KZN Valley of 1000 hills dawdle - 20110903.

[GundaGunda]

This ride was planned to show my old colleague (f)Lex and a few of his riding friends some of my favourite places in the Valley of 1000 hills.

Unfortunately Lex needed to rush off to Malawi with little notice, one of his mates came down with ‘flu, and then another had to drop out for personal reasons, but no problem, we did the ride anyway, and with a few new Dogs for company it was a most enjoyable ride.

Five bikes in total, and I forgot to ask who is who on the forum, but the bikes were three Xt660z’s (me, MadDog and Dirk) an F800 with Tinusvdb and a DR650 with Hennie.

It was a pretty standard valley route. Into the Valley down the “jeep track” along the river, past the Inanda Dam wall, up  past the Shembe village onto Mtabatula.  From  there to the top of Nanda Mountain via the Mzinyati Falls, and up the Valley and via a nice twisty back way up to Msilili falls just North of Nagle.

A couple of pics, but I am looking forward to some from MadDog and Dirk’s helmet cams. 

Great ride and great company. Thanks guys !! 

MadDog on the edge.

Me swallowing a waterfall.

Tinusvdb at the top of the “upper” Msilili falls.

Hennie

Maddog on top of the upper Msilili falls – about 60m upstream from the main falls.

Tinus took these shots – brave man to crawl to the edge and stick his head out. My head  was doing flick-flacks from vertigo.

 

[Piston Pete]

You'r a piece of art GG.. :thumleft:
;D

 

[SAexplorer]

Thanks Peter, Dave, Hennie and Tinus for a great ride! I'll try my editing skills and upload some footage to YouTube, then post here.

When is the next ride?

 

[tinusvdb]

Thanks Peter, Dave, Hennie and Tinus for a great ride! I'll try my editing skills and upload some footage to YouTube, then post here.

When is the next ride?

Hey Peter,

Thanks for taking the time to plan a route, saw some very nice places today. Oh, and thank for the coffee !!


That stitched pic of the waterfall came out nice  :thumleft:

 

[chicco]

nooo...Pete. MadDog...dont jump...... eepwall:

 

[GundaGunda]

nooo...Pete....dont jump......

That wozznt pete, that was the MadDog.

Pete was way back from the edge.

 

[GundaGunda]

[. . . .

That stitched pic of the waterfall came out nice  :thumleft:

My pleasure - that pic is thanks to you.

Eish, but that cliff is high!

 

[777]

Classis pics Peter , how was your ride , were you OK ?

 

[GundaGunda]

Classis pics Peter , how was your ride , were you OK ?

Yup - Today was an easy ride on familiar roads, with no rain.

Took it easy - no major frights.

Confidence still not where it should be - but two steps forward, and an occasional stumble, and I will hopefully get the confidence back.

I still get the yips on the gravel downhills - have to work on the "mental block" as you put it. But we'll get there. 

 

[goingnowherequickly]

Nice ride guys!
Would loved to have joined in, but work kept me away...
Next time hopefully
thanks for posting  :thumleft:

 

[777]

Classis pics Peter , how was your ride , were you OK ?

Glad to hear
Yup - Today was an easy ride on familiar roads, with no rain.

Took it easy - no major frights.

Confidence still not where it should be - but two steps forward, and an occasional stumble, and I will hopefully get the confidence back.

I still get the yips on the gravel downhills - have to work on the "mental block" as you put it. But we'll get there.   

 

[The Badger]

Nice one guys. Sorry i could not join you after work. Next time.

well done Peter........Keep it up.

 

[GundaGunda]

Nice one guys. Sorry i could not join you after work. Next time.

well done Peter........Keep it up.

Missed you J.

And the Pot and Kettle does the best Chicken Burger I have ever had in my life, and the cappuccino was bloody good too. 

Great way to end a great day !

 

[MadDog]

Thanks again to GG for another fantastic ride and the all important coffee

Here's a few pics so long while i'm still going through all the video captured with the helmet cam. Peter, I think your demons are slain, you rode well and led the group at a great pace

Please excuse the low quality pics, these are from my phone...

 

[GundaGunda]

Peter, I think your demons are slain, you rode well and led the group at a great pace

Thanks. I only got one minor "riding anxiety attack" and that was almost exactly at the spot I bust my hand. That road is quite steep, and drops off steeply to a ditch on either side from a dome in the center. There was an elderly couple walking down the middle of the road, and I had to avoid them, and for a millisecond I felt my back tyre slipping towards the ditch. Gave me a bit of a skrik.

Nice pics !

 

[GundaGunda]

See what's in the next valley from the Msilili river?

This is the Mqeku river - much bigger.

https://www.panoramio.com/photo/49104357

I think it needs a ride.

 

[tinusvdb]

See what's in the next valley from the Msilili river?

This is the Mqeku river - much bigger.

https://www.panoramio.com/photo/49104357

I think it needs a ride.

I like

 

[GundaGunda]

One of the reasons behind this ride was as a dry run for a possible dual-sport poker run in aid of the Wild Dog conservation efforts.

We did the exact track as per planning thread file with a bit of extra cattle-track near the Umsilili falls.

https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=76864.0

The timings at a very easy pace along the planned track were :-

Pinetown to Top of Mtabatula = 30Km - 45Mins
Mtabatula to Mzinyati Watefall = 6Km - 10Mins
waterfall to top of Nanda Mountain = 16Km - 20 Mins
nanda to the Shebeen near Maphinda School = 20Km - 25Mins
Shebeen to Msilili falls = 35Km - 40 Mins

Total 126Km - 2:50 Saddle Time

So if we start at Pinetown between 07:00 - 08:00 even the slowest riders should be able to get to Lunch somewhere near Nchanga/Drummond before 13:00-14:00 with two hours of photos/Rests/puncture time and even some hiking to the top of the Msilili falls.

I think it could work - what say you people ?

 

[MadDog]

Im in for sure, will see if i can persuade the wife to pillion

 

[tinusvdb]

Im in for sure, will see if i can persuade the wife to pillion

That sounds like a good Idea, I will try pursuade mine too .....  :amazon: