SGB
Race Dog
Christmas 2007 was planned to be spent with my folks in the East Freestate, and plans came together to get some riding in at the same time.
Left Durbs on Sunday at 5:30, me and the laaitie on the 990, wife and daugther in the cage with the trailer and plastic bikes in tow. I have not done lots of riding since the KTM Rallye Raid, and it was good to feel the wind through the helmet again! We forgot the camera in the car, enjoyed the ride up, met some fellow bikers at Golden Gate and Fouriesburg. Uneventful, enjoyable ride. The Freestate is green and scenery is magnificent after all the recent rains.
All the horses stabled safely for the night.
The next morning, wifey and I went on a "breakfast run". The 990 was saddled up and with no particular route in mind, I just follwed my nose along the roads I know from my youth. Sunrise and the smells and being part of early morning business in this part of the world is just great!
The wife has never seen the old sandstone mill at Gumtree, the biggest sandstone building I know about. Pity it is not working any more, and Gumtree is not the busy station I used to know way back.... Still impressive nonetheless.
From here we took the road to Marquard, another city I used to frequent 25 years back and it still looks much the same. Found some rain along the way, not serious and we dried out quickly once through the shower. Filled fuel here, but the hotel was not open for business yet....
Took a raod back in the general direction home. This one was just graded and the loose rocks made for some interesting riding here and there.
The next day we did some serious mud riding on the plastics, no pics, sorry but the camera would not have survived this one.
Christmas came and went, some rain during the night and the wife came along for another little jaunt. The wet roads made for some "oops" moments, but we managed to keep the shiny side up.
Another spectacular sunrise....
The wet road dictates straight line riding, getting things sideways does not make for a happy wife on the back.
Filled fuel in the throbbing metropole of Paul Roux, some slippery dirt roads around this village!
We also did some farm work to earn some of the (too much) food we consumed. Was good to let the kids experience some doing of the things you do with sheep. Explained to the laaitie about these elastic bands and how to apply them. He was not interested in his own elastic band....
The soul is ready for city life again after spending a couple of great riding days on the farm. Next week we might go and see my next favourite place, watch this space.
Left Durbs on Sunday at 5:30, me and the laaitie on the 990, wife and daugther in the cage with the trailer and plastic bikes in tow. I have not done lots of riding since the KTM Rallye Raid, and it was good to feel the wind through the helmet again! We forgot the camera in the car, enjoyed the ride up, met some fellow bikers at Golden Gate and Fouriesburg. Uneventful, enjoyable ride. The Freestate is green and scenery is magnificent after all the recent rains.
All the horses stabled safely for the night.
The next morning, wifey and I went on a "breakfast run". The 990 was saddled up and with no particular route in mind, I just follwed my nose along the roads I know from my youth. Sunrise and the smells and being part of early morning business in this part of the world is just great!
The wife has never seen the old sandstone mill at Gumtree, the biggest sandstone building I know about. Pity it is not working any more, and Gumtree is not the busy station I used to know way back.... Still impressive nonetheless.
From here we took the road to Marquard, another city I used to frequent 25 years back and it still looks much the same. Found some rain along the way, not serious and we dried out quickly once through the shower. Filled fuel here, but the hotel was not open for business yet....
Took a raod back in the general direction home. This one was just graded and the loose rocks made for some interesting riding here and there.
The next day we did some serious mud riding on the plastics, no pics, sorry but the camera would not have survived this one.
Christmas came and went, some rain during the night and the wife came along for another little jaunt. The wet roads made for some "oops" moments, but we managed to keep the shiny side up.
Another spectacular sunrise....
The wet road dictates straight line riding, getting things sideways does not make for a happy wife on the back.
Filled fuel in the throbbing metropole of Paul Roux, some slippery dirt roads around this village!
We also did some farm work to earn some of the (too much) food we consumed. Was good to let the kids experience some doing of the things you do with sheep. Explained to the laaitie about these elastic bands and how to apply them. He was not interested in his own elastic band....
The soul is ready for city life again after spending a couple of great riding days on the farm. Next week we might go and see my next favourite place, watch this space.
