a slow puncture, I was rather knackered by that point. Arrived at Katse Dam view point to find two WD’s Jupiter and carrots who were already camping, always nice to bump into friendly people on route. I had heard Jupiter may be around lesotho on the forum. the view point is about 1k before the Katse village.
This was a stroke of luck for me as my rear tyre was shot. I had all the tools (except a valve puller and some kind of jack) but lacked some practical experience in changing a tyre on the side of the road and wasn’t looking forward to doing it alone. You can stay on the view point premises for a mere 20 bucks and it had a basic toilet and shower. Alternatively the Katse lodge has rooms that can be booked I think for R360 a night if you want a proper bed. Here is the Mexican chap and the WD’s I bumped into.
Day 3 (Katse Dam – Ficksburg)
After sleeping under the stars in Lesotho, due to my tent poles being broken somewhere in between kzn and Lesotho. I woke up treated myself to a cup of coffee and got cracking with my wheel. Rather upbeat as it was my 32 birthday that day and sleeping a night under the stars in Lesotho was one birthday I won’t forget, right up my alley and enjoyed every minute of it. But it wasn’t the best sleep I’ve ever had.
The Culprit nail got removed and a new tube put in with the much needed guidance of Jupiter and carrots. I was taking notes the whole way through. We decided that we all wanted an easy day’s ride out and headed together towards Ficksburg on the tar passes as this ended up being a very long day and a sordid affair with my tyres.
Alas a mere 1k down the road my tyre went again this time due to me pinching the tube due to the beading still being in place and my inexperience attempting to get the tyre back on. Luckily a chap riding same direction as us stopped and offered his input. Learnt some new tricks on how to fix a puncture without taking off the wheel.
In a comedy of events that day a mere 10ks further down the very same road STILL with visuals of Katse Dam I found another puncture??? Murphy my old chom was at his best. But confident I had learned enough I managed to fix this one rather quickly. but as I was at the back of the group and the chap (not a WD!) who had helped me earlier wasn’t too keen on helping again and didn’t stop this time so I was solo again.
Suited me just fine as I love a little bit o drama when no one can see me sweat, keeps me wholesome. I didn’t have carrots Valve key or his nice long tyre levers this time so I mentally made a note to get that in my tool kit and a jack thingy as fuel leaks out and that’s a precious commodity out here. On your own. In the waste land that is Leshotho!
Just as I finished up and was back on the road I bumped into Jupiter and his wife coming back to look for me after the previous chap arrived without me and rather weakly swore I was just behind him but I was more like 1 hour behind him at that point. That for me is the best part of being a WD member is the support you get while on the road is unbelievable and very humbling.
Stopped to get some water from a waterfall. Bottled at source!!!
Took a cheeky little video down a pass behind Jupiter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7YpX4REgXs&context=C3ec646fADOEgsToPDskJP7rl40J6e1D55SAdhSZIg
Things were looking up and getting too easy for my liking as 28 ks from ficksburg I got another puncture this time on the front wheel!!! Now an expert of tyre fixing I cracking when Jupiter and his missus arrived on the scene after noticing I wasn’t behind them. True form!
Whilst we were fixing that wheel carrots came past us coming to look where we were in true WD form and unbelievably didn’t see us sitting as you can right next to the road as he was completely looking the other way!!! Chasing after him wasn’t an option with all the life stock around we decided to wait for him to return guessing the time he would come back should he go ALL the way back to katse dam. And hoping he would not hit any troubles of his own.
Guessing that the border will close at 5pm, later found out from a UCT engineering student who came down to check we didn’t need anything and informed us that the post at ficksburg is open 24 hours. We ended up waiting 4 hours and as you can imagine the relief all round when he saw us this time standing in the middle of the road lying across it so he wouldn’t miss us this time.
We had a jolly old time waiting though as the locals without fail all came down and offered us their help and a conversation to pass time by. Also handy to be near a shebeen so things could be worse. An ice cold castle quart was nectar of the gods. just don't tell Carrots that's what we were doing...
Finally we all headed off to Ficksburg together. Using my GPS after getting some supplies in town we ended up at MeulSpreit Dam holiday resort 5ks outside town for the night as we were all heading in different directions the next day. The camp was pretty much deserted and was great. Another R20 per person and bike. Finally we could have a drink and chill out a bit. Nice birthday full of adventure and drama.
Day 4 (Ficksburg – Cradock)
I wanted to get home now but stuck to as much as my original route as I could and heading towards Ladybrand > Wepener > Zastron > Burgersdorp > Cradock. Originally wanted to head through sada and devils bellows and katberg pass on the way home but my front wheel had taken a battering and I didn’t want to push it too much.
