Lesotho Ride

[JonW]

Eight of us did a ride into southern Lesotho this last weekend.

I was a bit nervous about the weather as there has been a lot of rain all over KZN recently and at one stage I came close to postponing the trip, but in the end the weather was just perfect. Beautiful sunshine and blue skies during the day with an afternoon thunderstorm by the time we had got back to the lodge.

Here are some pics of our ride:

@GRIM

 

[JonW]

Etienne and @PHJ

 

[JonW]

@PHJ

 

[JonW]

Quite a mix of bikes on this trip. Three of us were on 500's, two on 350's, one 450, a KTM 250 2-stroke, and a Honda CRF 250

@Dacquiri has a 500 at home in Cape Town, but he had to borrow his Dad's CRF as he flew up for the trip from Cape Town. That CRF while very capable, was quite a handful on this trip, but Dacquiri managed very well.

Quite soon into the trip everyone was referring to him as "that Honda guy"

 

[JonW]

 

[JonW]

 

[JonW]

@GRIM

 

[JonW]

 

[JonW]

The last steep rocky section of the pass was quite eroded by the recent heavy rains and some of us struggled.

Others like @PHJ and @trevorwb took it in their stride

 

[JonW]

@trevorwb and @PHJ

 

[OomD]

Jeepers, nice!

 

[JonW]

From the top of the pass we had the rest of the day to get to our overnight accommodation at Thamatu lodge, which is about 20km North of Sehlabathebe.

However we couldn't dawdle too much, because I knew that there would be an afternoon thunderstorm.

The riding was awesome, but thanks to the recent rains the rivers were in full flow, which made for some interesting crossings.

 

[JonW]

 

[JonW]

 

[JonW]

We reached the Chinese shop at Sehlabathebe at around lunch time, where re-fueled.

I only put in 2litres here, which in fact was the last petrol I put in for the rest of the trip.

After a brief visit to the shebeen to buy beers we headed to Thamatu Lodge, which would be our base for the next 2 days.

 

[JonW]

Thamatu Lodge is a great place to use as a base in the area.

It is pretty basic, but well equipped with bedding, hot showers, eating utensils and stove to cook on. Even towels were provided.

You do need to take your own food.

 

[Chrisl]

Really stunning part of our country!!!

 

[JonW]

The next day was spent exploring the valleys and mountains in the area, with no set tracks or routes to follow.

We just rode in whatever direction looked the most interesting.

It was an awesome day of riding

 

[JonW]

 

[JonW]