MAT250
Puppy
TTR 250 – Ghost Town & Snow
Too much work and too little play fortunately results in almost 40 days heaped up leave. The company “concerned” about my wellbeing basically tells me to take leave ... perhaps they are more concerned about me taking all of it at once and disappearing into the unknown.
So I take leave but what bike to take is a bit more of a dilemma. The rear tires on both bikes, the KLR and the TTR, are still good for a few moths riding close to home but will be dodgy on a longer multi-day trip. I’ve already bought new tires for both bike but not wanting to waste the life still left in them I load the TTR250 on the Corsa with a few other luxuries like a bigger tent, blow-up mattress, cool box, camping chair and head for the Graskop area.
The resort I stayed at has got everything for motorcycle touring. Central to great riding destinations, filling station, bottle store, convenience store and security so your tent will still be there when you get back after a day’s exploring. (Although they allow bikes to enter (No Quads allowed), they will not tolerate inconsiderate and misbehaving bikers like what I’ve witnessed at some of the bashes I’ve been to ... let’s keep this place bike friendly?)
Day 1
No real expectations so I head through Graskop to Sabie after a lazy start and riding the little loop up to God’ Window in brilliant sunlight. Just before the top I notice a 4x4 track going off the road and follow it to the edge of the escarp.
After lunch and some exploring in and around Sabie I head down to Hazyview. The road is in good condition and even on the 250 it is a great a ride trough the many twists and turns of the Bergvleit Pass with a 1:12 gradient in places. Even though it is in the middle of the week I find quite a few other bikers on this road twisting the ear on their bikes, this road is exiting and begs to be ridding at your own discretion!
After buying some avocados for dinner I turn left at Hazyview and head for Graskop. Nice views in places but not as exiting as Bergvleit Pass, just before turning left again to head up Kowyns Pass to Graskop I notice a dirt road sigh boarded Sabie and it seems to be a public road, it is already late in the afternoon but I make a note of it!
It is a cold but a splendid ride from Graskop back to my tent, the late afternoon winter light as just amazing so stop to take these photos as the a full moon comes up over the Blyde River Canyon. This canyon is the 3rd largest canyon in the world and in it’s upper regions near Bourke’s Luck the Belvedere hydro-electric power plant was completed in 1911. This 2,000 Kw power station was at the time the largest hydro-electric power station in the Southern hemisphere. The electricity was used for the gold mining activities in Pilgrim’s Rest including the first operational electric railway in South Africa.
Day 2
After a cold night and the temperature plummeting to 4 decrees C in the tent I’ve got no problem heading for a hot shower early. After breakfast and a constant contest between the monkeys liberating things from the tent en me running around trying to get it back I eventually fill the bike up and head down the Abel Erasmus Pass to Leydsdorp near Gravelot. (Most things you will get back from the monkeys, but they really like chocolate .... this you will not get back no matter you best efforts.)
Scenes from the road down to Abel Erasmus Pass and the pass itself.
Leydsdorp is the smallest declared city in South Africa, something to do with Paul Kruger having to sigh some agreement but the requirements were that it must be signed in a city. The “city” contains less than 10 structures of which one is a pub. (For more info visit: https://www.chimoyoranch.co.za/page/about_leydsdorp )
It is a nice and relaxed off-road ride to Leydsdorp but by the time I arrive there it is already 33 degrees C and no sign of cooling down either as I spend more that an hour there looking around and taking photos. The place has been a ghost town for quite some and it is like the people there simply disappeared overnight. Looking trough the windows of the hotel I can see made beds with towels and little soaps on it ... but I’m the only soul there and have been for quite some time.
There are many dirt roads in this area, it is remote and gets even more remote as you head further north. I still wanted to visit Trichardsdal closer to the mountains and ride the dirt road from there back to Diphuti close to the JG Srydom Tunnel but ran out of time so I stay on the tar road once I’m back on it.
By the time I’m back at the tent and just after sunset the temperature is already 16 degrees. After a dixie dinner of bully beef with noodles washed down with cider it is 10 degrees in the tent and in the early morning hours having to speaking to a tree compliments of the solo cider party, it is 6 degrees and I’m puffing steam like a locomotive.
Day 3
The day starts could and overcast with the sun peering trough the grey skies only for moments, even the monkeys are sleeping-in it seems as I contemplate the day over a breakfast of rusks and steaming coffee. After a hot shower to get a measure of speed back into my still cold body and securing the tent against the liberators that I’m sure will be there as soon as they see me depart, I head out for the Sabie dirt road I’ve discovered a few days go. The road up to God’s Window is covered in cloud and I’m freezing by the time I stop to refuel in Graskop before descending down Kowyns Pass to the dirt road.
Most of the roads in this area are marked “No Entry” and are private forestry roads not open to the public. With none of the usual no entry signs present I head into the forest with a grin of anticipation remembering the road down Bergvleit Pass. I’m not disappointed, this is on dirt and the road is in good condition. With may twist and turns it takes me trough deep valleys and eventfully high into the mountains with amazing views into valley towards Hazyview before exiting 21km later onto the tar road between Graskop and Sabie.
Over lunch in Sabie with heaps of koffee to get some warmth back into my body I discover it is the Klipkraal Pass. Riding back down the pass I stop to take some more photos and notice it is now only 11 degrees ... the almost 70km back to the tent is interesting to say the least as I’m riding in body armour covered only with my old motorcycle jacket minus the inner. Only near Bourke’s Luck and with 16km to go before I’m back at the tent, the temperature slowly creeps up to 14 degrees.
Day 4
With warnings of another cold front approaching I decide to break camp and head home but not before the monkeys score another chocolate bar that I’ve saved for the trip home as I pack every thing back on the Corsa in a light drizzle.
Between Lydenburg and Dullstroom it starts raining heavily and by the time I stop in Dullstroom for fuel it looks like this. The temperature gadget on the TTR flashes excitingly “Ice Alert” ... I’ve always wondered if that feature is working, well I guess it does after all!
Too much work and too little play fortunately results in almost 40 days heaped up leave. The company “concerned” about my wellbeing basically tells me to take leave ... perhaps they are more concerned about me taking all of it at once and disappearing into the unknown.
So I take leave but what bike to take is a bit more of a dilemma. The rear tires on both bikes, the KLR and the TTR, are still good for a few moths riding close to home but will be dodgy on a longer multi-day trip. I’ve already bought new tires for both bike but not wanting to waste the life still left in them I load the TTR250 on the Corsa with a few other luxuries like a bigger tent, blow-up mattress, cool box, camping chair and head for the Graskop area.
The resort I stayed at has got everything for motorcycle touring. Central to great riding destinations, filling station, bottle store, convenience store and security so your tent will still be there when you get back after a day’s exploring. (Although they allow bikes to enter (No Quads allowed), they will not tolerate inconsiderate and misbehaving bikers like what I’ve witnessed at some of the bashes I’ve been to ... let’s keep this place bike friendly?)
Day 1
No real expectations so I head through Graskop to Sabie after a lazy start and riding the little loop up to God’ Window in brilliant sunlight. Just before the top I notice a 4x4 track going off the road and follow it to the edge of the escarp.
After lunch and some exploring in and around Sabie I head down to Hazyview. The road is in good condition and even on the 250 it is a great a ride trough the many twists and turns of the Bergvleit Pass with a 1:12 gradient in places. Even though it is in the middle of the week I find quite a few other bikers on this road twisting the ear on their bikes, this road is exiting and begs to be ridding at your own discretion!
After buying some avocados for dinner I turn left at Hazyview and head for Graskop. Nice views in places but not as exiting as Bergvleit Pass, just before turning left again to head up Kowyns Pass to Graskop I notice a dirt road sigh boarded Sabie and it seems to be a public road, it is already late in the afternoon but I make a note of it!
