Rat racer's weekend getaways
- Thread starter Xpat
- Start date
By the time I thawed and the gear dried up sufficiently it was past 9:00 am. I packd up and set-off follwoing tracks I have plotted before through bush nicely colored by winter leaves and morning sun. The advantage of riding in the winter is that most of the day is golden hour:
In Legonyane I took detour to Jericho rock on a bush tracks I had from Minxy. The rock was annoying as there was the whole village trying to shake me down for some cash so I just turned back and hit the quiet bush again this time in direction of Jericho. Found some other rocks with noone to hassle me and stopped for a little break.
Once in Jericho I looked for bush track that could take me to DeWildt shebeen but run into fence with pedestrian gap too narrow to push through on the bike.
After that I just hit de Wildt tracks back home:
Once in Jericho I looked for bush track that could take me to DeWildt shebeen but run into fence with pedestrian gap too narrow to push through on the bike.
After that I just hit de Wildt tracks back home:
Next weekend I went back as I still looking for decent offroad connection from DeWildt to Jericho. All the old enduro tracks were overgrown with thorny bushes, so the mission was to find another route that would require riding tar or too much of boring dirt roads. This exploration business takes time with many dead ends so again I opted for sleepover in bush, his time a bit closer to home. I even managed to find Kulcha easy over pants I lost wee before in the DeWildt whoops:
It was freezing again, but I upgraded sleeping bag to one more suited to my size and managed more sleep than weekend before. Still there was frost over everything in the morning:
I went looking again for that DeWildt - Jericho connection but mostly run into the thorny dead ends and didn't really succeed.
I went looking again for that DeWildt - Jericho connection but mostly run into the thorny dead ends and didn't really succeed.
Old Mill Drift Road - March 2020
I haven't ridden Old Mill Drift Road - one of the stallwarts of the DS riding in SA, so back in March right before the whole COVID fiasco I decided to rectify that and headed down there. It eventually took two weekends and two different bikes to complete the ride, but I will get to it later at the appropriate point of the story.
For the first attempt I headed down there from GP on Saturday morning on 990. Ride down from GP to Clarens is boring affair of dirt highways along Vaal dam to Frankofort and open tar roads from there to Clarens to save the time for the good part afterwards. So the long legs of 990 twin came handy to dispose of that commute as quickly as possible. On the other hand some recent reports I have read suggested that the OMD road has deteriorated seriously over the past few years to the point where it was considered by some more of a plastic territory, so I was curious to see if I will actually be able to get the 990 hippo up the unfamous road.
Commute down to Clarens went without glitch and after quick dash through the square just to confirm that I am still very much unfond of the place and quick refuel I headed to the start of the road at the Old Mill Drift farm, where like a good boy I paid the entrance fee to the lady in the reception. Yes, you can just pass through and nobody will catch or chase you, but since the road runs through their private property I opted to rather pay so that they benefit and keep the road open for public riding.
As one drops down to the Mohokare river valley - river being the geographical border between SA and Lesotho, the usual enticing Lesotho scenery opens up:
I haven't ridden Old Mill Drift Road - one of the stallwarts of the DS riding in SA, so back in March right before the whole COVID fiasco I decided to rectify that and headed down there. It eventually took two weekends and two different bikes to complete the ride, but I will get to it later at the appropriate point of the story.
For the first attempt I headed down there from GP on Saturday morning on 990. Ride down from GP to Clarens is boring affair of dirt highways along Vaal dam to Frankofort and open tar roads from there to Clarens to save the time for the good part afterwards. So the long legs of 990 twin came handy to dispose of that commute as quickly as possible. On the other hand some recent reports I have read suggested that the OMD road has deteriorated seriously over the past few years to the point where it was considered by some more of a plastic territory, so I was curious to see if I will actually be able to get the 990 hippo up the unfamous road.
Commute down to Clarens went without glitch and after quick dash through the square just to confirm that I am still very much unfond of the place and quick refuel I headed to the start of the road at the Old Mill Drift farm, where like a good boy I paid the entrance fee to the lady in the reception. Yes, you can just pass through and nobody will catch or chase you, but since the road runs through their private property I opted to rather pay so that they benefit and keep the road open for public riding.
As one drops down to the Mohokare river valley - river being the geographical border between SA and Lesotho, the usual enticing Lesotho scenery opens up:
And then without a warning after sharp left turn one hits straight away the most gnarly bit of the whole road. After a bit of scouting I hit the initial rockgarden and made on the other side unscathed. Next was big step where the old paved road has been washed up. I took it too tentatively and got stuck in the middle with legs flailing in the air and the only option being gettng back down. So I put the bike down against the slope to dismount and then manhandled it back down. I have then build a bit of ramp next to the slope from the big loose boulders lying about and made it up on the second attempt.
After that there was another switchbark and rocky section, though this one significnatly milder and I made it to the top of the first technical section without any additional glitch.
After that there was another switchbark and rocky section, though this one significnatly milder and I made it to the top of the first technical section without any additional glitch.
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2010
- Messages
- 3,605
- Reaction score
- 174
- Location
- I would rather be in Great Brak...
- Bike
- Honda CRF-1000L Africa Twin
Excellent as usual, thanks!
ClimbingTurtle
Bachelor Dog
- Joined
- May 6, 2011
- Messages
- 10,710
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- 1,336
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- Gauteng, South Africa
- Bike
- BMW (all models)
I attempted this in about 2018 on a 1200 GSA - it did not go well - I got stuck on the first bouder section and we decided to call it quits, so I still need to go back on the X-Challenge to rectify this....
Nicely done Martin!!
:thumleft:
Nicely done Martin!!
:thumleft:
Gee eS
Race Dog
Nice report and some hectic roads. :thumleft:
