Well, this was interesting.
I marketed this as a “laid back ride”. That’s what I planned, and for most part it was, but a washed out stony section of the road to the top of the Nugwane Falls, a tricky river crossing through the Lovu, and a generous blanket of crushed stones on “Die Ou Voortrekker Pad” brought a little more excitement and adrenaline to the ride than I had planned.
But with good guys to ride with, and a whole morning to play, what’s the problem?
Roll Call. :- Ugie and Kim (don’t think he is on the forum) on F800s. (f)Lex on a very pretty happy-button ’94 DR650, and MadDog, OffSide and myself on XT660z’s.
The track started in Pinetown, down the Intake Road and along a very pretty track CliveG showed me to Nungwane Falls. The East side of the Gorge, which used to have a spectacular view of the Falls, has been planted with nasty Salignas that obscure the view unfortunately.
The road to the top of the falls has always been a bit stony and tricky, but it seems to have got a bit worse. In retrospect the bad section was not so bad – I walked the bike down, and got the speed just right on the way up (for a change) and was up before my anal sphincter had a chance to contract.
From there to Ngilanyoni Mountan. I had seen a short-cut that included a river crossing, that looked in Google Earth like it should be doable. Well it was doable as we all got through but it was extremely hard work. The water was in places above the knee, but the problem was the “road” was like a graveyard of extremely slippery fossilized coconuts and snotty gravestones. There was no way of riding the bikes through, and it was hard work to walk the bikes through – This is a crossing to avoid. I had prepared to have to check it out, and had my Reef Shoes, or brothel-creepers as someone named them at the FS bash, in the top-box, but even with them it was painful work just walking through.
Ngilanyoni is always worth a visit. Is a weird feeling to be on top of this domed hill with a panoramic 350 degree view of the Lovu valley.
On the way back a short-cut detour was a little more interesting than it looked on the map, but good riding and a couple of small river crossings, but by now we were all water experts.
The last surprise of the day was the layer of crushed stones on “Die Ou Voortrekker Pad”. I only know of one way to ride that stuff is to get the bike up to 70-80 Kph and just relax and let the bike do what it deems best. Relax I say – not really.
Then to end the ride a trip over the grass on the top of Ufudu and home for an afternoon sleep and pleasant thoughts of an “entertaining” day with good guys and bikes.
It was a slightly sad day for me as this is probably the last ride for a month or so. Sawbones is going to work on my knees on Thursday, so I may not be out there for a while.
I have only a few pics – I just seemed to be too busy !!
The route.
\
Nungwane Falls
MadDog thinking, "Now how the hell did I get out here?"
I am sure there are some more pics from the crew – let’s see them.
I marketed this as a “laid back ride”. That’s what I planned, and for most part it was, but a washed out stony section of the road to the top of the Nugwane Falls, a tricky river crossing through the Lovu, and a generous blanket of crushed stones on “Die Ou Voortrekker Pad” brought a little more excitement and adrenaline to the ride than I had planned.
But with good guys to ride with, and a whole morning to play, what’s the problem?
Roll Call. :- Ugie and Kim (don’t think he is on the forum) on F800s. (f)Lex on a very pretty happy-button ’94 DR650, and MadDog, OffSide and myself on XT660z’s.
The track started in Pinetown, down the Intake Road and along a very pretty track CliveG showed me to Nungwane Falls. The East side of the Gorge, which used to have a spectacular view of the Falls, has been planted with nasty Salignas that obscure the view unfortunately.
The road to the top of the falls has always been a bit stony and tricky, but it seems to have got a bit worse. In retrospect the bad section was not so bad – I walked the bike down, and got the speed just right on the way up (for a change) and was up before my anal sphincter had a chance to contract.
From there to Ngilanyoni Mountan. I had seen a short-cut that included a river crossing, that looked in Google Earth like it should be doable. Well it was doable as we all got through but it was extremely hard work. The water was in places above the knee, but the problem was the “road” was like a graveyard of extremely slippery fossilized coconuts and snotty gravestones. There was no way of riding the bikes through, and it was hard work to walk the bikes through – This is a crossing to avoid. I had prepared to have to check it out, and had my Reef Shoes, or brothel-creepers as someone named them at the FS bash, in the top-box, but even with them it was painful work just walking through.
Ngilanyoni is always worth a visit. Is a weird feeling to be on top of this domed hill with a panoramic 350 degree view of the Lovu valley.
On the way back a short-cut detour was a little more interesting than it looked on the map, but good riding and a couple of small river crossings, but by now we were all water experts.
The last surprise of the day was the layer of crushed stones on “Die Ou Voortrekker Pad”. I only know of one way to ride that stuff is to get the bike up to 70-80 Kph and just relax and let the bike do what it deems best. Relax I say – not really.
Then to end the ride a trip over the grass on the top of Ufudu and home for an afternoon sleep and pleasant thoughts of an “entertaining” day with good guys and bikes.
It was a slightly sad day for me as this is probably the last ride for a month or so. Sawbones is going to work on my knees on Thursday, so I may not be out there for a while.
I have only a few pics – I just seemed to be too busy !!
The route.
Nungwane Falls
MadDog thinking, "Now how the hell did I get out here?"
I am sure there are some more pics from the crew – let’s see them.
