Ellisras Bosveld Fees 6 - 8 July 2012 RR

[Swart Gevaar]

Ok, so I am not the worlds best writer, but I will attempt on writing this RR as best I can. So here goes.

I left Friday morning around 07h10 and headed for Mean Machine, our meeting point in Menlyn. At around 07h30, Christoff - 650 V Strom - arrived and pretty soon after, Gerrie and Johanna aka Chinaconnexion arrived as well. So, it was Ms Laurika that we had to wait for, but not only her.

While outside chatting, Christoff decided to re-adjust his bag on the bike. When trying to restrap it, his bungee cord decided otherwise and gave him two neatly planted cuts, right above the eyebrows. So, now he had to first go to hospital to get some stitches, so, we were now waiting for Christoff and Laurika. Tommie was also not present, but he was going to follow after an important meeting.



Finally, by 09h50, we left for Bela-Bela.

 

[Swart Gevaar]

So, we took the N1 north towards Polokwane and turned off at the Codrington turn off for Bela-Bela. After buying some cheap sekelbos next to the road and loading it onto the support bakkie, we carried on to Bela-Bela. We settled for a late brunch at the Bela-Bela "Waterfront's" Maxis.

 

[TVB]

:sip:

 

[Swart Gevaar]

A few of us having breakfast

So after something to eat in Bela-Bela, we left and decided not to take the road via Thabazimbi, but rather to see if the Nylstroom Vaalwater road works are realy that bad. As we entered Nylstroom from Bela-Bela, I decided to make a stop at the concentration camp cemetary, something I always do when taking that road.

 

[Swart Gevaar]

The cemetary is a bit of a reality check about how easy we have it at this day and age. The heartache of those men, women and children must've been unbareable.

 

[Swart Gevaar]

Us posing for a group photo. Note the white plasters on Christoff's brow from where the bungee cords smacked him

 

[Swart Gevaar]

After leaving the cemetary and refueling in Nylstroom, we headed North for Vaalwater and the Roadworks. All I can say is what a pleasure it was riding it. We caught the first 2  stop go's green and did not even have to slow down. The next lot from there, we skipped the lights and only had to pull over here and there for oncoming traffic. We had roughly 48km of dirt and a bit of tar here and there.

Once in Vaalwater, we decided to stop at the Total garage just before leaving town. This photo was taken at the petrol pumps.

 

[Carrots]

Lekker Philip.......wag vir die res. Watse stop and go's?  eepwall: ot:

:happy1:

 

[Swart Gevaar]

From Vaalwater, we headed towards Ellisras, our final destination.

We arrived shortly after 16h00 and decided to first pitch our tents and then to head into town for some supplies.

 

[Swart Gevaar]

Lekker Philip.......wag vir die res. Watse stop and go's?  eepwall: ot:

:happy1:

Sorry, het vergeet daar's nie Stop Go's vir bikes nie, net vir cages.

Anyway, so we camped at Babalela lodge while Chinaconnexion and Johanna stayed at Voel Paradys, they took some very nice photos, so hopefully they will post them here as well. Christoff stayed in town with an old school friend of ours.

 

[Swart Gevaar]

Tommie finally arrived just after 18h00

 

[Swart Gevaar]

Some more photos of our camp site

 

[Swart Gevaar]

So, after going to bed only very early on Saturday morning and only a few hours sleep, we decided to go and get some breakfast in town. We headed off to Machauka Lodge but got there as breakfast was finishing. Luckily they were kind enough to keep it available for us for a while longer.

After breakfast, most of us went our seperate ways. Christoff and Laurika went to the fees while Gerrie and Johanna was already there. Myself and Tommie decided to take the scoots on a small bit of dirt road in between the mountains.

Since it was my first time on dirt with the S10, I naturally was a bit nervous, but soon started to enjoy the bike more and more.

 

[laurika]

:sip:

 

[Swart Gevaar]

The route took us along some easily manageable sandy patches, some rocky terrain over mountains and along the Mogol river. Loads of animals were seen, especially baboons as well as Impala, Ostriches, common dogs and chickens etc.

 

[laurika]

:sip:

snuck in at Seven am...thats what we call really early.... :imaposer:

 

[Swart Gevaar]

The road carried on for at least 22 km.

 

[Swart Gevaar]

:laughing4: :imaposer:

:sip:

snuck in at Seven am...thats what we call really early.... :imaposer:

:laughing4: :imaposer:

Hahaha. Yip, realy early.

So, it carried on for the 22km, and we realy enjoyed ourselves. We did underestimate ourselves a bit with the heat in Ellisras, especially in between the mountains. We both only had one liter of water, and that was fininshed within less than 20 km, and we haven't reached the dead end yet...

 

[Swart Gevaar]

After a very nice ride, we went back to town and went on to the fees. I unfortunately did not take any photos and I can kick myself for that. Chinaconnexion please help!!

Anyway, that evening we spent at the lodge, especially after the escapades of the previous night. We weren't party poopers though as we chatted and laughed well into the night. We had some very good Cuban Cigars sponsored by Tommie. The smoke can clearly be seen in one of the photos. We also met a fellow biker, Felix, from the KLRclan.co.za which saw my post and decided to drive up. A very nice guy

 

[Swart Gevaar]

I am not sure what time we went to bed, but we did wake up  and packed up to leave for GP again at around 08h00. We agreed to meet in town for around 10 and then head off from there.

We decided to stop at the Vaalwater Hotel for a late brunch. We did this last year also when we came back from the Fees. Last year, we ordered food and coffee and tea and waited for 45 minutes at least. This time around I thought it might be diffirent. I was so wrong. I ordered tea as I am a coffee snob and they only had Ricoffy. The tea was still not brought to me after 10 minutes. I decided to go to the Black Mamba curious shop down the road in the meantime. Now that was a good call. A very nice little shop for such a little town.

Anyway, back at the hotel again, my food still haven't arrived. I am actually very cheesed off as I am typing this. I think we'll have to review our choice of late brunch on the route back.

We posed for a photo shortly before leaving.

I wanted to say thanks to Laurika, Tommie, Christoff, Musa, Gerrie and Johanna for coming with me on this trip. Hopefully we can get a bigger group together next year. Thanks guys, you were awesome to chat with.