Ja nee, spoken in the no ******** style of a true rider! Fook I'm glad I haven't had alco poisoning when doing a trip!! :imaposer:
HA LESOTHO (MORE) !!
- Thread starter Cracker
- Start date
adv
Grey Hound
- Joined
- May 23, 2011
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- Riebeek west
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- Triumph 900 Scrambler
Rob, nice to see you are using the old girl. Give her a good throttle for me please. :imaposer: :ricky:
Dirty Boy
Race Dog
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2009
- Messages
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- 101
- Location
- Midlands, UK
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- BMW R1150GS Adventure
Great RR Cracker, get well and keep it coming.
Your riding partner, Neil, is he the guy that broke his arm or shoulder at Dr Klrs TechDay about 2 years ago ?
Your riding partner, Neil, is he the guy that broke his arm or shoulder at Dr Klrs TechDay about 2 years ago ?
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2008
- Messages
- 9,472
- Reaction score
- 2,558
- Location
- Out of Africa
- Bike
- KTM 950 Adventure S
I'm back :thumleft: :thumleft: :thumleft: :thumleft:
Fook, I eventually ended up in hospital for a few days, getting prodded and probed - not a pleasant experience, I was really ill - they found nothing wrong, or at least nothing they could identify. I though I was gonna die.
But I didn't :thumleft:
Left hospital in the morning and was on a flight to Amsterdam in the afternoon - seems I'm a sucker for punishment. Spent a few days in Amsterdam and a few days in the Republic of Alcoholica - the Czech Republic.
That nearly killed me, never mind some nameless virus.
Anyways, I'm back and gonna dig up some more pics and memories ..................... been a long, hard December
eepwall:
Dirty boy - yes, it's the same Neil.
Ganjora - It wasn't the babe.
Fook, I eventually ended up in hospital for a few days, getting prodded and probed - not a pleasant experience, I was really ill - they found nothing wrong, or at least nothing they could identify. I though I was gonna die.
But I didn't :thumleft:
Left hospital in the morning and was on a flight to Amsterdam in the afternoon - seems I'm a sucker for punishment. Spent a few days in Amsterdam and a few days in the Republic of Alcoholica - the Czech Republic.
That nearly killed me, never mind some nameless virus.
Anyways, I'm back and gonna dig up some more pics and memories ..................... been a long, hard December
eepwall:Dirty boy - yes, it's the same Neil.
Ganjora - It wasn't the babe.
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2008
- Messages
- 9,472
- Reaction score
- 2,558
- Location
- Out of Africa
- Bike
- KTM 950 Adventure S
And so we left the dam, heading off towards Kao mine and beyond to Oxbow Lodge.
Well, for a country suffering with drought, the rain god picked on us. The sky got darker and darker, the wind got colder and colder and the sunlight was being wiped out.
For the first time ever - and I mean ever - I decided to stop and put my rain jacket on BEFORE getting piss wet through. I never bother with the rain pants, I can't handle the stress of trying to pull them on over wet boots, etc. Anyways, my riding pants are sort of waterproof and that 950 screen keeps your bollocks dry - as long as you keep the pace up.
Not so easy when your getting blasted in the face with giant raindrops.
Past the mine we went (HI, Mr Zog) and onto the death road. It was actually quite a nice dirt road but there's some seriously big trucks on it and they don't move over for anyone - so riding fast, sliding the corners, in the rain was a dicey affair.
We even had lightning hunting us, I kid you not. I saw quite a few strike sites in the short brush type veld. At first I thought it was locals or stompies thrown from the trucks, lighting the veld but it couldn't have been, it was raining heavily. Luckily the lightning was a few minutes ahead of us, I was already shitting myself, barreling down the dirt road.
At least we didn't have dust ................................ :biggrin:
The E07 tyre was severely limiting in the wet sand, spinning constantly. It was fun when done on purpose but twisting that throttle was a dicey affair.
But then we were back on tar, still raining, and the Adventure came into it's own then. The bike seemed to stick well on the wet tar, better than I'd ever been used to on my old KLR. There were no lines on the road, so we could pedal along quite nicely, although freezing cold and wet.
We finally arrived at Oxbow and found we were the only ones there - bummer. Neil ate and went to bed and I spent the evening in the pub, chatting to the barmaid. Quite a honey but a Christian, so out of bounds for me ............. ;D
Not many pics taken, coz of the rain but here's a couple from Oxbow.
And so it was an early night, tomorrow was gonna be a toughie - time to escape from the Mountain Kingdom !!!!
Well, for a country suffering with drought, the rain god picked on us. The sky got darker and darker, the wind got colder and colder and the sunlight was being wiped out.
For the first time ever - and I mean ever - I decided to stop and put my rain jacket on BEFORE getting piss wet through. I never bother with the rain pants, I can't handle the stress of trying to pull them on over wet boots, etc. Anyways, my riding pants are sort of waterproof and that 950 screen keeps your bollocks dry - as long as you keep the pace up.
