MAT250
Puppy
I’ve done a few weekend camping trips with the DR200 and TTR-250 but a long multi-day tour has always been on my mind since discovering what is possible and what people allover the world have been doing with 250cc and smaller bikes …. reading ride reports on the Minimalist Touring Tread over at Adventure Riders just fueled my enthusiasm. So with heaped-up leave I’m encouraged to take, I can’t think of a better excuse to stop thinking about it and actually do a 7-8 day Minimalist Adventure Tour (MAT).
The week before I run around buying a few items that’s been on the “must still get list” for far too long; emergency tire sealant/inflator, tire levers, rim-savers, fuses, patch-kit, … Friday night after putting lube on the DR’s chain I start packing. My philosophy is that apart from the tent, sleeping bag and sleeping mat, every thing else that does not fit into the black bag and my CamelBak is not going with …. so I pack and repack a few times but eventually the essentials for the bike and to camp for a week find a place …. even a pillow. I’ll be eating at places every day along the route so I pack food only for breakfast; coffee, instant oats, sugar. Around 23:30 I crawl into bed but can’t sleep, my mind is too busy ….. have I packed everything, what did I not think to pack, maybe I should have changed the DR’s oil, …. but then eventually …. zzzzZ, and next thing the alarm clock goes off!
Day 1
I get up early and find a place on the bike for everything and strap it down …. uhmmm, together it all now feels a bit heavy but there is nothing I can leave behind so I lock the garage and is out the gate around 07:00. It is cold, overcast and by the time I’m on the outskirts of the city (Centurion/Pretoria) heading east towards Bronkhorstspruit I’m riding in mist …. nasty stuff mist, everything goes damp, cold and it is hard to see through the goggles. I wonder if this is what is installed for me for the rest of the week but before I reach Witbank it is just overcast and by the time I stop in Middleburg for fuel the sun is shining. From Middleburg I head northeast towards Stoffberg and Roossenekal, the road is not busy and it’s become a beautiful day …. it is great to be out on the bike.
On the map Roossenekal is indicated as a small town but it is actually only a few houses, small shop, a very old but abandoned school built with rock and this church in the middle of nowhere.This small settlement was named in honour of Commandant Senekal and Field Cornet Roos who were killed in the Mapoch War of this area in 1882. The entire settlement except for the Church was burnt to the ground in 1901 during the Anglo-Boer War. The new village was built and proclaimed in 1934.
After Roossenekal I really start to enjoy the day as I head through the mountains on my way to the highlands north of Dullstroom where I discover this place somewhere past Draaikraal on the road to Lydenburg … it is not even on the map and it is like stepping back in time. Across the road I notice 3 youngsters with their horses resting and talking under a tree …like I’ve got a car and a motorbike, they’ve got horses.
The loaded RD has got no problem taking me higher up the mountains and I only occasionally have to downshift to 4th gear on the steeper sections. I soon reach the highest point in the whole of Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces. At 2331m it is simply called Die Berg (The Mountain)
This is also the point where I have to turn off to Dullstroom where I plan to camp the first night but since it is only around 13:00 I decide to head for Graskop where I plan to setup base camp for the rest of the week’s touring. I take the long way round to Graskop and for the rest of the afternoon explore the roads through the mountains to the west and north of Lydenburg and ride through places like Maartenshoop, Steelpoort and Burgersfort as I decent down into the bushveld ... somewhere past Burgersfort I become aware of my shadow on the loaded bike that streaks off forward and to the right of the bike. It is nice looking at it but then I realize suddenly how long it also has become. It is now late in the afternoon and it is obvious I’m not going to make it to Graskop before dark so I head to the Origstad Dam near Pilgrim’s Rest to camp there for the night but they are not keen on letting me in on the bike.
From the dam I cross the mountains via Robbers Pass to Pilgrim’s Rest where I know it will be possible to camp. The sun is setting and as I ascend the pass I stop a few times to take photos and enjoy the extended sunset. In Pilgrim’s there is still enough light so I take a drive through the historic town. The entire town was declared a National Monument in 1986 and today is a living museum that dates back from 1873 after Alec "Wheelbarrow" Patterson discovered gold in a stream there that sparked off one the largest gold rushes in South Africa. The largest recorded nugget from the Pilgrim's Rest area was the "Breda" nugget, weighing in at 214 ozs. (more than 6kg), but legends of nuggets as large as 25 lbs. (11kg) were told around the campfires.
