Redrider and an orange rider head west

Thursday dawned and it was time to get on our bikes and head for Vanderkloof via as much dirt as possible. Dirtwarp had a wipeout and Louisxander had to stand in at work. The fellowship was down to two but some awesome riding lay ahead and we were ready.



Total distance covered :

2200 km

Bikes :

Honda XR650R
KTM 525 EXC

Both ran like clockwork, no problems



Route :

Pretoria - Delmas - Villiers - Frankfort - Lindley - Senekal - Korannaberge - Thaba Nchu - Reddersburg - Dewetsdorp - Jagersfontein - Vanderkloof - Luckhoff - Phillipolis - Smithfield - Wepener - Fouriesburg - Clarens - Golden Gate - Villiers - Heidelberg - Pretoria

-Stay tuned-

:drif: :drif: :drif:

:happy1:

Bliksem, waas die res?

Day 1 : Pretoria to Korannaberg 566 km

Murphy's law, being sunshine the whole week our first day on the trip started with overcast rainy weather. Luckily we dodged most of the rain untill we hit Leandra ! Fast open dirt between Delmas and Leandra.





Damp conditions gave way to a drizzle as we headed further





The waterproofs came out and it turned out to be the right decision. Leandra well I'm not sure but this watering hole turned out to be our first stop of the day as we had something for the cold





After our pit stop the heavens opened up in a big way with us being pelted by hail, the size of marbles but damn did it hurt ! Offcourse there were no trees nearby luckily we found a tractor trailer and headed for some cover.



Luckily this was just a temporary delay as the worst passed in about 10 minutes, a stark contrast as that very night we would be sleeping under the stars on a perfect summer night. On the way to the Freestate border crossing a smaller river before the Vaal



Slowly but surely the grey and yellow of winter changing to green, the rain followed us into the Freestate



Some tweespoor just outside Frankfort made for some fun riding





We had lunch in Frankfort before heading towards Lindley, the sun finally came out and things were looking up



-To follow-

did you use any of the route that I planned?

dirtNap said:

did you use any of the route that I planned?

Click to expand...

Yes we did, had some great sections.

Preview ...

sidetrack said:

Preview ...

Click to expand...

hehehe. I'm glad I didn't disappoint  ;D

sidetrack said:

-Stay tuned-

Click to expand...

Tuned....my type of trip!

At a crossroads, big sky country. Miles and miles of open roads.



Some mountains started to appear and we found some smaller tracks linking dirt roads

Valley down below, peacefull and scenic.







Redrider in the valley



Lindley a town that have seen better days, wiki has this to say :

Lindley is a small town situated on the banks of the Vals River in the eastern region of the Free State province of South Africa. It was established by an American Presbyterian missionary named Daniel Lindley, who was the first ordained minister to the Voortrekkers in Natal.

The settlement of Lindley was laid out in 1875 on the farm Brandhoek and was proclaimed a town in 1878. The main route to the town is the R707. Lindley, together with its neighbouring towns of Reitz, Petrus Steyn and Arlington form the Nketoana Municipality.

I say let's drink beer ! Seriously the best pic I could find in town ...



Apparently Danie Craven was born here in 1910, bet you did not know that



Our overnight stop was close, good thing since we had about 12 hours saddle time. We would be sleeping in a cave, something I have not done in a while  :biggrin:

:drif:

Awesome report so far looking forward to the rest of it...

:drif: :drif:

Lekker

Great - more please!

Very nice, and good to have met you guys! :thumleft:

Ek's in

Nice roads guys, keep it coming, please.

Our overnight stop was at the Korannaberg adventurers farm, they offer plenty of activities and is well worth a visit. The owner is biker friendly which also helps. He told us about his CR500 adventures. We went with the camping option and decided to stay over in Holkrans. The cave has a waterfall, braai facilities and even lighting.

https://www.korannabergadventures.co.za/

The ride up the mountain, good riding at the end of the day







Stopping at the top, nice view over the countryside



Parts of the track crossed some 4x4 trails







And then we pulled up to our home for the night, Holkrans. First order of business was to get the fire going. The waterfall doubles as a shower and solar panels and batteries powers some lights at night. Neat braai areas and braai grids are provided. And the view was great, what more do you need









We talked some bikes, had a good braai with some beer offcourse. Redrider even braved the chilly "shower". Then we hit the sack, the stars were out and in the distance we heard some jackal calls. The next day would take us to Vanderkloof ...

I likes a lot!  :thumleft: