Lesotho and surrounds! 5 days, 4 nights.

[scott]

Day 1 : Durban to katse - via Sani pass, mohkotlong.

Andre and I met at petroport at Nandi drive at 6am. After a brief chat we hit the road. Andre was on his Africa twin DCT and myself on the 1090R. We stuck to the speed limit on the N3, and before long we were at the underberg off ramp. A quick stop to put on some warmer kit and check the phone. Here I got a message from Richard who was riding to meet us at mohkotlong from jhb side that he had a blow out in his back tyre just outside of Heidelberg. He was on his own and had called a tow truck. We decided that I would call him from Underberg to see where he was , and would make a decision on the meeting point after that.
We got to underberg in no time, luckily the most on the R103 wasn't bad, and the temp only get down to about 3 degrees. We arrived in underberg at 8 and stopped in at the lemon tree for a cup of coffee.
I called Richard to find out how he was doing. He was on his way back to his bike after getting the tyre fixed and should be on the road shortly.. We were now theoretically 2 hours ahead of him, so we decided that we would meet him at katse, we would go our planned route and he would just stick to the main roads from jhb side to Katse.
After our coffee we were off to the Sani border. Jumped off  the bikes, went inside to get out passport stamped and upon returning to the bike we noticed the Africa twin and a rear flat. Now the fun began.
Andre and I had never changed a back tyre before, so this was going to be interesting.
Anyway, after about two hours of battling, we finally got the bladdy thing done. I must say thanks to all the guys that offered us assistance, and we have now both put the theory of changing a rear tyre to practice!
It was now just after 11 and we wacked it up Sani only stopped to take one pic, but this is a pass I have done numerous times before.
At the top, I called Richard to let him know of our misfortune to find out he was at the border. We decided now to stick with the original plan and meet at the petrol point in mapholaneng. It was 2 hours from his side, and about 1:30 from us.
We headed off with out any drama and met Richard just after 1. A quick refuel and Coke at the station and we were off on Lospers green route to the tabaseka katse road.
About half way in, on one of the technical rocky sections, Andre bumped his foot peg on a rock, I mean the slightest bump, the bike didn't even move off line, and the hole alloy bracket that holds the peg sheared right off. We now still had 70km to go, 30km of decently technical riding and 40km of gravel road. We nursed it along slowly with andre and we got to katse at 6pm. 12 hours riding for us, but what a lekker day! The maluti's went down so well, dinner at the lodge was great and the cottage we hired was also epic!

Pic 1 - tyre change
Pic 2 - on Sani
Pic 3 - somewhere on Lospers routs
Pic 4 - couple school girls want there pic taken with the 1090R, they clearly could spot a good looking bike!
Pic 5 - the broken foot peg mounting
Pic 6 - katse dam wall
Pic 7 - from the lodge parking

More to follow when I get a gap...!

 

[Jovan]

:sip:

 

[NoRush]

:sip:

 

[P.K.]

AWESOME...AWESOME...AWESOME...

Great to see my bags being used on a proper trip for their intended purpose and not on a bloody breakfast run to the Wimpy !

 

[Welsh]

With regard to punctures on Sani, there are places where the rebar mesh is exposed in old spalled concrete, two of us had the same issue just beyond the border post.

Said concrete...

 

[m0lt3n]

subscribed

We were in the same area at the same time. Guess I should stop being lazy and also start my RR.

 

[scott]

With regard to punctures on Sani, there are places where the rebar mesh is exposed in old spalled concrete, two of us had the same issue just beyond the border post.

yip, it was a piece of wire, straight through!

 

[AfricaMike]

:sip:

 

[scott]

Day 2 : katse to underberg - via ramatseliso

With the broken foot peg, andre decided he wanted to take the quickest route back to durbs.
We all left katse at 8:00am, andre would ride with us to taung where he would take the road to mokohlong and then back to Sani and down to durbs, and we would branch off to head toward ramatelsio pass. The road to taung was pretty much just a main gravel road, nothing too exciting or technical.
After waving good bye to andre we headed off for the rest of our trip.
The route from taung to ramatseliso would include, sehonghong, matebeng, matebeng pass, sehlabatebe and then ramatseliso pass.
As we left andre, we were met with the most awesome scenery! The riding was out of this world, nice tight passes and awesome views!
When we got to matebeng, the road to the pass followed the river with nice flowing technical riding.
Then we hit the pass, my word, the most technical pass I have ever done on an adventure bike, very nice and rocky and choosing the right line and maintaining momentum was imperative!
I would recommend that if you ever have the chance to ride this pass, you grab it!
Once at the top, coming down the other side was also super technical. Lots of washed out sections and some slippery corners!
The road from sehlabatebe to ramatseliso was decent dirt road, but with spectacular views! A nice fast section to make up some time!
Once at the border we had varying reviews on the pass, lesotho border control said very tough and SAPS said easy... to say the least, it was very disappointing. All the technical sections have been concreted and it's pretty much a dirt road. Richard did however manage to drop his bike due to lack of concentration. The front washed out doing about 30km/h, Nothing serious and we were up and going in no time.
Once at the bottom, we took some dirt roads towards st Bernard's peak and then joined the R103 to underberg and slabbed the last 60km...
An awesome day on the bike, total of 9 hours riding.
We stayed with Richards mom in himeville, she owns the himeville cottage, if you in town you should check it out!

Tomorrow night, day 3!

Pic 1 : rich and I having a break by the river
Pic 2 : the flowing section on the way to matebeng pass
Pic 3 : on matebeng pass
Pic 4 : selfie at the top of matebeng pass
Pic 5 : Richard putting the 990 sideways on the way to the border
Pic 6 : views
Pic 7 : at the Rama border post
Pic 8 : himeville cottage

 

[scott]

Day 3 : Underberg to Rhodes

Today was more of a chilled ride day, we decided to take it fairly easy.
We left Underberg at about 8:30 and hit the tar R103 straight to Swartberg. At Swartberg we took the dirt road across to Matat where we stopped for a coffee at the wimpy. We could see there looked like a change in weather so we didn't hang around to long.

From matat we hit the tar to Mount Fletcher and just after Mount Fletcher we turned right onto the dirt and it would be dirt from her to Rhodes.

We took a nice chilled ride on the dirt until we got to Naude's Nek, where Richard decided to leave me in his dust. I was taking it slow and still getting used to the 1090R in the corners, to put it in his words i was riding like a granny. I think i was scared of imminent death or dropping my brand new bike.

The pass was fairly chilled and we got to the top to be met by a gale force wind. It was howling!!

After a few pics at the top we continued down the other side. We stopped at the bottom at the Naude's memorial and then continued in to Rhodes.

We checked in at Walkabouts and they showed us where our house was, we were staying in Bokhouse.

After a quick shower we decided we better spend some money at the bar and restaurant. I noticed a few other wild dogs had been there with their stickers above the fish tanks.. See pics below..
I also saw all the caps hanging in the pub, so decided i would add one, also give wild dogs some branding. I had my KZN bash cap with me, so we decided to donate it.

We got stuck into a few locally made craft beer by Bernies Brewery, im not a fan of craft beer, but my word this was good. Just as we were about to leave the pub and head home for the night we noticed a fire starting across the river. Being so dry, there was no time to think, so Richard and I grabbed two fire extinguisher and were off (slightly intoxicated) We waded through the river and managed to push the fire back on itself and burn it out. We felt like heroes :imaposer: .....

After the action, we decided to turn in for the night and a time to get up in the morning wasn't decided....

Pic 1 : Filling up at Mays Auto in Himeville
Pic 2 : Dirt road break toward Rhodes
Pic 3 : another rest stop
Pic 4 : Start of Naude's Nek
Pic 5 : Bikes at the top of Naude's Nek
Pic 6 : Selfie at the top
Pic 7 : Me on the bike at the top

 

[scott]

a few more pics

Pic 8: rest at Naude's memorial
Pic 9 : our accommodation
Pic 10 : WD stickers
Pic 11 : Hat hanging in the pub
Pic 12 : Fighting Fire

 

[TinusBez]

When were you in Rhodes? We were there 8 and 9 August and supposed to go up to Qacha's nek, Sani and back through LS but agreed to cut the trip short after Rhodes.

The wind was crazy on Naude's, the previous day we did Bastervoetslaan and the wind was crazy that day too. Standing on the rear brake and holding the front I could could feel the wind pushing me forward.

 

[scott]

When were you in Rhodes? We were there 8 and 9 August and supposed to go up to Qacha's nek, Sani and back through LS but agreed to cut the trip short after Rhodes.

The wind was crazy on Naude's, the previous day we did Bastervoetslaan and the wind was crazy that day too. Standing on the rear brake and holding the front I could could feel the wind pushing me forward.

We were in Rhodes for the night of the11th.

 

[scott]

Day 4 : Rhodes to Clarens

We left Rhodes still feeling a little rough from the night before at about 7am.
The plan was to head up to tiffendale via Carlisle's Hoek have a coffee there and then proceed via lundins nek to tele bridge.
We got to tiffendale just after 8 and went into the restaurant . The breakfast was on display and we couldnt help ourselves and got stuck into the full on buffet breakfast.
After breakfast we got back on the bikes and headed down the pass towards Wartrail. Lovely flowing ride down the pass, and some very lose and slippery sections, we took it fairly slow but got down safely.
At Wartrail we continued along towards Lundins nek. This was a great little pass and at the base we were stopped by the army who actully just wanted a chat, they were there for stock theft control. We shat ourselves a little when they pulled us over.
Once at the top of Lundins we were met with some awesome views and a nice technical pass down the other side on the way to telebridge.
We got to telebridge at about 12 and made the call that we werent going to have enough time to get right across lesotho and to clarens, so we decided to hit the tar to clarens.

We hit some lekker speeds on the freestate roads, and was nice to see what the 1090R can actually do. It was very comfortable at speeds well over the limit.
We pulled into clarens just before 4pm and check in to the Clarens inn/backpackers.
After a quick shower we went to the German pump for a nice fat Eisbein and a few beers.

Pic 1 : Tiffendale
Pic 2 : Heading down towards Wartrail
Pic 3 : same again
Pic 4 : Top of Lundins Nek
Pic 5 : same again
Pic 6 : Telebridge side of Lundins Nek
Pic 7 : crossing the orange river
Pic 8 : outside clarens inn

 

[Slim Jim]

Hy budd , done that trip twise [ both ways] loving this read . :thumleft:

 

[Lem]

subscribe!

lovely trip. Learnt a lot. We are also visiting that area around January  :thumleft:

 

[scott]

DAY 5 : Clarens to Durban

Nothing too exciting to write about today.
We left clarens fairly early at 7am, it was chilly for a Durban boy.

Hit temps of -3 through golden gate and the mist was super thick, had to take it slow till just before harrismith where i turned off to go down oliviershoek pass.

Was tar the whole way home.

Until next year, thats it for my lesotho trip.

Already plotting next years route, planning to spend more time in lesotho and explore the areas we never got to.

Cheers,

Mag.