zetman
Race Dog
lekr manne ;D
oefen julle solank vir die roof volgne jaar >
oefen julle solank vir die roof volgne jaar >
Lesotho ROCKS !!!!!!!!
- Thread starter Groenie
- Start date
JourneyMan
Bachelor Dog
Allamintig Groenie! Great report so far!
S
shark_za
Guest
Thanks for taking the time to take pictures like this.
Really lekka to see and read.
Really lekka to see and read.
bmad
Race Dog
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Awesome Groenie and D7 :thumleft:
Now this is the way to do a trip!
Well done, i have really enjoyed reading this, thanks ;D
Now this is the way to do a trip!
Well done, i have really enjoyed reading this, thanks ;D
N
Naartjie
Guest
Nice one, Groenstes en D7!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D
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That a sweet route you all took
:thumright:
:thumright:
SGB
Race Dog
Excellent story Groenie, glad you enjoyed the trip! Thanks for all the pictures. ;D
Beltzer
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Respect! \/
Boeloe
Pack Dog
100 bedonnerd! Nice report
Pistol
Race Dog
Great report Groenie, well done to you and Dave
Great report and pics there Groenie - looks like an awesome trip!
Well done!
Well done!
Awesome ride and report! Well done guys , now off to rehab!
Plothond
Race Dog
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Well done Groenie
Great story, nice pics and even better ride
No matter how you k@rk off on the trip - when it's over you wonder what all the fuss was about
Great story, nice pics and even better ride
No matter how you k@rk off on the trip - when it's over you wonder what all the fuss was about
slashback
Race Dog
Amen to that Plotty! And when you get that feeling, you know you've had a good ride!Plothond said:
Awesome Groenie and D7! Thats an epic!! You've managed to bring your whole ride back to us!!
Well done!
OX
Pack Dog
awesome !!!!! I might head there over the easter weekend. Glad the 606s are working , I swear by them !!!
Groenie
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End of Day 4 and Day 5 - Afkoel na die hectic ride.
I finished the last part without my usual end-of-the-day thoughts, but they will come as I finish each day properly.
Another thing I neglected to mention in the previous installment was the almost-killing of a sheep by a KLR. We were crossing a bridge, doing about 80-90km/h when I saw three sheep in the road scattering as D7 approached. There were one on this side of the bridge and 2 more on the far side. The one closest to us, sped off to the right and I was watching what the other 2 would do. They sped off to the left and suddenly I just felt a moerse thump...the stupid ball of wool had decided to cross the road again and ran straight into my front wheel! Luckily, he hit me on the front fork and the highway pegs/bashplate finished him off. If it ran in front of the bike, I would have seen my gat. I looked back and saw him lying in the road, with his head up, looking around quite dazed. There was no way I was stopping. I had enough rocks thrown at me for a while and it wasn't a good day for a proper stoning. Only damage to my bike was some hard earned mud wiped of my fork, the cover of my tooltube moved slightly back, the bashplate also seemed to have slided back and some wool stuck on the bike. The sheep....I don't think he's around anymore, although he was still alive when I last looked. At least someone had a nice dinner that night. Here's a pic of the "damage".
We were sitting in the "new" Highest Pub in Africa and having a beer or two while the sun was quickly setting again. Never mind the sun, the clouds and thunder were also rolling in. They offered us a place to sleep, but since Lesotho has very limited credit card facilities, we couldn't afford their offer. But, one of the dudes working in the bar, had a brother that runs the Mamoseka B&B. Sounds like a nice idea, except he charges R200 pp for diner,bed&breakfast and we had a total of about R300 between us.That doesn't leave much drinking money, does it? And what about petrol? So we got him to negotiate on our behalf and we got the price down to R100 pp! Now I really like Lesotho.
We said our good bye's and headed out in the cold wind. Barely 2 km away we HAD to stop to do something about the cold. Rainsuits work very well at keeping the wind out and the heat in. Who needs thermals if you own a cheapie Army Surplus stores rainsuit?
Our next stop was the Oxbow Lodge. The sun was still out and rain seemed to be blowing past us, so we stopped for beer, off course. We met an engineer from one of the mines, who was taking a break from the isolation up in the mountains. A Zimbo, who has finished commissioning a new plant at the mine and was off to another contract in the next few days. Not long after, one of his colleagues joined in. By now we were having a real good time and didn't even notice the sun had gone down already. The engineers decided they had to leave and paid our account (without even asking us) and insisted we have another one for the road, on them as well! Mind you, the second dude was from cape Town. Friendly buggers. We still had the tiny problem of what now? The B&B doesn't sell any liquor, we only have R100 spare and the lodge doesn't do credit card transactions less than R200. Easy, whip out the card, buy 12 beers and a bottle of whiskey for R204. That left us with R100 for emergencies and enough to pay for the B&B.
We set off in the dark with sort-of an idea where to go. The road would have been fantastic to ride in the day as it dropped downhill through endless switchbacks and left-right corners. I showed D7 a GPS trick earlier, zoom in to 200 or 300 meters and then you can see what the corner looks like before you get to it. It works great! It was quite some distance to go and we only reached our destination at 8, again. We seemed to be unable to complete our day's riding before the sun set. Ah well, that is life, I suppose. It's not possible to start earlier, stop less, ride faster or take shortcuts. Remember what I said about 200km max per day?
Anyway, we arrived at Mamoseka and was warmly greeted by Bolai, a youngish and friendly dude. He showed us the rondawel we would stay in. Basic, round hut with 2 double beds, a table, few chairs and a bookshelf with touristy magazines.
(D7's pic)
Bolai and his mom prepared dinner for us while we had a cold one and scouted the area a bit. We were called to dinner inside the house and sat down to Pap 'n Chicken with Marogo and pumpkin. Real local food and actually quite nice. After dinner we retired to our bungalow, but were so psyched up by the day's riding, that we chatted till late. One of the things we discussed was this concept of a "local" style B&B. D7 has been on about it the whole trip and now we get the chance to try it out. The facilities at Mamoseka is very basic, exactly like you'll find in any of the milions of houses in Lesotho. They bring you a big skottel and 2 buckets of water, one hot and one cold, to wash in. Toilet is an outhouse with a long-drop. Tourists want to experience the local culture these days and that's exactly what they'll get here. No frills, no fuss, just good, friendly service in a real rural setting. I would go back to Mamoseka.
And so day 4 eventually comes to an end.
So, what do I think of Lesotho now?
Befok!!! I have forgotten/forgiven the stone throwers. Maybe it's guilt over the sheep, which is probably one of the main reasons they throw stones in the first place, or maybe it's because no-one threw any stones at us the whole day. Today I met some of Lesotho's friendliest people, went on the best ride of my life and finished the day in real Lesotho.
I love Lesotho.
I'll finish the day with one of D7's pics. The road we traveled today.
And now Day 5 - the LONG way home.
Up early, has now become second nature, but this morning we both tried to sleep late. It didn't work. We slowly packed and chatted to Bolai, discussing his plans for the B&B and hearing about an off-road route they have close by. We never went to go see it, as we only left at about 8. 40 minutes later, we were at the border post at Caledonspoort and 10 minutes after that, we had our first smoke break back in South Africa.
Next stop was the poofter/pozer town of Clarens for liquid refreshments. We saw the usual pristine, not a speck of dust on it, pack of pozers having a coffee at one of the street cafe's, discussing their moerse adventure ride they're on. I saw the bikes and the bikers only out the corner of my eye, and felt sorry for them. That scooter you got there should be used. Used to teach you something, not only about riding, but about yourself, about the real world, the land, the people...Maybe I just felt a bit superior, with my stinking boots and dirty riding gear on my plaasbike, covered in real mud, that I worked farking hard for, now riding into town for a real man's breakfast (beer, off course), but I doubt that. I'm no better than the rest and Lesotho taught me that. I know of a few crazy okes that did what I did, on GS's.
We stopped again in Golden Gate at a picnic spot and had a beer under the huge trees. It was good to be back in ZA.
D7 insisted I post this pic.
5 k's down the road we stopped again to admire Golden Gate over anther beer. We were back and there was no holding back today.
From here, we went to Harrismith, had a burger at the Spur, filled up and turned our steeds North. Jo'burg, here we come.
On the way down we took the N3 all the way and wasted R130 on toll fees. Not today, there's some lovely dirt roads in the Freestate calling us. In Warden, we again stopped at the bar where we had lunch on the Thursday and were greeted like old friends. They even remembered our brand of beer Shows you what happens if you take the time to meet the people. Then it was off the highway and onto the fast dirt between the mielie fields. Another smoke/beer break over the Wilger river.
(D7's pic)
Check out that dirt highway!!
(D7's pic)
Next stop was Villiers to talk rugby to the owner of the bottle store and then have a quick one, just outside of town and back in Gauteng.
Then we followed the dirt, staying as close to the N3 as possible. We encountered a few lekker high speed roads and even though it was dark (again) by now, we could keep the speeds above 100km/h. Just before Heidelberg, we stopped under the highway.
We kept our last beer for the N1/N3 split, where two very happy KLR's bid each other farewell till next time.
I was home just after 8. 1600km under the belt.....and one very satisfied KLR rider.
So, what do I think of Lesotho now?
Man, I love it. This has been the best 5 days of my life. It had everything, toll roads, thunderstorms and wet boots, mud, sliding and proper tyres, Sani Pass before it gets tarred, the majesty of the Lesotho mountains and it's rocks, sometimes thrown at me and sometimes thrown by me, the friendliness of the Lesotho people, the Kao mines road and the conquering thereof, more rocks and more mud and more rain and off course LOTS of beer and the best riding buddy out there.
I would recommend Lesotho to everyone, no matter your riding experience or skill. You'll find a challenge and you will rise up to it, coz that's what us Wilddogs do.
Cheers and thanx for taking the time to read my ramblings
I am Groenie and I love Lesotho
I finished the last part without my usual end-of-the-day thoughts, but they will come as I finish each day properly.
Another thing I neglected to mention in the previous installment was the almost-killing of a sheep by a KLR. We were crossing a bridge, doing about 80-90km/h when I saw three sheep in the road scattering as D7 approached. There were one on this side of the bridge and 2 more on the far side. The one closest to us, sped off to the right and I was watching what the other 2 would do. They sped off to the left and suddenly I just felt a moerse thump...the stupid ball of wool had decided to cross the road again and ran straight into my front wheel! Luckily, he hit me on the front fork and the highway pegs/bashplate finished him off. If it ran in front of the bike, I would have seen my gat. I looked back and saw him lying in the road, with his head up, looking around quite dazed. There was no way I was stopping. I had enough rocks thrown at me for a while and it wasn't a good day for a proper stoning. Only damage to my bike was some hard earned mud wiped of my fork, the cover of my tooltube moved slightly back, the bashplate also seemed to have slided back and some wool stuck on the bike. The sheep....I don't think he's around anymore, although he was still alive when I last looked. At least someone had a nice dinner that night. Here's a pic of the "damage".
We were sitting in the "new" Highest Pub in Africa and having a beer or two while the sun was quickly setting again. Never mind the sun, the clouds and thunder were also rolling in. They offered us a place to sleep, but since Lesotho has very limited credit card facilities, we couldn't afford their offer. But, one of the dudes working in the bar, had a brother that runs the Mamoseka B&B. Sounds like a nice idea, except he charges R200 pp for diner,bed&breakfast and we had a total of about R300 between us.That doesn't leave much drinking money, does it? And what about petrol? So we got him to negotiate on our behalf and we got the price down to R100 pp! Now I really like Lesotho.
We said our good bye's and headed out in the cold wind. Barely 2 km away we HAD to stop to do something about the cold. Rainsuits work very well at keeping the wind out and the heat in. Who needs thermals if you own a cheapie Army Surplus stores rainsuit?
Our next stop was the Oxbow Lodge. The sun was still out and rain seemed to be blowing past us, so we stopped for beer, off course. We met an engineer from one of the mines, who was taking a break from the isolation up in the mountains. A Zimbo, who has finished commissioning a new plant at the mine and was off to another contract in the next few days. Not long after, one of his colleagues joined in. By now we were having a real good time and didn't even notice the sun had gone down already. The engineers decided they had to leave and paid our account (without even asking us) and insisted we have another one for the road, on them as well! Mind you, the second dude was from cape Town. Friendly buggers. We still had the tiny problem of what now? The B&B doesn't sell any liquor, we only have R100 spare and the lodge doesn't do credit card transactions less than R200. Easy, whip out the card, buy 12 beers and a bottle of whiskey for R204. That left us with R100 for emergencies and enough to pay for the B&B.
We set off in the dark with sort-of an idea where to go. The road would have been fantastic to ride in the day as it dropped downhill through endless switchbacks and left-right corners. I showed D7 a GPS trick earlier, zoom in to 200 or 300 meters and then you can see what the corner looks like before you get to it. It works great! It was quite some distance to go and we only reached our destination at 8, again. We seemed to be unable to complete our day's riding before the sun set. Ah well, that is life, I suppose. It's not possible to start earlier, stop less, ride faster or take shortcuts. Remember what I said about 200km max per day?
Anyway, we arrived at Mamoseka and was warmly greeted by Bolai, a youngish and friendly dude. He showed us the rondawel we would stay in. Basic, round hut with 2 double beds, a table, few chairs and a bookshelf with touristy magazines.
(D7's pic)
Bolai and his mom prepared dinner for us while we had a cold one and scouted the area a bit. We were called to dinner inside the house and sat down to Pap 'n Chicken with Marogo and pumpkin. Real local food and actually quite nice. After dinner we retired to our bungalow, but were so psyched up by the day's riding, that we chatted till late. One of the things we discussed was this concept of a "local" style B&B. D7 has been on about it the whole trip and now we get the chance to try it out. The facilities at Mamoseka is very basic, exactly like you'll find in any of the milions of houses in Lesotho. They bring you a big skottel and 2 buckets of water, one hot and one cold, to wash in. Toilet is an outhouse with a long-drop. Tourists want to experience the local culture these days and that's exactly what they'll get here. No frills, no fuss, just good, friendly service in a real rural setting. I would go back to Mamoseka.
And so day 4 eventually comes to an end.
So, what do I think of Lesotho now?
Befok!!! I have forgotten/forgiven the stone throwers. Maybe it's guilt over the sheep, which is probably one of the main reasons they throw stones in the first place, or maybe it's because no-one threw any stones at us the whole day. Today I met some of Lesotho's friendliest people, went on the best ride of my life and finished the day in real Lesotho.
I love Lesotho.
I'll finish the day with one of D7's pics. The road we traveled today.
And now Day 5 - the LONG way home.
Up early, has now become second nature, but this morning we both tried to sleep late. It didn't work. We slowly packed and chatted to Bolai, discussing his plans for the B&B and hearing about an off-road route they have close by. We never went to go see it, as we only left at about 8. 40 minutes later, we were at the border post at Caledonspoort and 10 minutes after that, we had our first smoke break back in South Africa.
Next stop was the poofter/pozer town of Clarens for liquid refreshments. We saw the usual pristine, not a speck of dust on it, pack of pozers having a coffee at one of the street cafe's, discussing their moerse adventure ride they're on. I saw the bikes and the bikers only out the corner of my eye, and felt sorry for them. That scooter you got there should be used. Used to teach you something, not only about riding, but about yourself, about the real world, the land, the people...Maybe I just felt a bit superior, with my stinking boots and dirty riding gear on my plaasbike, covered in real mud, that I worked farking hard for, now riding into town for a real man's breakfast (beer, off course), but I doubt that. I'm no better than the rest and Lesotho taught me that. I know of a few crazy okes that did what I did, on GS's.
We stopped again in Golden Gate at a picnic spot and had a beer under the huge trees. It was good to be back in ZA.
D7 insisted I post this pic.
5 k's down the road we stopped again to admire Golden Gate over anther beer. We were back and there was no holding back today.
From here, we went to Harrismith, had a burger at the Spur, filled up and turned our steeds North. Jo'burg, here we come.
On the way down we took the N3 all the way and wasted R130 on toll fees. Not today, there's some lovely dirt roads in the Freestate calling us. In Warden, we again stopped at the bar where we had lunch on the Thursday and were greeted like old friends. They even remembered our brand of beer
Shows you what happens if you take the time to meet the people. Then it was off the highway and onto the fast dirt between the mielie fields. Another smoke/beer break over the Wilger river.
(D7's pic)
Check out that dirt highway!!
(D7's pic)
Next stop was Villiers to talk rugby to the owner of the bottle store and then have a quick one, just outside of town and back in Gauteng.
Then we followed the dirt, staying as close to the N3 as possible. We encountered a few lekker high speed roads and even though it was dark (again) by now, we could keep the speeds above 100km/h. Just before Heidelberg, we stopped under the highway.
We kept our last beer for the N1/N3 split, where two very happy KLR's bid each other farewell till next time.
I was home just after 8. 1600km under the belt.....and one very satisfied KLR rider.
So, what do I think of Lesotho now?
Man, I love it. This has been the best 5 days of my life. It had everything, toll roads, thunderstorms and wet boots, mud, sliding and proper tyres, Sani Pass before it gets tarred, the majesty of the Lesotho mountains and it's rocks, sometimes thrown at me and sometimes thrown by me, the friendliness of the Lesotho people, the Kao mines road and the conquering thereof, more rocks and more mud and more rain and off course LOTS of beer and the best riding buddy out there.
I would recommend Lesotho to everyone, no matter your riding experience or skill. You'll find a challenge and you will rise up to it, coz that's what us Wilddogs do.
Cheers and thanx for taking the time to read my ramblings
I am Groenie and I love Lesotho
L
luislang
Guest
Exellent report ,epic ride ;D man the jealousy sets in quite quick
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