The roads I did take were full of potholes and construction up until Zastron but then were great. Stopped into Zastron for lunch and a break and found a great little place and had some lunch in-between some rather dodgy looking café’s. Highly recommended as the lady there gave some good tips on the road home. Stopping at each little town for a cool-drink and a chat kept me well entertained. Burgersdorp was a highlight and had loads of character and charm.
got myself a pepper dew and salami tramezzini here. instead of a garage pie or some dodgy pap...
Long day in the saddle but decided to treat myself to a stay in the Royal Manor hotel in Cradock and squeeze the last of what I can out of the trip. The hotel was built in 1840 and is pretty friendly warm with loads of history and creaking stair cases and a pooch. The beers cost R10!!!! Couple pubs in walking distance from there so had a nice time with some locals.
Day 5 (Cradock – PE)
Took the 230k final leg home easy and got home early enough. 4753ks round trip and just what the doctor ordered for me, now refreshed relaxed and ready for another year. Met up with a few WD for the PE drinks and made some new contacts. Next long trip could be up to Dar Es Salaam to meet Steveindar!!!!
The Kenda tyre I bought for this trip didn’t do so badly considering the abuse it took and at R570 was a bargain.
Another equipment failure on route was my first time oxford side panniers which split before natal. Suspect quality?
The unknown brand bag I bought for my zumo 550 also got destroyed and came apart at the handle bar mounts and snapped where the bag clips into the grip.
All in all this was a great trip indeed, which in its entirety came together thanks to the forum and the people on the forum. Hope you enjoyed my first ride report!!! And thanks to the people I met on the way would have been kak without you.
DirtyXT.
After careful consideration and debate I decided to head back home to PE and go through Lesotho as the weather was not playing game on the trip up from PE with a couple other dogs as we intended to enter at Sehlabathebe towards Mokhotlong and exit via Sani pass but skipped that and went around Lesotho instead to Himeville.
I had a big fat lip on that trip as I really wanted to do Lesotho but decided to follow with the group and that turned out to be a really good decision. The up trip being a newbie it was grand to see the forum at work bringing people together.
Anyhow my return leg was to be solo and I Fired up the GPS and took the most direct route to the midlands meander to get to Dargle, friends own a trout farm up that side and I wanted to come meet the new addition to the family so worked that into my first stop over before heading into Lesotho.
So with the trip odometer at 3002ks I headed off from Ramsgate through the heart of kwa-zulu natal. The route offered some fantastic scenes of the best of kzn. I followed KwaDweshula > St.Faiths > KnockKagh > highflats > Ixopo > Creighton > Richmond > iMpendle. Nothing hectic which combined tar and dirt roads and some good views.
The highlight being the pass over the MzimKulu river.
After that followed the GPS into a village and into roads that did not exist!! There were hints of what was a road but has been degraded by weather and inhabitants building dwellings in the path.
I used ‘Garmap SA Streetmaps 2011 .2 NT’ this was a first of a few GPS hiccups through natal. Got some directions from a few friendly self-proclaimed local tstoti’s after I squeezed through a densely populated residential area.
Entered into the midlands meander from the Midmar Dam side into the Mondi forests, which is boomed off but managed to convince the security to let me through on condition I went to see the owner.
He was having a braai and appreciated me coming to him to ask first and gave me the go ahead into the forest. Garmin lost itself a few times and I had to use my sense of direction to get out of the forest after taking more than one wrong turn. Fuel got very low. Garmin took me straight into Inversanda Farm where I had to navigate a few closed gates and a few cow pens only to find that the route went straight into a rather full Mgeni river.
I was looking for adventure so follow this route hoping to see some of the beaten path things… and I did but sadly had to retrace my step which is a cardinal sin for any hardened adventurer. The Moral of this story is although a GPS is a necessary evil in this sort of a trip, should rather be used as reference points than a complete guide.
here is a video of the river.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H21ZK6hTG1s
I Retraced my steps and spoke to the farmer who again offered my some direction tips to get to Dargle a mere 4ks away… arrived and set about to do some fly fishing and bagged two trout of notable weight!!! (1.6/1.8kgs)
Day 2 (Dargle > Katse Dam)
My initial plan which was rather ambitious and was to head to Mokhotlong > Thaba-Tseka > Maseru in a day with the possibility of staying over at Thaba-Tseka if my progress took too long as I had no idea what to expect in Lesotho.
After waiting at the Dargle petrol station to open at 7am re-fueled and headed towards Sani Pass following the Mpendle road which is in good condition and follows the awesome route into Sani. You get a great view of the beginning of the Lesotho mountain ranges in the pic below.
