Harde kool
Puppy
Ok ladies and gentlemen, this is my first RR so please bear with me. I have decided to do a Memel trip as one of my friends said that that’s an awesome place if you want dirt and a bit of a challenge. As I’m quite new with the GS1200A, and don’t really know the capacity as to what this beast can do, I draw the wild card… and yes…. Memel was my next destination. This decision was done on the 22nd of November and my departure date was the 2nd of December (only going for 1 night) as the wife will hit a hole in a brick wall for me going this distance and ESPECIALLY going alone with all the dirt roads.
So the 1st of December I start packing and as excited as I was, I could hardly sleep. On the 2nd I woke up bright and early, stretching like I’m the king of the world, pull the curtains open, only to find out that it’s storming outside, so now what to do, what to do. Sat outside to see what the weather is going to do, and thought, stuff this, First real road trip… rain is not going to hold me back.
Filled the tank in Krugersdorp at 08h00 and by 09h00 I was on the N3 towards Memel. I stopped in Vrede at about 10h30 and by 11h30 I was in the small town… Memel. Booked in at the Memel Hotel (never came across such friendly people… bar lady…. Owners and the locals). Got the directions and of I went (can’t wait to see how the dirt will handle me).I travelled down the Millers pass that was like a highway in the rain and thought hell, this is going to be a blast. I quickly stopped at the Normandiens Police station to make sure that I’m on the correct road and yes, Normandiens Pass was roughly 30km away from me. Boy, was that fun and games, never mind the rain, never mind the mist that you can’t see 10 meters infront of you, never mind me singing Kumbaja all the way up, was the Pass just mud.
Once I was finished with the last pass, I headed back to the hotel for a well-deserved beer. With a huge storm there and the whole towns power that’s off I ended up only going to bed at half past 12 in the morning (thanks to the locals and their ‘’skinder stories’’ of their little town) What awesome people.
Next morning, woke up, looked outside and a nice sunny day was ahead of my Got breakfast, on the bike I was again and left Memel at around 09h00 on my way to Volksrust! I was looking for the tunnel everyone was talking about, but couldn’t find it for the life of me (found other roads that was not on my itinerary that made up the disappointment)
I stopped in Volksrust for a quick burger at steers and had to get a move on as it was starting to get late to head back to JHB. I decided to take the dirt road (R543) between Volksrust and Vrede. Now for those who don’t know the road, you drive 27km on tar and from there, it’s another 60km on dirt road. Once I got the dirt piece, the rain hit me again, but it was coming down in buckets. I drove that 60km in 2 and a half hours as the road was extremely bad with some of the bridges that over flowing of the rain. Got in Vrede (finally) filled up, and headed back home (For 290km in rain AGAIN)
Lets just say the trip was awesome, will I do it again… HELL YES!
So the 1st of December I start packing and as excited as I was, I could hardly sleep. On the 2nd I woke up bright and early, stretching like I’m the king of the world, pull the curtains open, only to find out that it’s storming outside, so now what to do, what to do. Sat outside to see what the weather is going to do, and thought, stuff this, First real road trip… rain is not going to hold me back.
Filled the tank in Krugersdorp at 08h00 and by 09h00 I was on the N3 towards Memel. I stopped in Vrede at about 10h30 and by 11h30 I was in the small town… Memel. Booked in at the Memel Hotel (never came across such friendly people… bar lady…. Owners and the locals). Got the directions and of I went (can’t wait to see how the dirt will handle me).I travelled down the Millers pass that was like a highway in the rain and thought hell, this is going to be a blast. I quickly stopped at the Normandiens Police station to make sure that I’m on the correct road and yes, Normandiens Pass was roughly 30km away from me. Boy, was that fun and games, never mind the rain, never mind the mist that you can’t see 10 meters infront of you, never mind me singing Kumbaja all the way up, was the Pass just mud.
Once I was finished with the last pass, I headed back to the hotel for a well-deserved beer. With a huge storm there and the whole towns power that’s off I ended up only going to bed at half past 12 in the morning (thanks to the locals and their ‘’skinder stories’’ of their little town) What awesome people.
Next morning, woke up, looked outside and a nice sunny day was ahead of my Got breakfast, on the bike I was again and left Memel at around 09h00 on my way to Volksrust! I was looking for the tunnel everyone was talking about, but couldn’t find it for the life of me (found other roads that was not on my itinerary that made up the disappointment)
I stopped in Volksrust for a quick burger at steers and had to get a move on as it was starting to get late to head back to JHB. I decided to take the dirt road (R543) between Volksrust and Vrede. Now for those who don’t know the road, you drive 27km on tar and from there, it’s another 60km on dirt road. Once I got the dirt piece, the rain hit me again, but it was coming down in buckets. I drove that 60km in 2 and a half hours as the road was extremely bad with some of the bridges that over flowing of the rain. Got in Vrede (finally) filled up, and headed back home (For 290km in rain AGAIN)
Lets just say the trip was awesome, will I do it again… HELL YES!
