Bilene - Paradise or What!!!

[FellAgain]

By the end of the weekend the guys were calling me "bruce" cos the injury was really looking bad.  Voltaren and Myprodol got me home.

 

[Bomber11]

More of the Lagoon








All good things finally come to an end, so on Sunday morning we loaded up and headed for Maputo hoping that the traffic wouldn’t be too hectic.



The road was in good condition with a little rain as well as the multiple small villages along the road limiting speed to 60km/h every few kilometres. The traffic got heavier as we approached Maputo with large trucks being the main culprits but fortunately with plenty of horsepower, overtaking was a breeze.  Maputo traffic is always a problem opposite the National Sports Stadium with all the cops, taxi’s, trucks, buses and pedestrians loitering around the stores next to the main road. Once we passed the Tollgate, the traffic was definitely thinner leading out towards the S.A . border.

The Mozambique customs was slightly better on a Sunday morning and the whole crossing of the Lebombo Border Post was not too time consuming. Due to all the road-works around Nelspruit and the Schoemanskloof road, we decided to enjoy some twisties on the way to Kaapse Hoop where we had a late breakfast. Unbeknown to me, Fellagain found the twisties painful as the continuous counter-steering didn’t agree with the injuries he carried.



On the high-speed freeway back to Pretoria, the boredom was alleviated by the wonderful memories of such a short but pleasant trip with a real great bunch of like minded buddies. (Male bonding it just so easy)

 

[Bomber11]

In summary,
a) Prepare yourself for an irritating few hours at the Mozambique side of the border.
b) Should your eye sight be slightly impeded, take the required reading glasses with you into the badly ventilated Den.
c) Keep to the speed limits even though it’s seriously irritating after a while.
d) Riding without the appropriate ATGATT is not recommended but should you be caught unaware, don’t forget to apply sunblock before you leave. ( 180km in the sun without any proper riding protection nor sunblock leads to some very sore bodies as the sun burns some weird areas while sitting on the bike). We stopped at two Chemists and two supermarkets along the way but found absolutely NO sunblock available anywhere in Mozambique.
e) Distance from Pta East via Magude to Bilene = 672km
f) Distance from Bilene via Maputo and Kaapse Hoop to Pta East = 688km
g) Return time = 9H35 including border crossing and lunch.
h) Total kilometres travelled =  1590

What can I say - Paradise will be visited again shortly.

 

[GD]

:drif:

 

[Wayne Duck]

Nice! Thanks a lot for the write up...can I ask for few more details, like name of accommodation, cost pppn, meals, etc?

 

[Mooch]

Good stuff guys. very cool!  :thumleft:

 

[Bomber11]

In connection with the accommodation, I'll let Bushboy give you more details but it did included a nice breakfast to start the day off properly and line the stomach's for some local brew.

 

[Bushboy]

Hi Wayne . We stayed at a great little place called "Villa Espanhola" R 320-. P/p/p/n and included breakfast.They have lots of fridges and space for you to store food and drinks. At night you could visit the local pubs and Restaurants or use the facility's at Villa Espanhola ( free of charge ) to prepare you're meal. Little bit of advice - stay away from the B& B's Bar. No one their seems to know how to keep record of what you had to drink. So the rule of thumb is check the list where you wrote down what you had then x 10 , - 12 and add 30% = allot of money.

 

[Wayne Duck]

Hi Wayne . We stayed at a great little place called "Villa Espanhola" R 320-. P/p/p/n and included breakfast.They have lots of fridges and space for you to store food and drinks. At night you could visit the local pubs and Restaurants or use the facility's at Villa Espanhola ( free of charge ) to prepare you're meal. Little bit of advice - stay away from the B& B's Bar. No one their seems to know how to keep record of what you had to drink. So the rule of thumb is check the list where you wrote down what you had then x 10 , - 12 and add 30% = allot of money.

Thanks a lot for the info Bushboy...and the advice 

 

[zugger11]

Thanks guys for a wonder ful trip and bomber 11 for the report. The gs brigade had no problems with them purring without a splutter. Would gladly do the trip again

 

[Husamarine]

Nice report Bomber.

Looks like you guys had a great  time!

Only thing missing is a little bit of orange...............