Arrived at Sani pass at 10am. Bumped into a lone rider on a very well kitted out Africa Twin leaving sani after a 2 day solo ride from Monteque with only a map and notepad to record his trip… old school! He says he stayed in a very nice rondavel at some point for R10! he had some great tips about my plan and that it would take two days instead of one unless I push it which wasn’t an option going solo. I Encouraged him to join the forum and share his trip with us.
This time the weather was spectacular. The view up sani pass was breath taking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmUGDDFectY&context=C3d8898aADOEgsToPDskJzCs0t1QO_V8MAUvE_y7eJ
This is an example of how bad the weather can get. We went up the sani pass in the mist on the up trip in the right picture and this is all we saw and was taken in the exact same spot. Wait the bad weather out else you will miss out!
Got myself a souvenir mini Lesotho hat for luck on my solo leg through Lesotho, I was so looking forward to this as the sani-pass is the holy grail of mountain passes and really got into the spirit of things keeping myself well entertained.
Got to Mokhotlong without issue stopped and re-fueled , bumped into 3 riders heading towards Katse Dam but eventually after some confusing gps directions on their side they ended up heading my way to Thaba-Tseka.
This route is brilliant, the passes are not too bad but rather rutted and hammered some nice smileys into my soft Italian rims. 30ks takes an age as the passes are all over the place so don’t under estimate the time you need to reach your location.
The locals I stopped and chatted to were all friendly and helpful despite the language barrier and a common theme was 4 people standing next to each other will give you different explanations of the road ahead (10 minutes / 3 hours / 5 ks). Pretty funny. I had bought a handful of little peaches on the way which were tasty. Another funny incident I missed out on getting a video of were two taxis racing around a pass. One even tried to overtake the other on a path barely wide enough for one. Making sense of the couple dead taxis occasionally found along the passes burnt up in a gorge.
It must be mentioned that on too many times to be a coincidence when over taking taxi’s / vehicles they tend to swerve towards you. First time I wrote it off as simply avoiding potholes but it happened to me more than once. I over took a massive caterpillar truck and the bumper nearly hit my head (that’s how tall its was!) as I went by and im certain the guy was gunning me down for about 600 meters which is pretty scary having a building bearing down on you. Could be in my head but im certain that this was the case as the Mexican called Henry said he experienced the same thing. Watch out for that!
This chap on the bicycle had balls of steel and needs a medal as I myself my new best pal Henry riding an original 30 year old BMW GS were taking in the scenery he came down on his crappy bicycle a upcoming hill dirt road at least 100kph past us… not sure if it was sheer joy or sheer terror on his face…
Got to Thaba-Tseka around 18:00 after taking too many stops for pictures, I was hoping and dreaming of an oasis including Beer on tap, swimming pools and sport on TV here but was rather disappointed (perhaps dehydrated????).
Saw a couple Lodge / B and B signs of suspect quality but decided to head towards Katse Dam while I had light which was a mere 60ks away haha... sure, you can actually see Katse but to get to it following the windy paths is s…l….o….w going.
We bumped into two more riders that looked like poster boys for BMW that just walked out of a BMW shop with ALL the new suspiciously clean gear.
Filled up at a petrol pump run by a couple Asian fellows there and noticed my rear wheel was a little flat. Used my compressor to pump it up and headed on convinced I had a slow puncture, I was rather knackered by that point. Arrived at Katse Dam view point to find two WD’s Jupiter and carrots who were already camping, always nice to bump into friendly people on route. I had heard Jupiter may be around lesotho on the forum. the view point is about 1k before the Katse village.
This was a stroke of luck for me as my rear tyre was shot. I had all the tools (except a valve puller and some kind of jack) but lacked some practical experience in changing a tyre on the side of the road and wasn’t looking forward to doing it alone. You can stay on the view point premises for a mere 20 bucks and it had a basic toilet and shower. Alternatively the Katse lodge has rooms that can be booked I think for R360 a night if you want a proper bed. Here is the Mexican chap and the WD’s I bumped into.
Day 3 (Katse Dam – Ficksburg)
After sleeping under the stars in Lesotho, due to my tent poles being broken somewhere in between kzn and Lesotho. I woke up treated myself to a cup of coffee and got cracking with my wheel. Rather upbeat as it was my 32 birthday that day and sleeping a night under the stars in Lesotho was one birthday I won’t forget, right up my alley and enjoyed every minute of it. But it wasn’t the best sleep I’ve ever had.
The Culprit nail got removed and a new tube put in with the much needed guidance of Jupiter and carrots. I was taking notes the whole way through. We decided that we all wanted an easy day’s ride out and headed together towards Ficksburg on the tar passes as this ended up being a very long day and a sordid affair with my tyres.
Alas a mere 1k down the road my tyre went again this time due to me pinching the tube due to the beading still being in place and my inexperience attempting to get the tyre back on. Luckily a chap riding same direction as us stopped and offered his input. Learnt some new tricks on how to fix a puncture without taking off the wheel.
In a comedy of events that day a mere 10ks further down the very same road STILL with visuals of Katse Dam I found another puncture??? Murphy my old chom was at his best. But confident I had learned enough I managed to fix this one rather quickly. but as I was at the back of the group and the chap (not a WD!) who had helped me earlier wasn’t too keen on helping again and didn’t stop this time so I was solo again.
Suited me just fine as I love a little bit o drama when no one can see me sweat, keeps me wholesome. I didn’t have carrots Valve key or his nice long tyre levers this time so I mentally made a note to get that in my tool kit and a jack thingy as fuel leaks out and that’s a precious commodity out here. On your own. In the waste land that is Leshotho!
Just as I finished up and was back on the road I bumped into Jupiter and his wife coming back to look for me after the previous chap arrived without me and rather weakly swore I was just behind him but I was more like 1 hour behind him at that point. That for me is the best part of being a WD member is the support you get while on the road is unbelievable and very humbling.
Stopped to get some water from a waterfall. Bottled at source!!!
Took a cheeky little video down a pass behind Jupiter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7YpX4REgXs&context=C3ec646fADOEgsToPDskJP7rl40J6e1D55SAdhSZIg
Things were looking up and getting too easy for my liking as 28 ks from ficksburg I got another puncture this time on the front wheel!!! Now an expert of tyre fixing I cracking when Jupiter and his missus arrived on the scene after noticing I wasn’t behind them. True form!
Whilst we were fixing that wheel carrots came past us coming to look where we were in true WD form and unbelievably didn’t see us sitting as you can right next to the road as he was completely looking the other way!!! Chasing after him wasn’t an option with all the life stock around we decided to wait for him to return guessing the time he would come back should he go ALL the way back to katse dam. And hoping he would not hit any troubles of his own.
Guessing that the border will close at 5pm, later found out from a UCT engineering student who came down to check we didn’t need anything and informed us that the post at ficksburg is open 24 hours. We ended up waiting 4 hours and as you can imagine the relief all round when he saw us this time standing in the middle of the road lying across it so he wouldn’t miss us this time.
We had a jolly old time waiting though as the locals without fail all came down and offered us their help and a conversation to pass time by. Also handy to be near a shebeen so things could be worse. An ice cold castle quart was nectar of the gods. just don't tell Carrots that's what we were doing...
Finally we all headed off to Ficksburg together. Using my GPS after getting some supplies in town we ended up at MeulSpreit Dam holiday resort 5ks outside town for the night as we were all heading in different directions the next day. The camp was pretty much deserted and was great. Another R20 per person and bike. Finally we could have a drink and chill out a bit. Nice birthday full of adventure and drama.
Day 4 (Ficksburg – Cradock)
I wanted to get home now but stuck to as much as my original route as I could and heading towards Ladybrand > Wepener > Zastron > Burgersdorp > Cradock. Originally wanted to head through sada and devils bellows and katberg pass on the way home but my front wheel had taken a battering and I didn’t want to push it too much.
The roads I did take were full of potholes and construction up until Zastron but then were great. Stopped into Zastron for lunch and a break and found a great little place and had some lunch in-between some rather dodgy looking café’s. Highly recommended as the lady there gave some good tips on the road home. Stopping at each little town for a cool-drink and a chat kept me well entertained. Burgersdorp was a highlight and had loads of character and charm.
got myself a pepper dew and salami tramezzini here. instead of a garage pie or some dodgy pap...
Long day in the saddle but decided to treat myself to a stay in the Royal Manor hotel in Cradock and squeeze the last of what I can out of the trip. The hotel was built in 1840 and is pretty friendly warm with loads of history and creaking stair cases and a pooch. The beers cost R10!!!! Couple pubs in walking distance from there so had a nice time with some locals.
Day 5 (Cradock – PE)
Took the 230k final leg home easy and got home early enough. 4753ks round trip and just what the doctor ordered for me, now refreshed relaxed and ready for another year. Met up with a few WD for the PE drinks and made some new contacts. Next long trip could be up to Dar Es Salaam to meet Steveindar!!!!
The Kenda tyre I bought for this trip didn’t do so badly considering the abuse it took and at R570 was a bargain.
Another equipment failure on route was my first time oxford side panniers which split before natal. Suspect quality?
The unknown brand bag I bought for my zumo 550 also got destroyed and came apart at the handle bar mounts and snapped where the bag clips into the grip.
All in all this was a great trip indeed, which in its entirety came together thanks to the forum and the people on the forum. Hope you enjoyed my first ride report!!! And thanks to the people I met on the way would have been kak without you.
DirtyXT.
