- Joined
- Aug 28, 2006
- Messages
- 7,623
- Reaction score
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- Location
- Hilton KZN
- Bike
- Boss Hoss (all models)
Wooly Bugger suggested we get the KZN dawgs together and go for a ride and then have a party at his house afterwards, so we set Saturday as the date, posted an invitation in the Planning a Ride Section and sent out a few mails.
The plan was to do Hella Hella and the Umkomaas River Valley, but I decided to throw in Byrne and a technical section through the plantations surrounding the Hilton Off Road Club to start off with.
The group met up at CrossWays Hotel in Hilton at 07h00, perfect blue sky a light shower of rain over-night to keep the dust down.
Things started off great until we got to a single track section in the forest with a sharp uphill turn to the left. Wooly Bugger's front wheel on his 1200 slipped on the wet grass as he tried to make the turn, and he went down, injuring his ankle in the process.
He was in quite a bit of pain, so it was clear he couldn't carry on with the ride, so we changed the route, headed back to Hilton and left Wooly at home, making him promise to have the fire ready by the time we got back.
After leaving Wooly we decided to miss the forest section and headed to Elandskop on tar, then hit dirt to Byrne Valley. Made our usual stop at the ruined old farmhouse above the valley.
From there we rode down into Byrne and turned into the Oaks Hotel where the plan was to have breakfast. We got there about 08h45 and made ourselves comfortable at the table and chairs outside in the sun. After sitting around chatting for quite a while, there was no indication of any waiter coming to take our order, so I went to see if I could find some service. I came upon a lady who appeared to be the manager of the place, and asked if we could get some breakfast.
"Breakfast is served from 8 -9" she told me, "and it is now 9.15, so we can't help you as you are too late"
What a kak attitude.
So we went down the road a bit to The Blue Pumpkin, where the owner was only too happy to make us a great breakfast at a really reasonable price.
The Oaks in Byrne Valley will never see me there again.
From there headed down to Hella Hella and up the pass on the other side of the river. Stopped at a view spot at the top for a break and to admire the view
From there we did a lot of riding with not much stopping so unfortunately that is the end of my pics, hopefully some of the others took a few more pics than I did and can add them in.
Briefly our route from then on took us to Qunu Falls, Ixopo, down into the Umkomaas Valley to Riverside, a really spectacular road imho, back across the Umkomaas River, up the other side of the valley to Eston, then Camperdown and back home to Hilton by about 16h00 where we met up with wives and others at Wooly's house for some partying.
Good to see Essbee there, just about recovered from the accident he had recently.
Thanks to Wooly and Deirdre for having us.
As usual, a great ride, the only bummer being Wooly Buggers varked ankle.
The plan was to do Hella Hella and the Umkomaas River Valley, but I decided to throw in Byrne and a technical section through the plantations surrounding the Hilton Off Road Club to start off with.
The group met up at CrossWays Hotel in Hilton at 07h00, perfect blue sky a light shower of rain over-night to keep the dust down.
Things started off great until we got to a single track section in the forest with a sharp uphill turn to the left. Wooly Bugger's front wheel on his 1200 slipped on the wet grass as he tried to make the turn, and he went down, injuring his ankle in the process.
He was in quite a bit of pain, so it was clear he couldn't carry on with the ride, so we changed the route, headed back to Hilton and left Wooly at home, making him promise to have the fire ready by the time we got back.
After leaving Wooly we decided to miss the forest section and headed to Elandskop on tar, then hit dirt to Byrne Valley. Made our usual stop at the ruined old farmhouse above the valley.
From there we rode down into Byrne and turned into the Oaks Hotel where the plan was to have breakfast. We got there about 08h45 and made ourselves comfortable at the table and chairs outside in the sun. After sitting around chatting for quite a while, there was no indication of any waiter coming to take our order, so I went to see if I could find some service. I came upon a lady who appeared to be the manager of the place, and asked if we could get some breakfast.
"Breakfast is served from 8 -9" she told me, "and it is now 9.15, so we can't help you as you are too late"
What a kak attitude.
So we went down the road a bit to The Blue Pumpkin, where the owner was only too happy to make us a great breakfast at a really reasonable price.
The Oaks in Byrne Valley will never see me there again.
From there headed down to Hella Hella and up the pass on the other side of the river. Stopped at a view spot at the top for a break and to admire the view
From there we did a lot of riding with not much stopping so unfortunately that is the end of my pics, hopefully some of the others took a few more pics than I did and can add them in.
Briefly our route from then on took us to Qunu Falls, Ixopo, down into the Umkomaas Valley to Riverside, a really spectacular road imho, back across the Umkomaas River, up the other side of the valley to Eston, then Camperdown and back home to Hilton by about 16h00 where we met up with wives and others at Wooly's house for some partying.
Good to see Essbee there, just about recovered from the accident he had recently.
Thanks to Wooly and Deirdre for having us.
As usual, a great ride, the only bummer being Wooly Buggers varked ankle.
