St Bernard's Peak, Thule and Sehlabathebe

[JonW]

4 years ago on about the same weekend I first did this trip, and I have been keen to do it again for a while now.

https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=120530.msg2334717#msg2334717

So when my mate Kevin called me and asked me if I felt like riding this weekend I immediately suggested we do this trip I had been thinking of. kevin said he was keen, so it was decided that seeing as the weather looked great on Saturday, me Philip and Kevin would trailer our bikes to St Bernard's Peak Hotel and ride up into Lesotho from there. It was agreed we would leave from hilton at 06h00 Saturday morning.

The next bit of PT was to get hold of the various farmers whose land we needed to cross, as well as getting access to they key for a locked gate along the route. By Friday afternoon reluctant consent had been obtained and a plan made to collect the all important key.

Offloading bikes, getting ready and the foothills of the Drakensberg:

 

[JonW]

Heading up the escarpment, through the gate and to the top of the berg:

 

[JonW]

Some great views on the way up

 

[JonW]

Some steep rocky sections need to be conquered, not made any easier by my worn rear tyre, but once at the top the views made it worth the sweat

 

[BMWPE]

:thumleft: :thumleft:

 

[JonW]

From there through the gate in the fence that serves as the border between SA and Lesotho and through the lush mountainous Seshlabathebe National Park, with herds of buck grazing contentedly on the slopes in the distance.

Once we had gone as far as we could towards Bushman's Neck we decided to turn around and head back. Kevin had never done Ramatseltiso Pass before, so instead of going straight back down the way we had come, we made our way into Lesotho on a heading that would intersect the Rama Sehlabathebe Road. Once we got to the road we arrived at the Rama Border Post in no time.

Now although we had our passports with us, we had not legally entered lesotho, so were a bit worried about what the Lesotho border police would say. So we took the sensible option and simply road slowly through both the Lesotho and the South African border posts without stopping. Once we were through and back into SA we did speed up somewhat. Coming down Rama Pass was a big disappointment, all the technical bits have been cemented and it has been turned into a really boring pass compared to what it was a few years ago. i guess that is what is called progress.

From the bottom of the pass we found a nice short-cut which led us straight back to St Bernard's Peak, with the only delay being the inevitable puncture to my Xr's front wheel.

Unfortunately no pictures were taken of either the Lesotho or SA border post.

 

[Osadabwa]

Looks nice!

Always hard to seriously complain when some African government improves a road... since usually we complain when they don't do anything... Fortunately for bikers though, they're highly unlikely to have budgeted for maintenance, so if you hang around long enough it'll be back to its gloriously shagged condition before long  >

Love seeing the Pig out there with near bald rear rubber... it's a perpetual battle keeping her in knobs!  :snorting:

 

[JonW]

Looks nice!

Always hard to seriously complain when some African government improves a road... since usually we complain when they don't do anything... Fortunately for bikers though, they're highly unlikely to have budgeted for maintenance, so if you hang around long enough it'll be back to its gloriously shagged condition before long  >

Love seeing the Pig out there with near bald rear rubber... it's a perpetual battle keeping her in knobs!  :snorting:

haha ja that treadless back tire wasn't helping much when I had to get up those steep loose rocky sections  :biggrin:

 

[XRRX]

Great pics and riding!!!
Makes me want to go home!!!  :'(
I love your XR too - knows it for a very long time!!! Right tool for this job!!!

 

[trevorwb]

Nice one Jon.I seem to remember you battled up that steep section last time.Same place where my 950 used you for traction.

 

[adv]

:thumleft: :thumleft: :thumleft:

Now this is riding...

 

[ianhogg]

Yes Trevor, I thought Jon was going to tell us that he had gone to complete the pass he'd found on google Earth to the East of Shlebathebe National Park. Jon, was that really your mate Kevin Wallace in the pictures? Looks like he's having a bad hair experience!

 

[landieman]

WOW,top of the world,thanks for sharing  :thumleft:

 

[Epilot]

Wow great ride would love to join you sometime- will have to make a plan

 

[JonW]

Ja this really is an awesome route, I should really do it more than once every four years, but I also have to respect the fact that the landowners don't necessarily want bikes riding over their farms every 2nd weekend.