Not so easy when your getting blasted in the face with giant raindrops.
Past the mine we went (HI, Mr Zog) and onto the death road. It was actually quite a nice dirt road but there's some seriously big trucks on it and they don't move over for anyone - so riding fast, sliding the corners, in the rain was a dicey affair.
We even had lightning hunting us, I kid you not. I saw quite a few strike sites in the short brush type veld. At first I thought it was locals or stompies thrown from the trucks, lighting the veld but it couldn't have been, it was raining heavily. Luckily the lightning was a few minutes ahead of us, I was already shitting myself, barreling down the dirt road.
At least we didn't have dust ................................ :biggrin:
The E07 tyre was severely limiting in the wet sand, spinning constantly. It was fun when done on purpose but twisting that throttle was a dicey affair.
But then we were back on tar, still raining, and the Adventure came into it's own then. The bike seemed to stick well on the wet tar, better than I'd ever been used to on my old KLR. There were no lines on the road, so we could pedal along quite nicely, although freezing cold and wet.
We finally arrived at Oxbow and found we were the only ones there - bummer. Neil ate and went to bed and I spent the evening in the pub, chatting to the barmaid. Quite a honey but a Christian, so out of bounds for me ............. ;D
Not many pics taken, coz of the rain but here's a couple from Oxbow.
And so it was an early night, tomorrow was gonna be a toughie - time to escape from the Mountain Kingdom !!!!
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2008
- Messages
- 9,472
- Reaction score
- 2,558
- Location
- Out of Africa
- Bike
- KTM 950 Adventure S
And so we came to our last day in Lesotho :'(
We coulda left Oxbow and made it home in a day fairly easily - but I don't roll like that - I'm never in a hurry to get home and return to work. Our next stop would be at Lions Rock, a big cat sanctuary just outside Bethlehem - but getting there was gonna be a LITTLE harder than planned.
Our first port of call was a petrol station marked on T4A but which didn't exist - was just a TOTAL sign on a rusty post. Knobs, here's me thinking T4A verified their info - apparently not. That place hadn't been a petrol station for decades, if ever.
Not the end of the world though, let's head into the nearest town and refuel there.
Oh, Oh, - Roadblock. Not knowing the rules in Lesotho we'd waved while going through the first one, got shouted at while shooting the next one but this third one had quite a few little piggies in the road - we got stopped. They weren't impressed with my lack of numberplate and told me what a ******** I was. However, lots of smiles and friendly sweet-talking got me out of that one. We carried on, filled up and returned through the same roadblock - waving this time :biggrin:
We turned back onto the dirt and followed the Caledon looking for our crossing point, back into SA.
No need for stamps in our passports here, we just rode through the river and headed on to The Old Mill ..................
It wasn't long before I realised we might be in a bit of kak here - the previous days rain had soaked the area and left a lot of mud. Twice I nearly lost it in the mud and we hadn't even got to the bottom of the pass yet - I was starting to sweat
I had an idea of what we were in for but, hell, it was hard work on that 950 - without momentum, I'd never of got up. The rocks were loose, the sand was wet and that rear tyre was just chucking rocks - "My Kingdom for a Knobbly" kept going through my head. I managed to stay on the path but I dropped that beast a couple times - you know those fresh air moments? - Ja, well, I had a couple of those. Without Neil there I woulda been in serious **** - lifting that monster was hell. One thing I can say, is that the 950 is pretty crash-proof - 2 drops on rocks and no damage or scratches - If
The up path ...................
Her's a couple that sort of show the steepness ................
Thank God the previous night had been tame - a hangover here woulda been a nightmare.
Just as I was getting to the end of my strength we reached the top. I've always preferred riding uphill to downhill but I was happy with the change. The 950S is a tall bike and although I'm not a shorty, I'm a light-weight, so riding slow is difficult and riding fast is dangerous. And riding smooth is not so easy when you're pooped.
Clip just one rock wrongly and over the edge you go - WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, all the way back to Lesotho ;D
Anyways, we were over the hump and headed down to Clarens. We met some people doing the 4x4 thing on the mountain and they took a couple pics of our descent.
Clarens was packed, I dunno whether it was a cherry, strawberry or meilie weekend but the place was packed. Full of men being dragged round the shops looking at arty-farty **** - jeez, the things you have to do for a blow-job :biggrin:
Where, oh where, to get a beer???
But then I spotted it ........................
How did they know I was coming????
Hmmm? - dog's bowl? - unknown virus? - possible?
I dunno but pulling that stunt cleared the immediate vicinity of 'normal' people and we were able to order a pile of beers. We even went to the local beer-tasting restaurant. It was packed full of those trendies drinking various home-brews - I tested them all but, honestly, I wasn't impressed - so back to Windhoek I went.
