Grootseun
Race Dog
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2006
- Messages
- 4,555
- Reaction score
- 282
- Location
- The bottom... and digging
- Bike
- BMW F800GSA
“A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving” – Lao Tzu
This was pretty much the plan for my trip to Hilton, in KZN.
Why Hilton specifically? Because I have a friend who stays there, and he had a bed available for me in his loft. I have ridden on two wheels in the area before, although it was human powered, and mainly in the Karkloof area.
I have always wanted to ride the area on my motorcycle, as the place simply looks enticing due to the rolling hills, and other than the N3, very few straight roads.
This idea of riding down for a weekend to see my mate, has been sitting with me for a while. I have just not made any concrete plans. For a serial procrastinator such as myself, this is just how it is. I always think, “maybe at the end of this month” or some such lame excuse.
We have recently put a new policy in place at work, where one can take a Friday off in the week of one’s birthday. I literally jumped at the opportunity, and selected Friday before my B-day.
In the meantime, I message my mate to see if his loft is available. He confirms it is, and the ball is on the top of the hill(ton), ready to roll.
My wife asks me a week before my Birthday, what I wanted for this “Special” day. I specifically put special in inverted commas, as I have never really understood why one’s birthday gets celebrated by other people. I mean, at birth one literally did nothing but survive emerging out of a womb. If anything, a parent should receive the gifts and high-fives for keeping their offspring alive and not the kids ..I digress… back to the trip…
Here is where my plan falls exactly into place (not bad for someone who makes no plans)
I tell her, I want to do a solo trip on the bike. No celebrations, no presents, just the freedom to do my thing from Friday to Sunday. She does not fully understand this desire to be travelling on one’s birthday but agrees, nonetheless.
The ball is now rolling.
That agonising long wait between finalising plans and hitting the road, makes the days drag by too slowly. I tried my hand at plotting routes to get as much dirt in as possible, but the maps loaded on the GPS and Basecamp was not gelling. I received some guidance from the wise folk on the forum, and the only real route I plotted was Grim’s suggestion to bypass Van Reenen pass completely. I plotted the route on the google earth app on my Ipad, which was surprisingly easy to load onto the GPS using Basecamp.
I made a note on my phone of towns I am aiming for from home up to Harrismith, with the routing avoidances on my GPS set to almost everything but cow paths, I was certain that the route would be interesting, based on this. ( I did not ride through any of those towns)
My workload up to Thursday is insane. I put in extra hours to make sure there are no issues on Friday.
I pack the night before, what feels like too many things. I checked the weather, and it’s all fair on my travel days, except the Saturday, which forecast 35 degrees in the Hilton Area. So no winter jackets, only a pair of shorts, flip-flops underwear and t-shirts. Sunday looks wet up to Harrismith so my jacket liner and rain pants and gumboots also tag along.
I do pack a light long sleeve jacket for incase…weather can turn you know.
Amazingly everything fits into my drybag and topbox.
Friday morning arrives, I take the kids to school, get home, pack my bike, and get going.
I head for the R59 towards Sasolburg. In what feels like a different life, I rode my Dakar on some great dirt roads between Sasolburg and Reitz. In my mind, I’m sure I’ll find them again.
I see a sign that reads Deneysville, and I follow it. I catch a glimpse of the Vaal dam and at the first opportunity, I take a dirt road, I’m hoping it takes me in the general direction of my destination. The GPS takes a while to reroute, and it seems to have been a good choice.
The dirt runs in between mielie farms, and it’s planting season, so there are tractors everywhere, ploughing dirt for crops to be planted. I don’t know if you have ever experienced it, but the smell of freshly turned soil is unmistakable. I take in nostrils of it, it smells so good.
I am a bit of a coffee snob, so I packed my grinder, beans and moka pot. I made a resolution to pack it on weekend rides, so I can stop for a coffee along the way. Often, when travelling these backroads and unexplored sections, the moment can be made a little more memorable by pausing for a short while to take in the surroundings, the sounds and the scenery. It’s all visible on a bike, but all too fleeting sometimes. It was one of the main missions on today’s ride so I have been on the lookout for a spot to stop for some caffeine.
It’s toasty already, so I focus on finding a place with some shade, and space so I can get the bike off the road a bit.
I spot some buildings, and after seeing they are abandoned, I pull over at the entrance to the deserted yard.
I unpack my coffee kit, grind up some beans a get a pot brewing.
It’s quiet, the wind in my ears, and the noise my boots make on the ground is the only major sound, other than some birds and the gas stove. This is exactly what I was after on this trip.
The coffee is ready after a couple of minutes. I find a place to sit on a fallen over wattle tree trunk (after checking for snakes, not afraid of snakes, but after surprising a cobra on my MTB once, very aware.) to enjoy my coffee.
This is perfect. The coffee tastes the best it has in a very long time.
I post a short video and a photo as a bit of a fynbrag to my friends, it’s Friday morning, and everyone is at work…. It gets the desired responses.
I finish my coffee, and pack everything back on the bike for my journey to continue. I still have a way to go. No rush….
This was pretty much the plan for my trip to Hilton, in KZN.
Why Hilton specifically? Because I have a friend who stays there, and he had a bed available for me in his loft. I have ridden on two wheels in the area before, although it was human powered, and mainly in the Karkloof area.
I have always wanted to ride the area on my motorcycle, as the place simply looks enticing due to the rolling hills, and other than the N3, very few straight roads.
This idea of riding down for a weekend to see my mate, has been sitting with me for a while. I have just not made any concrete plans. For a serial procrastinator such as myself, this is just how it is. I always think, “maybe at the end of this month” or some such lame excuse.
We have recently put a new policy in place at work, where one can take a Friday off in the week of one’s birthday. I literally jumped at the opportunity, and selected Friday before my B-day.
In the meantime, I message my mate to see if his loft is available. He confirms it is, and the ball is on the top of the hill(ton), ready to roll.
My wife asks me a week before my Birthday, what I wanted for this “Special” day. I specifically put special in inverted commas, as I have never really understood why one’s birthday gets celebrated by other people. I mean, at birth one literally did nothing but survive emerging out of a womb. If anything, a parent should receive the gifts and high-fives for keeping their offspring alive and not the kids ..I digress… back to the trip…
Here is where my plan falls exactly into place (not bad for someone who makes no plans)
I tell her, I want to do a solo trip on the bike. No celebrations, no presents, just the freedom to do my thing from Friday to Sunday. She does not fully understand this desire to be travelling on one’s birthday but agrees, nonetheless.
The ball is now rolling.
That agonising long wait between finalising plans and hitting the road, makes the days drag by too slowly. I tried my hand at plotting routes to get as much dirt in as possible, but the maps loaded on the GPS and Basecamp was not gelling. I received some guidance from the wise folk on the forum, and the only real route I plotted was Grim’s suggestion to bypass Van Reenen pass completely. I plotted the route on the google earth app on my Ipad, which was surprisingly easy to load onto the GPS using Basecamp.
I made a note on my phone of towns I am aiming for from home up to Harrismith, with the routing avoidances on my GPS set to almost everything but cow paths, I was certain that the route would be interesting, based on this. ( I did not ride through any of those towns)
My workload up to Thursday is insane. I put in extra hours to make sure there are no issues on Friday.
I pack the night before, what feels like too many things. I checked the weather, and it’s all fair on my travel days, except the Saturday, which forecast 35 degrees in the Hilton Area. So no winter jackets, only a pair of shorts, flip-flops underwear and t-shirts. Sunday looks wet up to Harrismith so my jacket liner and rain pants and gumboots also tag along.
I do pack a light long sleeve jacket for incase…weather can turn you know.
Amazingly everything fits into my drybag and topbox.
Friday morning arrives, I take the kids to school, get home, pack my bike, and get going.
I head for the R59 towards Sasolburg. In what feels like a different life, I rode my Dakar on some great dirt roads between Sasolburg and Reitz. In my mind, I’m sure I’ll find them again.
I see a sign that reads Deneysville, and I follow it. I catch a glimpse of the Vaal dam and at the first opportunity, I take a dirt road, I’m hoping it takes me in the general direction of my destination. The GPS takes a while to reroute, and it seems to have been a good choice.
The dirt runs in between mielie farms, and it’s planting season, so there are tractors everywhere, ploughing dirt for crops to be planted. I don’t know if you have ever experienced it, but the smell of freshly turned soil is unmistakable. I take in nostrils of it, it smells so good.
I am a bit of a coffee snob, so I packed my grinder, beans and moka pot. I made a resolution to pack it on weekend rides, so I can stop for a coffee along the way. Often, when travelling these backroads and unexplored sections, the moment can be made a little more memorable by pausing for a short while to take in the surroundings, the sounds and the scenery. It’s all visible on a bike, but all too fleeting sometimes. It was one of the main missions on today’s ride so I have been on the lookout for a spot to stop for some caffeine.
It’s toasty already, so I focus on finding a place with some shade, and space so I can get the bike off the road a bit.
I spot some buildings, and after seeing they are abandoned, I pull over at the entrance to the deserted yard.
I unpack my coffee kit, grind up some beans a get a pot brewing.
It’s quiet, the wind in my ears, and the noise my boots make on the ground is the only major sound, other than some birds and the gas stove. This is exactly what I was after on this trip.
The coffee is ready after a couple of minutes. I find a place to sit on a fallen over wattle tree trunk (after checking for snakes, not afraid of snakes, but after surprising a cobra on my MTB once, very aware.) to enjoy my coffee.
This is perfect. The coffee tastes the best it has in a very long time.
I post a short video and a photo as a bit of a fynbrag to my friends, it’s Friday morning, and everyone is at work…. It gets the desired responses.
I finish my coffee, and pack everything back on the bike for my journey to continue. I still have a way to go. No rush….
