Imbabala Bumble

[JonW]

I have been doing most of my riding lately in the Middelrus area, a fairly wild and rural space situated roughly between the towns of Weenen and Muden in the KZN midlands.

The area is an off-road rider's paradise, and has everything from east bushveld cattle tracks to seriously technical rocky passes, to long winding river beds.

So it was decided that last Sunday we would go explore some of the river beds in the area and end up for lunch at [member=27718]Reece Channing[/member]  's Uncle Bucks at Imbabala Reserve. Our ride was planned with off-road bikes in mind, but there were a large contingent of adventure rider friends who didn't want to miss out, so they planned their own ride in the area and we all ended up at Imbabala for lunch.

Our group consisted of Drew on his 350 Husaberg, Carey on her 350 exc, Greg on his 450 exc, me on my 500 exc plus Philip on his XT660 and Clive on his Dakar.

We started the ride at Drew's farm in Mooi River, then after a short blast along some farm roads and before we knew it we were in the bush, and hit our first river bed.

 

[JonW]

The riding was awesome, my 500 makes the sand and rocks so easy, it is almost like cheating.

The XT and the Dakar looked like they were quite hard work and not so much fun, but kudos to them for joining us.

 

[JonW]

This river bed goes on for miles

 

[JonW]

Some more

 

[JonW]

Carey and Greg

 

[JonW]

XT stuck in a puddle

 

[JonW]

After a while we left this river bed and hit the bush for a while

 

[JonW]

And back into another smaller river bed.

 

[JonW]

At this stage the going got a bit tough for Phil and Clive and they decided to head back and meet us at Imbabala

After some fairly difficult rocky paths we dropped down into another river bed, but before long we came to this deep impassable gully, so we had to skirt around the side and find a spot to get back into the river bed, which we did a few kilometers further on.

 

[JonW]

After quite a tricky drop down into the river bed, the riding was again pretty easy

 

[JonW]

After a bit more easy riding we got to a dirt track that crossed the river bed, which led us to the tar Weenen to Muden road, which took us to Imbabala Lodge where we met up with all the others who had done the adventure ride and had their own tales of mud, rocks and single track.

Thanks Reece for the great hospitality, your burgers are still the best around.

 

[ianhogg]

Nice to see my old mate Andrew Kean out and about. A seriously good rider.

 

[Sheepman]

Great riding and lekker report, thanks  :thumleft:

 

[JonW]

Nice to see my old mate Andrew Kean out and about. A seriously good rider.

Yes he's a very good rider and a great guy to ride with.

 

[Tony the Boney]

That was good. Can only admire you guys for doing that

 

[cable tie]

Looks like lekker place to ride! Thanks for sharing and kudos to the oak on the Dakar!

 

[Reece Channing]

Thanks to all those that came out to Imbabala, it was an absolutely awesome day of riding, laughing and a little eating. If anyone wants to come out and ride please don't hesitate we're more than happy to look after your vehicles if you want to trailer out here. For the chaps on the bigger bikes please contact me on 072 655 5275 and I can meet you anywhere to ride out and enjoy a "light" lunch. The chaps that have eaten here will understand