By 1882 Pilgrim’s Rest was the second town in South Africa that had electric streetlights (Its lights were apparently switched on 24 hours before London.). The electricity was generated in small hydro-electric plants until the Belvedere hydro-electric power plant in the Blyde River Canyon was completed in 1911. This 2,000 Kw power station was at the time the largest hydro-electric power station in the Southern hemisphere. Pilgrim’s Rest was also the first place in South Africa with an operational electric railway in 1897. The railway transported ore to the reduction works (also electric) over a 12 mile length of track using two 19 kW locomotives. (The first town to have electric streetlights was Kimberley. They were switched on in Feb 1882, at the time London was still relying on gas for street lighting.)
From there Graskop is only about 16km via another pass over the mountains so I go for it …. I pitch my tent around 19:00 in total darkness. Total distance for the day, 495km, the furthest I’ve ever gone on a bike in one day …. I have no problem falling asleep after a brilliant day on the DR200.
Day 2
Graskop is very central and it becomes base camp so after an early breakfast of Instant Oats and Coffee I pack every thing except the tent and sleeping mat back on the bike and head down Kowyn Pass, the aim is to get to Klaserie and Timbavati bordering the Kruger National Park.
Exploring a forest road off Kowyn Pass, with 15/45 final drive it seems the little DR even loaded will go almost anywhere. I still have a long day ahead so I turn around before reaching the top of this hill and head further down the pass, I can feel the temperature rising every km of the decent into the bushveld of the Lowveld.
Bushbuck Ridge down in the valley is an interesting place, it is a black settlement and on the map it is indicated only as small town similar to Roossenekal …. it takes me however about an hour to drive the 10-15km from the one side to the other, not that small anymore I guess. I like the things you find in areas like this along the road, this guy runs a tire service. The guy in the yellow car is getting his tires changed or a puncture fixed. While I’m there taking photos and talking to the owner some more cars stop there to get their tire pressure checked. The amazing thing is that the owner and his dad have been building a three story house for about 5 years with the income from this business and recons it will take about another 3 years to complete.
It is midday and hot by the time I stop in Klaserie at the “Klaserie One Stop …
“ to refuel and get something to eat and drink.
The restaurant ....
.... and lunch!
I know someone that owns a game lodge somewhere near Klaserie and wonder if I should pay them a visit but I don’t have their telephone number so I ask the garage owner if he perhaps know them …. turns out he knows them very well, gives me directions and their number …. a few moments later I get promptly informed that if I don’t visit I will be in serious trouble …. and so it is decided that the tent back in Graskop will have to keep itself company tonight!
Before going out to the lodge I first visit the Blydepoort Dam in the mountains.
I again spend too much time exploring and end up driving through the bush to the lodge in the dark. We talk till late in the night and can hear lion going about their business far out in the bush.
Day 3.
I envy my friends living out there in the bush.
With no paying guests on the lodge the DR gets to sleep in the dining area.
Before 09:00 the bike is packed …. in the shade as it is already hot.
The bush road I was riding the previous night in the dark, it is covered in animal tracks from the previous night’s activities ... and a great ride through the bush on a bike.
The dirt road back to Klaserie. The mountains in the distance is where I’m going today and further beyond them a lonely tent that I hope will still be there when I get back.
The Abel Erasmus pass going back up the mountains just after the J.G. Strijdom Tunnel.
Okay so I can’t drive past this place and not take a photo, it also marks the entrance to the Echo Caves. While there I meet Stephen Dorey a guy from the UK that is cycling from Swakupmond in Namibia through Botswana and South Africa to Maputo in Mozambique, talk about minimalist touring ... at this point I think he had already complete around 3000km!!
At last I’m back high in the mountains where it is a bit cooler but still hot as I visit the lookout points from where one can see the Blyderpoort Dam that I visited the previous day, before I reach Graskop the DR will take me even higher.
Near Graskop I take a back road that we have discovered while mountain biking in the area.
Back in Graskop I’m happy to find the tent just as I left it and I nip into town for refreshments before I get to use this nifty trick (compliments of the minimalist threat) to make lubing the chain easy.
Day 4
Day 4 is a slow start because I’m first having breakfast with the UK cyclist. With a lot of interesting stuff and experiences on his journey to talk about I’m heading out of Graskop only after 11:00. The objective for the day is to go to Kaapsehoop, it is already hot and by the time I reach Nelspruit via Hazyview and Witrivier I’m not having fun at all due to the heat and bad traffic as a result of road works in Nelspruit. After dodging cars, standing at red robots (in South Africa traffic lights are called robots) and simmering nicely in the heat in my riding gear for way too long, I eventually find the turnoff to Kaapsehoop and start enjoying the ride/day as I head out of Nelspruit and climb back to cooler altitudes with every km.
But it is all worth it as I ride into Kaapsehoop almost on reserve and stop at the first pub I see for a beer …. there is no fuel in the little town but wow, what a nice place! The first beer hits the spot so I order another and something to eat … the second one hits an even better spot. After talking to the owner for awhile I explore the little town on the DR without my helmet on, no one seems to mind and I’m having a great time. On the outskirts of the town I see some of the wild horses that are apparently the only wild horse to be found anywhere in South Africa. They originated from pit ponies that were released after the gold mining era.
The Gold Mining Governor’s house dating back from 1884.
Just past the pub going into Kaapsehoop and exploring the town.
I stop at the same pub again for a last beer and make a mental note that I will have to come back here again and stay for a weekend. It is already past 16:00 …. perhaps the tent should have another night by it self in Graskop? It is obvious again that I’m not going to make it to Graskop before nightfall so I head off with a bit of urgency in search of fuel. Down in the valley and after switching to reserve I fill up at Ngodwana. Apart from a short but busy section on the N4 toll road the back road to Sabie through the mountains is quiet and a pleasure to ride as the sun is setting. By the time I can see Sabie’s lights way down in the valley it is almost completely dark .... that big round light on the DR is great and it is exiting riding the last 32km from Sabie to Graskop in the dark …. the bugs seem to think the DR has got a great light too so I get to practice my bug dodging skills .
Day 5
I decide to have a rest day sleeping late and lounging around the campsite. Around 11:00 I discover a lost beer below some stuff in the tent and with David Bowie and Arno Carstens keeping me company on the MP3 player I start going through the DR checking for loose nuts and bolts … I’m having great time just being there and not having to be anywhere.
Afterwards I take a stroll through town and visit some of the art galleries and interesting curio shops … a bunch of space cadets on big BMWs go past and I talk to them while they are refueling. It is a mixed bunch of South Africans and Americans touring the area before loading the bikes on a train to go to Cape Town …. on those bikes one should be riding to Cape Town, …. I think.
I end the day by doing a short hiking trail to the edge of the escarp and discover this, the stream simply disappears over the edge to a place in the forest far below that I can’t even see.
Day 6
Time to start heading back so after an early breakfast everything, tent included this time, is packed and strapped onto the bike. I backtrack the route that I used for coming back from Kaapsehoop and visit places along the route that I did not have time for on that day.
First stop is Hendriksdal, an old train station. A steam train still passes through there once every now and then but the station master’s house has been converted into a nice Bed & Breakfast place.
Next stop is this mountain bike park, although fairly new they have got an amazing network of single-track trails in the surrounding mountains, swimming pool, shop and BMX style race tracks running through the camp … did take notice though of the numerous signboards in red, “Beware of Snakes”!
From here I start the long climb up Schoemanskoof to get to Dullstroom where I will be camping tonight. Although part of the N4 toll road it is not too busy and with a wide shoulder it is a pleasure riding through the beautiful mountain scenery even though it is getting hot again. After refueling at Waterval-Boven and standing around like a lizard trying to cool off I take a dirt road to Dullstoom, after about 25-30km of splendid dirt road riding I arrive late afternoon and pitch my tent at Elandskloof Trout Farm.
Day 7
Next morning I get up early and enjoy this while having coffee.
The road up to Dullstoom from the farm.
After breakfast I take the dirt road north out of Dullstroom to get to Stoffberg.
From Stoffberg the long slog starts to Middleburg, after that it is just boring distance back-tracking the early morning route of the first day to get home. I park the amazing little DR back in front of my garage just before 17:00.
Did not weigh the kit but suspect it was somewhere between 10kg and 15kg. With a 15/45 final drive the little DR surprised me in where it would go with no problem, it seemed happy doing 80km/h for long distances but I focused on cruising at 72-75km/h. Average fuel consumption for the trip was 29.59km/l, best - 31.13km/l, worst – 26.50km/l (Worst consumption due to dirt roads in the mountains using 3rd and 4th gear a lot combined also with strong headwinds when on and off-road.) Total distance for the 7 day trip – 1665km.
Will I do this again .... without a doubt!!
The week before I run around buying a few items that’s been on the “must still get list” for far too long; emergency tire sealant/inflator, tire levers, rim-savers, fuses, patch-kit, … Friday night after putting lube on the DR’s chain I start packing. My philosophy is that apart from the tent, sleeping bag and sleeping mat, every thing else that does not fit into the black bag and my CamelBak is not going with …. so I pack and repack a few times but eventually the essentials for the bike and to camp for a week find a place …. even a pillow. I’ll be eating at places every day along the route so I pack food only for breakfast; coffee, instant oats, sugar. Around 23:30 I crawl into bed but can’t sleep, my mind is too busy ….. have I packed everything, what did I not think to pack, maybe I should have changed the DR’s oil, …. but then eventually …. zzzzZ, and next thing the alarm clock goes off!
Day 1
I get up early and find a place on the bike for everything and strap it down …. uhmmm, together it all now feels a bit heavy but there is nothing I can leave behind so I lock the garage and is out the gate around 07:00. It is cold, overcast and by the time I’m on the outskirts of the city (Centurion/Pretoria) heading east towards Bronkhorstspruit I’m riding in mist …. nasty stuff mist, everything goes damp, cold and it is hard to see through the goggles. I wonder if this is what is installed for me for the rest of the week but before I reach Witbank it is just overcast and by the time I stop in Middleburg for fuel the sun is shining. From Middleburg I head northeast towards Stoffberg and Roossenekal, the road is not busy and it’s become a beautiful day …. it is great to be out on the bike.
On the map Roossenekal is indicated as a small town but it is actually only a few houses, small shop, a very old but abandoned school built with rock and this church in the middle of nowhere.This small settlement was named in honour of Commandant Senekal and Field Cornet Roos who were killed in the Mapoch War of this area in 1882. The entire settlement except for the Church was burnt to the ground in 1901 during the Anglo-Boer War. The new village was built and proclaimed in 1934.
After Roossenekal I really start to enjoy the day as I head through the mountains on my way to the highlands north of Dullstroom where I discover this place somewhere past Draaikraal on the road to Lydenburg … it is not even on the map and it is like stepping back in time. Across the road I notice 3 youngsters with their horses resting and talking under a tree …like I’ve got a car and a motorbike, they’ve got horses.
The loaded RD has got no problem taking me higher up the mountains and I only occasionally have to downshift to 4th gear on the steeper sections. I soon reach the highest point in the whole of Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces. At 2331m it is simply called Die Berg (The Mountain)
This is also the point where I have to turn off to Dullstroom where I plan to camp the first night but since it is only around 13:00 I decide to head for Graskop where I plan to setup base camp for the rest of the week’s touring. I take the long way round to Graskop and for the rest of the afternoon explore the roads through the mountains to the west and north of Lydenburg and ride through places like Maartenshoop, Steelpoort and Burgersfort as I decent down into the bushveld ... somewhere past Burgersfort I become aware of my shadow on the loaded bike that streaks off forward and to the right of the bike. It is nice looking at it but then I realize suddenly how long it also has become. It is now late in the afternoon and it is obvious I’m not going to make it to Graskop before dark so I head to the Origstad Dam near Pilgrim’s Rest to camp there for the night but they are not keen on letting me in on the bike.
From the dam I cross the mountains via Robbers Pass to Pilgrim’s Rest where I know it will be possible to camp. The sun is setting and as I ascend the pass I stop a few times to take photos and enjoy the extended sunset. In Pilgrim’s there is still enough light so I take a drive through the historic town. The entire town was declared a National Monument in 1986 and today is a living museum that dates back from 1873 after Alec "Wheelbarrow" Patterson discovered gold in a stream there that sparked off one the largest gold rushes in South Africa. The largest recorded nugget from the Pilgrim's Rest area was the "Breda" nugget, weighing in at 214 ozs. (more than 6kg), but legends of nuggets as large as 25 lbs. (11kg) were told around the campfires.
By 1882 Pilgrim’s Rest was the second town in South Africa that had electric streetlights (Its lights were apparently switched on 24 hours before London.). The electricity was generated in small hydro-electric plants until the Belvedere hydro-electric power plant in the Blyde River Canyon was completed in 1911. This 2,000 Kw power station was at the time the largest hydro-electric power station in the Southern hemisphere. Pilgrim’s Rest was also the first place in South Africa with an operational electric railway in 1897. The railway transported ore to the reduction works (also electric) over a 12 mile length of track using two 19 kW locomotives. (The first town to have electric streetlights was Kimberley. They were switched on in Feb 1882, at the time London was still relying on gas for street lighting.)
From there Graskop is only about 16km via another pass over the mountains so I go for it …. I pitch my tent around 19:00 in total darkness. Total distance for the day, 495km, the furthest I’ve ever gone on a bike in one day …. I have no problem falling asleep after a brilliant day on the DR200.
Day 2
Graskop is very central and it becomes base camp so after an early breakfast of Instant Oats and Coffee I pack every thing except the tent and sleeping mat back on the bike and head down Kowyn Pass, the aim is to get to Klaserie and Timbavati bordering the Kruger National Park.
Exploring a forest road off Kowyn Pass, with 15/45 final drive it seems the little DR even loaded will go almost anywhere. I still have a long day ahead so I turn around before reaching the top of this hill and head further down the pass, I can feel the temperature rising every km of the decent into the bushveld of the Lowveld.
Bushbuck Ridge down in the valley is an interesting place, it is a black settlement and on the map it is indicated only as small town similar to Roossenekal …. it takes me however about an hour to drive the 10-15km from the one side to the other, not that small anymore I guess. I like the things you find in areas like this along the road, this guy runs a tire service. The guy in the yellow car is getting his tires changed or a puncture fixed. While I’m there taking photos and talking to the owner some more cars stop there to get their tire pressure checked. The amazing thing is that the owner and his dad have been building a three story house for about 5 years with the income from this business and recons it will take about another 3 years to complete.
It is midday and hot by the time I stop in Klaserie at the “Klaserie One Stop …
“ to refuel and get something to eat and drink.The restaurant ....
.... and lunch!
I know someone that owns a game lodge somewhere near Klaserie and wonder if I should pay them a visit but I don’t have their telephone number so I ask the garage owner if he perhaps know them …. turns out he knows them very well, gives me directions and their number …. a few moments later I get promptly informed that if I don’t visit I will be in serious trouble …. and so it is decided that the tent back in Graskop will have to keep itself company tonight!
Before going out to the lodge I first visit the Blydepoort Dam in the mountains.
I again spend too much time exploring and end up driving through the bush to the lodge in the dark. We talk till late in the night and can hear lion going about their business far out in the bush.
Day 3.
I envy my friends living out there in the bush.
With no paying guests on the lodge the DR gets to sleep in the dining area.
Before 09:00 the bike is packed …. in the shade as it is already hot.
The bush road I was riding the previous night in the dark, it is covered in animal tracks from the previous night’s activities ... and a great ride through the bush on a bike.
The dirt road back to Klaserie. The mountains in the distance is where I’m going today and further beyond them a lonely tent that I hope will still be there when I get back.
The Abel Erasmus pass going back up the mountains just after the J.G. Strijdom Tunnel.
Okay so I can’t drive past this place and not take a photo, it also marks the entrance to the Echo Caves. While there I meet Stephen Dorey a guy from the UK that is cycling from Swakupmond in Namibia through Botswana and South Africa to Maputo in Mozambique, talk about minimalist touring ... at this point I think he had already complete around 3000km!!
At last I’m back high in the mountains where it is a bit cooler but still hot as I visit the lookout points from where one can see the Blyderpoort Dam that I visited the previous day, before I reach Graskop the DR will take me even higher.
Near Graskop I take a back road that we have discovered while mountain biking in the area.
Back in Graskop I’m happy to find the tent just as I left it and I nip into town for refreshments before I get to use this nifty trick (compliments of the minimalist threat) to make lubing the chain easy.
Day 4
Day 4 is a slow start because I’m first having breakfast with the UK cyclist. With a lot of interesting stuff and experiences on his journey to talk about I’m heading out of Graskop only after 11:00. The objective for the day is to go to Kaapsehoop, it is already hot and by the time I reach Nelspruit via Hazyview and Witrivier I’m not having fun at all due to the heat and bad traffic as a result of road works in Nelspruit. After dodging cars, standing at red robots (in South Africa traffic lights are called robots) and simmering nicely in the heat in my riding gear for way too long, I eventually find the turnoff to Kaapsehoop and start enjoying the ride/day as I head out of Nelspruit and climb back to cooler altitudes with every km.
But it is all worth it as I ride into Kaapsehoop almost on reserve and stop at the first pub I see for a beer …. there is no fuel in the little town but wow, what a nice place! The first beer hits the spot so I order another and something to eat … the second one hits an even better spot. After talking to the owner for awhile I explore the little town on the DR without my helmet on, no one seems to mind and I’m having a great time. On the outskirts of the town I see some of the wild horses that are apparently the only wild horse to be found anywhere in South Africa. They originated from pit ponies that were released after the gold mining era.
The Gold Mining Governor’s house dating back from 1884.
Just past the pub going into Kaapsehoop and exploring the town.
I stop at the same pub again for a last beer and make a mental note that I will have to come back here again and stay for a weekend. It is already past 16:00 …. perhaps the tent should have another night by it self in Graskop? It is obvious again that I’m not going to make it to Graskop before nightfall so I head off with a bit of urgency in search of fuel. Down in the valley and after switching to reserve I fill up at Ngodwana. Apart from a short but busy section on the N4 toll road the back road to Sabie through the mountains is quiet and a pleasure to ride as the sun is setting. By the time I can see Sabie’s lights way down in the valley it is almost completely dark .... that big round light on the DR is great and it is exiting riding the last 32km from Sabie to Graskop in the dark …. the bugs seem to think the DR has got a great light too so I get to practice my bug dodging skills .
Day 5
I decide to have a rest day sleeping late and lounging around the campsite. Around 11:00 I discover a lost beer below some stuff in the tent and with David Bowie and Arno Carstens keeping me company on the MP3 player I start going through the DR checking for loose nuts and bolts … I’m having great time just being there and not having to be anywhere.
Afterwards I take a stroll through town and visit some of the art galleries and interesting curio shops … a bunch of space cadets on big BMWs go past and I talk to them while they are refueling. It is a mixed bunch of South Africans and Americans touring the area before loading the bikes on a train to go to Cape Town …. on those bikes one should be riding to Cape Town, …. I think.
I end the day by doing a short hiking trail to the edge of the escarp and discover this, the stream simply disappears over the edge to a place in the forest far below that I can’t even see.
Day 6
Time to start heading back so after an early breakfast everything, tent included this time, is packed and strapped onto the bike. I backtrack the route that I used for coming back from Kaapsehoop and visit places along the route that I did not have time for on that day.
First stop is Hendriksdal, an old train station. A steam train still passes through there once every now and then but the station master’s house has been converted into a nice Bed & Breakfast place.
Next stop is this mountain bike park, although fairly new they have got an amazing network of single-track trails in the surrounding mountains, swimming pool, shop and BMX style race tracks running through the camp … did take notice though of the numerous signboards in red, “Beware of Snakes”!
From here I start the long climb up Schoemanskoof to get to Dullstroom where I will be camping tonight. Although part of the N4 toll road it is not too busy and with a wide shoulder it is a pleasure riding through the beautiful mountain scenery even though it is getting hot again. After refueling at Waterval-Boven and standing around like a lizard trying to cool off I take a dirt road to Dullstoom, after about 25-30km of splendid dirt road riding I arrive late afternoon and pitch my tent at Elandskloof Trout Farm.
Day 7
Next morning I get up early and enjoy this while having coffee.
The road up to Dullstoom from the farm.
After breakfast I take the dirt road north out of Dullstroom to get to Stoffberg.
From Stoffberg the long slog starts to Middleburg, after that it is just boring distance back-tracking the early morning route of the first day to get home. I park the amazing little DR back in front of my garage just before 17:00.
Did not weigh the kit but suspect it was somewhere between 10kg and 15kg. With a 15/45 final drive the little DR surprised me in where it would go with no problem, it seemed happy doing 80km/h for long distances but I focused on cruising at 72-75km/h. Average fuel consumption for the trip was 29.59km/l, best - 31.13km/l, worst – 26.50km/l (Worst consumption due to dirt roads in the mountains using 3rd and 4th gear a lot combined also with strong headwinds when on and off-road.) Total distance for the 7 day trip – 1665km.
Will I do this again .... without a doubt!!