It is a cold but a splendid ride from Graskop back to my tent, the late afternoon winter light as just amazing so stop to take these photos as the a full moon comes up over the Blyde River Canyon. This canyon is the 3rd largest canyon in the world and in it’s upper regions near Bourke’s Luck the Belvedere hydro-electric power plant was completed in 1911. This 2,000 Kw power station was at the time the largest hydro-electric power station in the Southern hemisphere. The electricity was used for the gold mining activities in Pilgrim’s Rest including the first operational electric railway in South Africa.
Day 2
After a cold night and the temperature plummeting to 4 decrees C in the tent I’ve got no problem heading for a hot shower early. After breakfast and a constant contest between the monkeys liberating things from the tent en me running around trying to get it back I eventually fill the bike up and head down the Abel Erasmus Pass to Leydsdorp near Gravelot. (Most things you will get back from the monkeys, but they really like chocolate .... this you will not get back no matter you best efforts.)
Scenes from the road down to Abel Erasmus Pass and the pass itself.
Leydsdorp is the smallest declared city in South Africa, something to do with Paul Kruger having to sigh some agreement but the requirements were that it must be signed in a city. The “city” contains less than 10 structures of which one is a pub. (For more info visit: https://www.chimoyoranch.co.za/page/about_leydsdorp )
It is a nice and relaxed off-road ride to Leydsdorp but by the time I arrive there it is already 33 degrees C and no sign of cooling down either as I spend more that an hour there looking around and taking photos. The place has been a ghost town for quite some and it is like the people there simply disappeared overnight. Looking trough the windows of the hotel I can see made beds with towels and little soaps on it ... but I’m the only soul there and have been for quite some time.
There are many dirt roads in this area, it is remote and gets even more remote as you head further north. I still wanted to visit Trichardsdal closer to the mountains and ride the dirt road from there back to Diphuti close to the JG Srydom Tunnel but ran out of time so I stay on the tar road once I’m back on it.
By the time I’m back at the tent and just after sunset the temperature is already 16 degrees. After a dixie dinner of bully beef with noodles washed down with cider it is 10 degrees in the tent and in the early morning hours having to speaking to a tree compliments of the solo cider party, it is 6 degrees and I’m puffing steam like a locomotive.
Day 3
The day starts could and overcast with the sun peering trough the grey skies only for moments, even the monkeys are sleeping-in it seems as I contemplate the day over a breakfast of rusks and steaming coffee. After a hot shower to get a measure of speed back into my still cold body and securing the tent against the liberators that I’m sure will be there as soon as they see me depart, I head out for the Sabie dirt road I’ve discovered a few days go. The road up to God’s Window is covered in cloud and I’m freezing by the time I stop to refuel in Graskop before descending down Kowyns Pass to the dirt road.
Most of the roads in this area are marked “No Entry” and are private forestry roads not open to the public. With none of the usual no entry signs present I head into the forest with a grin of anticipation remembering the road down Bergvleit Pass. I’m not disappointed, this is on dirt and the road is in good condition. With may twist and turns it takes me trough deep valleys and eventfully high into the mountains with amazing views into valley towards Hazyview before exiting 21km later onto the tar road between Graskop and Sabie.
Over lunch in Sabie with heaps of koffee to get some warmth back into my body I discover it is the Klipkraal Pass. Riding back down the pass I stop to take some more photos and notice it is now only 11 degrees ... the almost 70km back to the tent is interesting to say the least as I’m riding in body armour covered only with my old motorcycle jacket minus the inner. Only near Bourke’s Luck and with 16km to go before I’m back at the tent, the temperature slowly creeps up to 14 degrees.
Day 4
With warnings of another cold front approaching I decide to break camp and head home but not before the monkeys score another chocolate bar that I’ve saved for the trip home as I pack every thing back on the Corsa in a light drizzle.
Between Lydenburg and Dullstroom it starts raining heavily and by the time I stop in Dullstroom for fuel it looks like this. The temperature gadget on the TTR flashes excitingly “Ice Alert” ... I’ve always wondered if that feature is working, well I guess it does after all!
