Mikie
Grey Hound
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2008
- Messages
- 8,619
- Reaction score
- 2,953
- Location
- Hoekwil / Wilderness
- Bike
- BMW R1200GS Adventure
The icy wind was gusting outside and we still had a long way to go to Katse. We promptly hit the road without a clue of what to expect, would there be snow? Rain? Mud?
The first stretch of road is a major construction zone, I would say for close on 60km, everywhere you look, is construction vehicles, blasting zones, Chinese wheel barrows (Those were interesting), Chinese workers and Chinese trucks going about the task of tarring the roads headed inland. We were stopped at one stage while they loaded a truck with rocks to clear the road.
The final bit of roadwork’s we encountered was a massive over pass bridge that is being built, dwarfing the old little concrete bridge below, after that it became plain old untouched dirt roads, through rural villages and over mountain passes. Winding along the Linakeng River. I had 2 near misses along this section with oncoming cars around blind corners, The roads are narrow and you don’t really expect it, spectacularly locking up my back wheel in front of a taxi almost had me soiling my underpants, I honestly thought I was going to hit the guy, quick thinking however had me pass him on the right out of harm’s way. The wind had calmed down and the temperature was up to around 13 Deg C some of our warmer gear was promptly removed. Once we got to Thaba-tseka the roads became more of dirt highways, wider but still windy, but with one catch, MARBLES!!! I hate that stuff, as slippery as a fresh cow pie on tar, that didn’t make for happy riding with me, but all went well and eventually we made it to Katse, the guys can correct me if I am wrong but that took around 7 hours for 229km. not for the faint hearted.
Shrek?
We had accommodation booked at Orion Katse Lodge, they have the lodge section in the main building and then flat lets which are the old houses built for the Construction workers that built the dam years ago, we got one of the houses, which is a full on house, kitchen, bathroom, lounge, garden, carport and 2 bedrooms. One thing Orko learned on this trip, seeing that he booked this legs accommodation, was to always inform the people you are booking with that we are 4 men travelling together, in other words we require 4 beds, he failed with this task, we got 2 single beds and lovely Double bed. Machete opted to sleep on the cushions on the floor in the lounge.
After a well-deserved shower we went back to the main lodge for supper and drinks, the wind had picked up again and the temperature had dropped.
Drinks at Katse aren’t at budget prices this we found out after we got our nasty bill at the end of the evening. The cold ride back to the house made sure we slept nice and warm that night.
Very chuffed with our days spectacular riding and successes on the technical bits had our spirits high as well and ready for the next day’s challenges through the rest of Lesotho and out at the border at Caledonspoort.
The first stretch of road is a major construction zone, I would say for close on 60km, everywhere you look, is construction vehicles, blasting zones, Chinese wheel barrows (Those were interesting), Chinese workers and Chinese trucks going about the task of tarring the roads headed inland. We were stopped at one stage while they loaded a truck with rocks to clear the road.
The final bit of roadwork’s we encountered was a massive over pass bridge that is being built, dwarfing the old little concrete bridge below, after that it became plain old untouched dirt roads, through rural villages and over mountain passes. Winding along the Linakeng River. I had 2 near misses along this section with oncoming cars around blind corners, The roads are narrow and you don’t really expect it, spectacularly locking up my back wheel in front of a taxi almost had me soiling my underpants, I honestly thought I was going to hit the guy, quick thinking however had me pass him on the right out of harm’s way. The wind had calmed down and the temperature was up to around 13 Deg C some of our warmer gear was promptly removed. Once we got to Thaba-tseka the roads became more of dirt highways, wider but still windy, but with one catch, MARBLES!!! I hate that stuff, as slippery as a fresh cow pie on tar, that didn’t make for happy riding with me, but all went well and eventually we made it to Katse, the guys can correct me if I am wrong but that took around 7 hours for 229km. not for the faint hearted.
Shrek?
We had accommodation booked at Orion Katse Lodge, they have the lodge section in the main building and then flat lets which are the old houses built for the Construction workers that built the dam years ago, we got one of the houses, which is a full on house, kitchen, bathroom, lounge, garden, carport and 2 bedrooms. One thing Orko learned on this trip, seeing that he booked this legs accommodation, was to always inform the people you are booking with that we are 4 men travelling together, in other words we require 4 beds, he failed with this task, we got 2 single beds and lovely Double bed. Machete opted to sleep on the cushions on the floor in the lounge.
After a well-deserved shower we went back to the main lodge for supper and drinks, the wind had picked up again and the temperature had dropped.
Drinks at Katse aren’t at budget prices this we found out after we got our nasty bill at the end of the evening. The cold ride back to the house made sure we slept nice and warm that night.
Very chuffed with our days spectacular riding and successes on the technical bits had our spirits high as well and ready for the next day’s challenges through the rest of Lesotho and out at the border at Caledonspoort.
Thirty tears ago when I first travelled in Lesotho it was really unspoilt and one met really interesting educated owners of trading stores etc ... now the Basotho sit outside hawking the goods of the store now owned by a Chinaman who speaks Mandarin and Sesotho and no English ... go figure. Yes they are interested in exploiting the natural resources of the continent ... there is no such thing as a free lunch ... or free road. They have learnt that the buzz word passport is DEVELOPMENT ... and as in SA you can get away with murder through flouting it. 8)
