Call us Crazy!! But what an ADVENTURE!! - Finished! WE MADE IT!!

[BlueBull2007]

Great report, keep it coming.

 

[Nardus]

PIELE !!!

 

[Catchy]

Great report, makes me green with envy, just want to get up there and ride. Have done similar trips in the 4x4 and am now itching to do it by bike!
Good work by you and your camera gal.

 

[bradleys]

Nice report and pics Scrat ,keep it comming ,you keeping us in suspence. :thumleft:

 

[KAT-WP]

gr8 report & very nice pic's :thumleft:

 

[Ronin]

Great stuff  :thumleft:

 

[Frannarossi]

Gooi die res :thumleft:

 

[GSJeri]

BRILIANT!!!  :ricky:

 

[Scrat]

Day8 Molomong to Sani

We woke up early, no sign of Jacob or my tube… ??? ???…oh man what are we going to do?? Decided to just relax (or try to relax and work on plan B and C…..) :deal:
So what to do?? sat around, drank our last coffee......, tried to get hold of Jacob… ot: ot:.. finally round about 11am Daniel came to us and said that Jacob has managed to get the tube fixed, he will be back in about a hour and half… :biggrin: :biggrin:.. STUNNING!! Ok so we started getting ready, packed most of the stuff, and then waited outside again….. Felt pretty helpless here in the middle of nowhere!!
Some pics of the place

The lodge's CRAZY Cat!!

Ok another 2 hour past, where is the guy!!?? Marique used the opportunity to learn some Sotho from the great master – Daniel.

Finally Jacob phoned, the bakkie broke down again and he has sent the tube with a taxi, Daniel will have to pick up the tube at the main road, - cost for transporting tube 10km’s = R100…. ot:.
Finally I had the tube in my hands, FIXED!! And it’s 14:00 allready!! Let’s get this done,  I think in the rush to get everything done, either me or Daniel pinched the tube with the tyre lever :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(…..after the tire was on and we started pumping……SSSSssshshhhhhhhhhh :eek7: :eek7: – worst sound ever!!  :dousing: :dousing:
Marique sitting in the sun reading her fashion mags suggested using some glue and a piece of my extra bicycle tube – maybe it will work??? Damm, sounds like a good plan – let’s try it, we have nothing to lose!!

Cleaning the tube....

Whooollllaaaaaa, Super glue and a piece of bicycle tube... fixed,

Ok, now take your time and put the tube back in, be CAREFUL!

Yeaaaaahhhh!! it's still on 2bar!! now we can go!!
Thanx for all the help Daniel!!!

Relieved and eager to get going again!! I WILL NEVER FORGET THE TUBE REPAIR KIT!!!!  :deal: :deal:

Ok, just after 15:00, let’s get moving!! Next stop Sani! We decided that we will sleep over at Sani  and were looking forward to having a hot shower/bath and some decent food, and cold beer!
Soon we were on the road to Sani, Great road, but here and there really tricky!
I could not believe that the back wheel was still fine!! :thumleft: :thumleft:  We just need to make it to Sani, we wil sort it out there!!
Here's a few pics of on our way to Sani........

We found Jacob's bakkie along the way!! Poor guy, he really helped us out!!

More of the road to Sani...

We decided to stop a bit - check the back tire and have a smoke,... you could feel we gaining altitude again...was getting chilly....just could not believe that Eva's idea with the glue worked so well!! Thanx Partner!! :mwink: :mwink:

And again some more pics on our way to Sani.....SNOW again!!! cold cold cold.......

And then ........... we saw this!!! We made it!!  :thumleft: :thumleft:

I is a happy man now...must get beer!! :drif: :drif:

Man - the view from here is amazing, jsut look at that Maluti.......

We soon got a room booked in the lodge, BUT - there is no running water  all the pipes are frozen..... so water for toilets and so on is coming from 200l drums standing in the passage... well another day without having a wash... what the hell - we don't care!!  :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
Smoking section was outside and it was Leeu koud!! As soon as that sun was gone, the wind brought that cold wind howling up th pass......
It was great meeting all these crazy people .... all of them as mad as we are.... :ricky:
Here's a guy that was touring SA on foot  Crazy....

As you can see it's freezing out here!

and in that back you could see all the fires.....

see I'm not lying, it was FLIPPEN cold!! And it's only 6:30pm!!! 

At about 7pm dinner was served  - aaah GOOD food, 3 course meal!! NJAM!!

After dinner it wasn't long before we headed for the bed..... we were paste!!  :bueller:
we had to get a good rest as we will be going down SANI!! Can't wait!!  :ricky: :ricky: :ricky:

..........................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.................

 

[Scrat]

Day9 Sani to Rhodes

We were up early and enjoyed a great breakfast, soon after that we were ready to leave…. In the back of my head I kept hearing all the voices of people telling me it will be difficult going down Sani with all the gear and a pillion…. What the hell man – we only live once… if we fail – then maybe that will be something to tell other bikers atch: atch:…. Let's go concur Sani!!! :ricky:

Sani here we come!!!  :drif: :drif:

Ok one thing I did remember was the warnings about the 2 Icy corners……
We soon started our decent and it was a bit more work and steeper that I thought , keep the bike in 1st (I’m glad I fitted that 16T front sprocket now)….loose rocks made it difficult to steer the bike in the desired direction but have faith in your machine and he will guide you!! :thumleft: :thumleft:
Got to the 1st icy corner, Marique had to get off, managed my way down - EXCELENT!!

We made it…. As Marique got back onto the bike, we did not notice the big rock in front of the back wheel….. so as we pulled away…….Shit ...oh shit…. Wham!! We fell over …. Bike was still idling but we kept on rolling  – that’s how steep it is here!!  OUR 1st OFF for the trip!! Not bad I think!!  :thumleft: :mwink: :mwink:
I’m just glad I got the High crash bars….. otherwise the side panel in the front would have been gone....

We did the same - except the fall on the second icy corner...  :thumleft:

Yes the road is quite hectic - but a lot of fun!! Adrenalin pumping, mouth is dry and your shoulders are burning from all the stress on them....All in the name of fun!!
Wonder how they got that up here.....

long way down still!!

we got to a section and decided it's time to smoke and rest a bit......

It's hard work... another stop and smoke break!!

We finally got to the border post, it felt sad but also felt relived to be back in SA... well the adventure continues!! :thumleft: :thumleft:

from there "oop ketels" all the way to Himeville.... stopped at the 1st Garage and guess what i bought!! Tube repair Kit!!! And can you believe our Super glue pactch made it down Sani pass??!!! 
We stopped at the 1st place we could get a cold one and some food!!

From there it was Underberg to Swartberg and then R394 to Matatiele - lekke gravel road, saw a nice spot for a break....

......Guess who was feeling sleepy again..... :bueller:

We got to Matat and stopped at the spar and stocked up on Siggas and red bull for you know who......
As we stopped at the garage to refuel... EISH... back wheel is flat - imagine that almost 200km for the superglue patch to die.....and next to the Shell was a Supa Quick :thumleft: :thumleft:
The wheel was off in a flash, patch and back on in 30min.... time was not on our side now.... Rhodes is still far and it is just past 3pm......

From Matat we took the R56 to just past Mount Fletcher and turned off at the Gravel toward Mbizeni/Elandshoogte.... it was now 4pm and the GPS said it was still 150km to go.... not to bad we will make it before dark.... OR SHALL WE..... ??? ???

Off we were into the unknown again!! M taking pics of the road..... :ricky:

Eva getting creative :mwink: :mwink: :mwink:

And the son was setting fast !!! WE need to hurry up....but had to stop and take a pic of this....told Marique that i think Rhodes is somewhere close to those mountains in the background....

The road was not to bad as we got to the T-junction at the R396 to Rhodes... still 47KM to go  And it's almost dark!! and getting COLD NOW!!

Well we had to accept that we will be doing this last piece of road in the dark, and the wind was howling past us, cutting through our jackets!! we got to a board that said "rhodes 37km" and almost and hour later we got one that said "Rhodes 30km"!!! WTF!!! here's some of Eva's action shots

So we did Naude's nek at night... could not really see what the world looked like because everything was black!! we decided to go back there one day to see what it looks like.
Eva also decided to stop taking pics as she prefer to hold on now as it got a bit scary when the wind forces us closer to the black abyss..... i have to admit that i could not feel my hand anymore!!  :eek7:

After another hour we saw lights... there is life!!! But it turned out to be a bakkie....... 

But at least we now know there is people around here somewhere!!  :-\ :-\

And all of a sudden we rode into this little "stof dorpie"..... Hey this is Rhodes!!! whooohhooooo!!! :biggrin: :biggrin:
Stopped at the Hotel and went straight for the Fireplace - and aaah a well deserved OBS!!! 

Can we handle any more Excitement!!!??? YES WE CAN!!!! :thumleft: :thumleft:

The bar was cozy and great people there, here's one that wanted me to hear of all his adventures and none of mine....  :-\

We soon got our room and Eva opted to go have a long hot shower and i finished my drink(s) at the bar....
this was our room and just outside Bike had his Pozzy - had to look after my Bike......

Even the mascots had their spot!!

I was really looking forward to a HOT Shower ......BUT when i got in the shower...............COLD WATER!!!!  Marique used all of the hot water!!!  :dousing:
hell no!! i will not get into that clean bed with 3 days of dust and sweat on me..... so cold shower it was!!

that might have been good - preparing me for the day to follow.... you never know what the next day will bring...... :mwink: :mwink: :mwink:

 

[MrBig]

I must say it's great to follow your adventures like this - the energy and passion is clearly palpable in your writing.
You guys seem like a fun couple..  :thumleft:

 

[briv]

Uitforkenstekend  :thumleft: Ek sal eendag die AT ook daar deur moet vat  :ricky:

 

[user 4656]

Great RR, looking forward to the rest! Glad the superglue trick worked!  :thumleft:

 

[GStry]

Very interesting RR, Lots of photo's thanks  :thumleft:

 

[Andy 950]

Never underestimate the creative flair of a fashion designer, that tube repair fits in the same catagory as Kamanya's rear wheel starting method.  8)

Whoop whoop!!

 

[Gee eS]

Great stuff, keep it coming.

 

[husky]

Great report - brave ride and very good pictures. Good memories

 

[Frannarossi]

Can't wait for the rest :thumleft:

 

[stevgh0]

daai agter tkc hou nie... watse voor tire is daai ?

 

[Colyn]

Great adventure ... thanks for sharing.