Michiel
Race Dog
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
- Messages
- 1,519
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Bloemfontein, Vrystaat
- Bike
- Kawasaki KLR 650
From the falling, mud have caked on to the engine and to some extent sealed up the crack in the HPN's
valve cover. We never attempted to fix it as the "bleeding" almost stopped.
This is such a beautiful country. Even nearing the town of Semonkong the landscape still inspires. Having
managed to ride up the, once thought, impossible road we were very chuffed with ourselves. The last 5 km
we rode in heavy rain, sliding around in the mud but luckily not falling again. Neither of us has ever been to
Semonkong but from reading ride reports I know that there is a lodge of some sort. This will be our
accommodation for the night.
Cold, wet, chronically tired but relieved and happy we saddled down for the night. Sack wanted to treat
himself to some good lodging and booked a single room while Dusty and I shared a rondawel with some
backpacker chicks.
The night was spent relaxing, eating and drinking in the restaurant. Dragged our tired bodies to bed and
slept like babies, blissfully unaware of the virus festering in our stomachs.
The original plan was to ride one more difficult road before leaving Lesotho. This section would take us due
South from Semonkong. We dubbed it "Plothond se pad" after a ride report Plothond did when he and some
friends went through there. Talk was that the Chinese has started construction on a bridge where this road
crosses the Senqu River. At the time we were hoping they haven't fixed the road up yet because we wanted
to ride it as Plothond and his gang did.
All of this was always up for discussion as we weren't sure how much time we would have left by this stage of
the trip. Although we were right on schedule Sack did hurt his hand badly and couldn't ride difficult trails anymore.
Come the morning everything was wet and thick mist hanged in the still air. After having breakfast we weighed
the situation one more time and decided that we will leave Lesotho by the easiest roads, exiting at the Maseru
Bridge Border.
Sack agreed to ride the stretch to go look at the famous waterfall nearby Semonkong. At a 192m
it is the 2nd highest in Southern Africa. This was it. We got our cameras out for the last time. Made some video
entries for the last time. By now the sun has dispersed of the mist and another beautiful day began.
The Western part of Lesotho, the Lowlands, is not as interesting as it's more rugged Interior and Eastern half.
We reached Maseru with time to spare and parted ways soon after entering SA. The roads back to our families
seemed vanilla. We will never look at roads in the same way again.
I travelled the shortest distance, only to Jagersfontein, where I stayed with my family before returning to
Cape Town. Dustdevil arrived safely to his family in Middelburg soon after but Sack sat on his 800 for two days
to get back to Cape Town. By the next morning the writing was on the wall. I don't know all the details of the
other two but my stomach was turned upside down and it felt like a train hit me. Nausea, drowsiness, loss of
appetite and severe stomach cramps soon set in followed by chronic diarrhea and a fever I've never experienced.
valve cover. We never attempted to fix it as the "bleeding" almost stopped.
This is such a beautiful country. Even nearing the town of Semonkong the landscape still inspires. Having
managed to ride up the, once thought, impossible road we were very chuffed with ourselves. The last 5 km
we rode in heavy rain, sliding around in the mud but luckily not falling again. Neither of us has ever been to
Semonkong but from reading ride reports I know that there is a lodge of some sort. This will be our
accommodation for the night.
Cold, wet, chronically tired but relieved and happy we saddled down for the night. Sack wanted to treat
himself to some good lodging and booked a single room while Dusty and I shared a rondawel with some
backpacker chicks.
The night was spent relaxing, eating and drinking in the restaurant. Dragged our tired bodies to bed and
slept like babies, blissfully unaware of the virus festering in our stomachs.
The original plan was to ride one more difficult road before leaving Lesotho. This section would take us due
South from Semonkong. We dubbed it "Plothond se pad" after a ride report Plothond did when he and some
friends went through there. Talk was that the Chinese has started construction on a bridge where this road
crosses the Senqu River. At the time we were hoping they haven't fixed the road up yet because we wanted
to ride it as Plothond and his gang did.
All of this was always up for discussion as we weren't sure how much time we would have left by this stage of
the trip. Although we were right on schedule Sack did hurt his hand badly and couldn't ride difficult trails anymore.
Come the morning everything was wet and thick mist hanged in the still air. After having breakfast we weighed
the situation one more time and decided that we will leave Lesotho by the easiest roads, exiting at the Maseru
Bridge Border.
Sack agreed to ride the stretch to go look at the famous waterfall nearby Semonkong. At a 192m
it is the 2nd highest in Southern Africa. This was it. We got our cameras out for the last time. Made some video
entries for the last time. By now the sun has dispersed of the mist and another beautiful day began.
The Western part of Lesotho, the Lowlands, is not as interesting as it's more rugged Interior and Eastern half.
We reached Maseru with time to spare and parted ways soon after entering SA. The roads back to our families
seemed vanilla. We will never look at roads in the same way again.
I travelled the shortest distance, only to Jagersfontein, where I stayed with my family before returning to
Cape Town. Dustdevil arrived safely to his family in Middelburg soon after but Sack sat on his 800 for two days
to get back to Cape Town. By the next morning the writing was on the wall. I don't know all the details of the
other two but my stomach was turned upside down and it felt like a train hit me. Nausea, drowsiness, loss of
appetite and severe stomach cramps soon set in followed by chronic diarrhea and a fever I've never experienced.
It was not long before my bike literally just started to go sideways on me with no hope to regain control. I nearly did the splits and ended up on my back for a second and by the time I was back on my feet Stefan was standing next to his fallen bike also.
