Thank for starting the "fred" EssBee - great stuff and lekka picks . ;D ;D
My show-and-tell on the “epic”
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If I had known the conditions in the Valley in advance I would probably have called off the ride, or at least have planned a different route, but I am pleased I didn’t – in Retrospect it was a great ride and even the constant menacing presence of the mudmonster could not take that away from us.
It is always a pleasure to show riders who have not ridden much in the valley the place. It has just so much to offer in terms of scenery and many hundreds of kms of rideable roads.
I say rideable, but some roads we met today were barely walkable, let alone rideable and even with two big feet down in the mud at one spot I succumbed to the mudmonster, and I am sure the picture will appear here as I saw cameras in the hands of my laughing companions. That was the only fall of the day and stands testimony to my companion’s skill and my good luck.
I told EssBee and Postbox that if we made the first 800m into the valley down the hill from Ndwedwe it would be fine, but I lied. The mud was far more pervasive than that, and there were many snotty bits, although interspersed with patches of easy gravel.
Anyway, to the picks.
Weather was confused and could not decide what to do – nice rainbow at the start in Durban.
No pics of the mud at the start from me – too busy trying too keep vertical. First Photo op in theMdloti valley.
Went to check the water at the ”mphophoma” falls – I have never seen even half as much water, over these falls.
Mdloti river in flood – Crazy essbee was keen to try the river crossing !
Up past the Shembe village and onto Mtabatula.
Nanda (Matata) mountain – great view.
On the way to Nagle dam.
This view is normally just a trickle wetting the rocks. Today it was a full-on waterfall with the most amazing sound in the valley.
We ignored the ”road closed” tape at the ford over the Umgeni river just down from Nagle dam. Nice crossing. I took it a bit fast and nearly lost it at one point. Current was strong.
This guy greeted us like long-lost friends. Told us he was a delivery bike rider and lost all the teeth in the left side of his jaw in a fall without a crash helmet.
PostBox and I said farewell to Essbee and headed to the Hacienda for a beer. On the way we saw these guys retrieving a bakkie hat had lost it and had tumbled through over 100m of bushes into the valley. Apparently the driver did not even have a scratch.
Thanks to EssBee and PostBox - it was great ride - lets do it again - but a little drier !
of mud behind us we got on our way, And really saw some awesome sights..... some of the best views I have ever seen!!!!
