Fuzzy Muzzy and Martin flatten some dust roads in Zimbabwe

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I do have most of the GPS tracks, I will sort that out when I get the chance. I may look at it tonight  :thumleft:
 
Fuzzy Muzzy said:
I do have most of the GPS tracks, I will sort that out when I get the chance. I may look at it tonight  :thumleft:

No problem Buddy ;) :thumleft: :thumleft: Whenever you get a chance... will be Gr8 :thumleft:
 
We managed to get over the log without having to unpack the bikes, fatigued and dehydrated ( I managed to realise now that I was out of water )  we mounted up, I was leading with my one spotlight with Martin right behind me.. it was hardly 200m ahead and I could feel my bike starting to bog down in mud, I could also hear the rushing of water ' great' I thought, 'all I need now is mud' , I knew the forest was damp so clearly there is water, and I could hear it, but nothing prepared me for what literally lay around the corner. I slammed on breaks.

A flash river had literally wiped out the whole side of the mountain, ahead of me lay a 2,5m wide x 4m deep eroded donga with 3 strategically placed tree trunks placed across it, even if I was an enduro riding God on my CRF450 I wouldn't take that on.. there I sat on my bike in disbelief, cold, hungry, tired and now add desperate to the list, it hit me like a ton of bricks.. we were stuck, but no time to reflect now we knew what needed to be done. Martin got off his bike to come and see why I had stopped, we didn't need to hang around long, without hardly speaking a word Martin and I turned my bike around which was disputing moving forward in the mud, we traversed along the track and back over our modified log that we had grown so attached to and set up camp beneath the trees very close to where we had navigated through the ravine a few hours prior. every movement was now laboured as our muscles ached.

Anticipating that it was going to be a cold & wet night up on the mountain Martin agreed to let me bunk in his tent ( what a sweetheart ) We only had one rule - boots & socks go outside the tent. OMG I have never smelt boots like that before. We were simply too tired to make supper, so it included rusks, biscuits, nuts, chocolate & energy bars, all wrapped up in a tent it was time to reflect on the day which seemed to start in Nyanga so long ago.

I reflected mainly on the number of warning signs we had thrown at our head that this was not a good idea.. the fact that the road was closed, the locked gate, the abandoned nature of the road, the lack of anyone around for km, the felled logs which was probably one of the biggest signs to stop riding the road and the best one.. getting past the logs in a way which required us to need help pretty much ensuring that if we needed to backtrack, like we needed to do now.. it would be pretty much impossible.. fantastic. Adventure riding is one thing, being stupid is quite another.

It does not help much to have watched Nat Geo, especially the survival programs, I was now wracking my brain to remember all he survival strategies and I was frustrated to note I could remember none. we filled up our water bottles from the stream we had crossed earlier, and after realising we didn't have water purification tablets and we had no intention to making a fire to boil he water for 5 min, I watched Martin drink his 1st, like that somehow was going to save me. Both of us just figured that we were way higher than any villages and if we wer'nt we just hoped they didn't use the river as a toilet.

I dropped off to sleep replaying scenarios on how we were going to get out of this situation, I had narrowed it down to about 3 or 4 realistic scenarios which I played over and over in my head, refining them each to be as effective and efficient as possible and placing them in order of which was most likely to succeed in the least amount of time and with the least amount of effort. I have to say, none of my scenarios looked good.
 
After a pretty good but light sleep I was up at sunrise, I wanted to get a really early stat for 2 reasons, 1) I figured we needed all the daylight we could get today and 2) if I was going to have any hope in finding locals to help us the best time would be early in the morning when they would be moving from one place to another.. I was not looking forward to hiking 25km back through the forest to look for help, nor was I keen to try Martins suggestion of stripping the bikes and carrying them across in pieces  :laughing4: instead I had my GPS out and was looking to see if I could find any attractions nearby that may have a local population, schools etc. So here I am, sun just about to come up, I am walking up the road in my underpants and slippers holding a GPS up in the air when I spot 2 locals walking on the other side of the ravine.

I knew this was my opportunity, possibly our only opportunity to not only get the help we need to get back across the ravine, but an opportunity to potentially get a good early start on the day and seek out some serious dirt in the area.

I waved my hands above my head and bellowed in the general direction of the lads.. they instantally stopped in their tracks and made eye contact.. they froze ( probably in total fear, here is this middle aged, bald, white oke standing on the other side of the ravine standing there in his jacks, covered in tattoos waving his arms like a mad man.. I was not convinced they would come my way.. I beckoned them again and they seemed to move in my direction, I couldn't tell, they disappeared from view as they traversed down the ravine.

Like a naughty kid I ran my little legs off to get back to the tent to get dressed, I was not going to try and negotiate my way out of this in my underpants !! at the same time I was yelling the odds at Martin who was still fast asleep.. I may have screamed something like ' Martin, wake the **** up..' I don't remember but the urgency in my voice did the trick. I grabbed some clothes and started to run back to the spot where I saw them, I realised now that my legs were not working so well from yesterday so a brisk walk had to do.. As I departed on route back to where I had spotted the locals I heard this voice come out of the tent.. Martin mumbled something about me starting a fire to put on a pot of coffee.. my reply was short and sweet.. he got the point !!

As predicted the 2 okes, appeared out of the long grass along the side of the mountain where I had been walking, they were suitably nervous, one of them spoke no English so I pinned my hopes on the other one.. he thankfully spoke broken English and I made a good connection, I found out that they were on their way to work in some fields harvesting some sort of pine.. clearly work was important to them or else they would not be walking there so early.. I negotiated that we could hire them for the day at the same rate they would usually get.. they were happy, the work was easier and it would probably take an hour.. 2 max.

I hi tailed it back to camp and informed Martin that we were moving out and instantly. .I was moving with purpose, but my body was saying no. I was so stiff from the day before, even my fingers were stiff. My  immediate concern is that the guy with broken English had not really fully understood me, he said 'yes' too many times for my liking, usually a sign that they have no freaking idea what you are on about. I was worried that while we were breaking down camp they would simply drift off back to their daily task, so I took them 2 bags as soon as they were packed leaving them with the instruction to start carrying the gear down the ravine and to the other side. Leaving them with the instruction I went back to camp to help Martin finish breaking down and packing up.. then it dawned on me that I have just given all my gear to a complete stranger who has now walked off with it out of sight.  :eek7: I was a little beside myself.

Almost having completed breaking down the camp I couldn't contain myself and went to go see if I could find these okes. I walked down the ravine.. flip, they should be back LONG ago.. where are they.  ???
 
I found the guys a bit further down the river busy hacking a route for us to cross.. sweet man, I was relieved that they had a good grasp of what we wanted to do, but it was not necessary for a complete new route, I called them up river and showed them where we had crossed the day before.. I asked them to collect rocks and branches to assist with traction while I went to go collect the bikes.. and so began the freaking migration..

The previous day we had been riding most of the day when we did the crossing, fatigue played a big part in our struggle, but with the coolness of the morning, fresh ( kind of ) legs and 2 helpers we made short work of our recovery back.

The oke with the massive grin was the chap who could speak English, the other lad looked very confused through the whole ordeal.



We were so happy to be back on the road we had to take photos of the guys who were chuffed as **** with their $10 .. he informed me they were off to work now, and with that we said our goodbyes.





and back down the forest we went.. we didn't mind, it was an awesome ride !!

[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/fu1mJw92-j8[/flash]
 
for the rest of the day all we did was dirt dirt and more of that lovely Zim dirt.

We didn't have a plan as usual, we followed the tacks all the way back to the lodge and thought it wise to just pop in to give a little report on the road, the last thing we wanted was for old information to be out there, at least now they knew for sure, there was no way through that mountain range. The manager at the lodge took one look at us and invited us in for coffee.. we love people in the service industry who take their jobs seriously, but this went far and beyond a job, this was passion, we were offered a place to put our feet up and were even given access to showers at the squash courts - and OMG a clean towel.

They really didn't have to do that, but it was greatly appreciated. thank you staff at Aberfoyl Lodge. After a coffee and shower, we didn't stick around, we had places to be ' oh,' said the manager at Aberfoyl lodge ' where are you going?'

Well, good question, the initial plan was to head for Harare and onto Kariba, but we had stuffed that plan up by getting far too involved emotionally with these roads in the Eastern Highlands. Somewhere, at some point, someone said something like ' well, if the roads are this good on this side in Zim.. imagine what they must be like on the other side in Moz  :eek7: I had no problem with that, but I wasn't going anywhere until I had found the other side of that road which had defeated us. So the next 4 hours was allocated to riding around dirt roads until we made our way all around the mountains to the other side - satisfied we had seen most of the eastern highlands we made our way back to Mutare.. why Mutare.. because we were heading for the Moz border, not knowing that once again the trip would take an unexpected turn.

The seed was planted and it looked like the trip was turned on it's head again.. we hit the dirt and gave it some thought.

Some of the riding for the day.. whoo hoo









OMG LOOK AT THAT ROAD

 
Day 6 shot of the day contender



or maybe this one  :laughing4: :laughing4: :laughing4: I have lost count, I think this is no 6





either way, it was dusty.. very very dusty, we were clearly out of the highlands

[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/ag_kpy9Cuac[/flash]
 
how many days left.........
 
Really enjoying this RR :thumleft: :thumleft: Keep it coming ;)
 
Fuzzy Muzzy said:
l... Locals will tell you that you cannot pass through a road...... they don't think we are crazy, they simply don't get it.

LOL...

Great read, just wasted a few work hours on it, but I'll get you back  >:D
 
Ha ha, I have been told my rr has too many words..  :laughing4:

I will carry on with this tonight, I have just started renovating my house so needless to say there is a list and priority on what needs to get done.

These was some pretty good dirt road to come !
 
You just carry on writing this the way you want to... if they don't want words, they don't have to read 'em...

We'll just continue expecting the high standard of RR you have set, and demand more, quicker! 

Live with it!  ::)



Anyway, you can't start renovating, the rain is not finished in the Cape!  :)
 
Day 6 had started with the drama of getting out of our situation, but the rest of the day had been some more amazing dirtroads riding around the mountain range instead of through it, we came within km's of where we had been stuck the night before, through Mutare and found ourselves sitting at the Moz border not entirely convinced that a late afternoon crossing is in our best interests seeing as we had no idea where we were going.. it seemed fitting to reward ourselves with a day that did not involve riding for 10 hours or becoming stranded, we had not had a rest day since leaving so the idea of getting to find a camp before dusk was a fantastic idea.

We did a U turn and backtracked a few km down the drag to a lodge we passes earlier. Martin's negotiation skills were put to the test when they informed us that their rolling green lawns were not for camping on.. dammit, they only had rooms. We could travel 20km to a camp site we knew or just settle here, we knew we had an early start into Moz the next day so a room it was, it was nice not to have to set up camp or make coffee in the dark for a change, sleep in a bed and not have to pack the bike the next morning.. after a drink at the bar we settled in for the night.. almost !!





Martin checks his phone and informs me that he has received a missed call, from a Zim number  ??? I must make mention that I had been trying to get hold of my Dad's sister who lives in Harare, I had tried to phone her and had sent sms's but had received no reply so we canned the whole idea of doing Harare.. I phoned the number to see who it was.. "Hey Murray !! how are you boet ?? ' came this booming voice over the phone... ' where the hell are you , we have been expecting you to arrive in Harare for a few days now, are you ok?'... it was my cousin Bruce, great oke, used to play Rugby for Natal and was earmarked to be a Springbok when he moved to Zim to take up the family business of oil, petrol and gold.. I don't need to explain that they are not struggling.

I know Martin so well, I took one look at his face and said to my cousin ' We are in Mutare at the moment, we were ust about to cross to Moz but no worries.. we will be there tomorrow', I hung up.. Martin looked disappointed, I know he wanted to check out some dirt in Moz.. I promised him I would make it up to him by finding more good dirt on the way to Harare.

And good dirt we found.. naturally we had to take a bit of tar out of Mutare, but before long we hung a left, turning away from the eastern highlands we loved so much and headed inland, due West.





I have to check my maps again, I am not 100% sure where this is, all I remember about this little town is that it was a massive t unction and we turned left. We had a massive map of Zim, it was a terrible scale and didn't show very much, so we kept the sun in the right place and kept on heading North  - West.. kind of. One thing I know with great certainty.. the people of Zimbabwe have no idea where the next town is and in what direction it is in when you hit rural areas. THe sign was classic though.

 
I checked out Martins useless map and the only town we saw along our route was Wilton, it was getting more and more frustrating because no matter how many locals we asked for directions nobody knew the town of Wilton.. it was only when we got there a few hours later that I now understood why. It consisted of about 3 buildings, the biggest of them was clearly abandoned, it was of little consequence, it was a dirt road and we were now heading NNE towards Harare. I had my cousins house in my GPS and like was good..

 
The dirt roads and views were not as spectacular as the highlands, I am the 1st to admit.. however, it did now afford us the opportunity to open up a bit. We were having terrible average speeds in the highlands, it is tight riding, but now the roads opened up a bit. My chain was now really not happy, I was starting to check the chain every time we filled up, slight adjustments seemed to be doing the trick but it was starting to stretch and quickly. it was a pain in the *** trying to keep it lubed up in the dust.

Some welcome water relief



 
After a great days riding we finally entered Harare, the traffic was not that bad, roads not too bad, maybe because we were completely Zen at this stage from riding for a few days.. bing bang, we were at the gate of one of my cousins houses. I have 3 cousins in Harare I had to make the effort to at least meet them all seeing as we made the trip but I am the 1st to say, by the time we got there I was knackered.. it was a long days ride and it was a hot day, I was dehydrated and tired.. then we entered the oasis. To the average traveller riding through Harare's upmarket suburbs you will be forgiven thinking it is a ********, because it is, some robots don't work, there is no municipal water, electricity outages happen all the time, the roads are ok but the whole place looks a mess. until you turn into the driveways of these houses, some worth R10 million and up, these sprawling mansions are impressive and as grand as the old days.. don't let looks deceive you in this place, 20 min at a petrol station and you see the works, from XJ Jags, AMG Mercs, top of the range land Rovers roll in at a rate of one per min, you would be forgiven thinking you were in an upmarket suburb in JHB or CT.

Our OASIS awaits !!







My cousins spared no expense giving us the best hospitality imaginable, making our trip to Harare well well worth it.. we were fed, cleaned up, scrubbed clean, had a few captain & cokes and more than a few laughs and good conversation. There was just one thing I really really needed to have a look at.. my fork seals. I haven't mentioned it for a while but I was now pissing oil at a great rate, I needed to have it checked out. Thankfully my one cousins kids do MX and they had a mechanic who may be able to help.



 
Day 7 started off a bit frustrating, the best thing about adventure riding with a mate you know so well is that .. well, you know his so well. It is a difficult thing to achieve but when you get it right it makes the riding really good because you don't waste time, you get up, pack and get moving.. you rest little and just enjoy the riding. The night before we had a couple of doubles with my cousins.. ' don't worry boet !! we will get your bike sorted out in the morning 1st thing.. what time do you wake up'.. that was my cousins words, we are up from 6am, ready to move out at 6:30am. so when 8 bells rolled along I was already at least an hour into my fanny wobble.

We all know you don't just wheel a bike into a workshop and they fix it while you wait, these things take time. Even though we had no rest day, I wanted to ride, I had already checked out some lekker dirt I wanted to check out and leaving in the afternoon or the next day was not my idea of fun even though we were being well looked after, we were not here to put our feet up.. we were here for a reason.

For now, that reason was being treated to breakfast with 2 of my cousins.. more good coffee, good conversation and a full English breakfast in a gorgeous restaurant owned by one of my cousins wives.. while we were eating a call came through, my cousin looked at me ' your bike is ready boet' !!  :eek: 

 
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