Tiredness was starting to hit, so off we went to Lions Rock. A strange place, this. It's a sanctuary for ex-european circus cats. Lions, tigers, leopards, etc., run by european benefactors.
We went for a walk in the park to have a look see and took a couple pics. Naturally, we were caught and got shouted at by the lodge owner for wandering around without a guide.
"Jeez, man, we live here and you've got the animals in big, electrified cages. What's so dangerous" was not the right response, apparently.
All was forgiven later, though, once we hit the bar and bought a drink or two, or three ...................
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And that, my friends, was pretty much the end of the trip. We had a nice, easy ride back to JHB the next day, dirt all the way to V-town.
This was one of the better trips I've done, every day an adventure - next one Swazi/KZN, methinks :thumleft:
Neils tyre - before and after ...................
We coulda left Oxbow and made it home in a day fairly easily - but I don't roll like that - I'm never in a hurry to get home and return to work. Our next stop would be at Lions Rock, a big cat sanctuary just outside Bethlehem - but getting there was gonna be a LITTLE harder than planned.
Our first port of call was a petrol station marked on T4A but which didn't exist - was just a TOTAL sign on a rusty post. Knobs, here's me thinking T4A verified their info - apparently not. That place hadn't been a petrol station for decades, if ever.
Not the end of the world though, let's head into the nearest town and refuel there.
Oh, Oh, - Roadblock. Not knowing the rules in Lesotho we'd waved while going through the first one, got shouted at while shooting the next one but this third one had quite a few little piggies in the road - we got stopped. They weren't impressed with my lack of numberplate and told me what a ******** I was. However, lots of smiles and friendly sweet-talking got me out of that one. We carried on, filled up and returned through the same roadblock - waving this time :biggrin:
We turned back onto the dirt and followed the Caledon looking for our crossing point, back into SA.
No need for stamps in our passports here, we just rode through the river and headed on to The Old Mill ..................
It wasn't long before I realised we might be in a bit of kak here - the previous days rain had soaked the area and left a lot of mud. Twice I nearly lost it in the mud and we hadn't even got to the bottom of the pass yet - I was starting to sweat
I had an idea of what we were in for but, hell, it was hard work on that 950 - without momentum, I'd never of got up. The rocks were loose, the sand was wet and that rear tyre was just chucking rocks - "My Kingdom for a Knobbly" kept going through my head. I managed to stay on the path but I dropped that beast a couple times - you know those fresh air moments? - Ja, well, I had a couple of those. Without Neil there I woulda been in serious **** - lifting that monster was hell. One thing I can say, is that the 950 is pretty crash-proof - 2 drops on rocks and no damage or scratches
- If The up path ...................
Her's a couple that sort of show the steepness ................
Thank God the previous night had been tame - a hangover here woulda been a nightmare.
Just as I was getting to the end of my strength we reached the top. I've always preferred riding uphill to downhill but I was happy with the change. The 950S is a tall bike and although I'm not a shorty, I'm a light-weight, so riding slow is difficult and riding fast is dangerous. And riding smooth is not so easy when you're pooped.
Clip just one rock wrongly and over the edge you go - WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, all the way back to Lesotho ;D
Anyways, we were over the hump and headed down to Clarens. We met some people doing the 4x4 thing on the mountain and they took a couple pics of our descent.
Clarens was packed, I dunno whether it was a cherry, strawberry or meilie weekend but the place was packed. Full of men being dragged round the shops looking at arty-farty **** - jeez, the things you have to do for a blow-job :biggrin:
Where, oh where, to get a beer???
But then I spotted it ........................
How did they know I was coming????
Hmmm? - dog's bowl? - unknown virus? - possible?
I dunno but pulling that stunt cleared the immediate vicinity of 'normal' people and we were able to order a pile of beers. We even went to the local beer-tasting restaurant. It was packed full of those trendies drinking various home-brews - I tested them all but, honestly, I wasn't impressed - so back to Windhoek I went.
Tiredness was starting to hit, so off we went to Lions Rock. A strange place, this. It's a sanctuary for ex-european circus cats. Lions, tigers, leopards, etc., run by european benefactors.
We went for a walk in the park to have a look see and took a couple pics. Naturally, we were caught and got shouted at by the lodge owner for wandering around without a guide.
"Jeez, man, we live here and you've got the animals in big, electrified cages. What's so dangerous" was not the right response, apparently.
All was forgiven later, though, once we hit the bar and bought a drink or two, or three ...................
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And that, my friends, was pretty much the end of the trip. We had a nice, easy ride back to JHB the next day, dirt all the way to V-town.
This was one of the better trips I've done, every day an adventure - next one Swazi/KZN, methinks :thumleft:
Neils tyre - before and after ...................
Pistol
Race Dog
Lekker Rob :thumleft:
