Just Blip It!
Race Dog
Swaziland I believe, is the last frontier for true adventure riding, it offers unspoilt wilderness, beautiful mountainous terrain, unmaintained gravel roads, cattle paths and 4x4 trails, no fences, you can just about ride anywhere you wish in any type of terrain you could wish for. Bikes are even allowed in most of the National Parks! The people are mostly well educated and extremely friendly. I love the place!!
Rieks, Charl and myself set off last Friday at 12h00 for Swaziland, the intention was to tackle some of the rougher, tougher riding that Swaziland has to offer. Well as usual Swaziland did not disappoint and gave us all we wanted and then also threw in a bit more than we bargained for! :eek7:
Friday welcomed us with a few little summer showers which changed our route into a complete nightmare! At one stage we only covered 5km in 2 hours, we pushed, shoved, and lifted the bikes through the mud which clogged tyres and mudguards! We tried riding on the road, next to the road, the worst most slippery conditions I have ever experienced, even walking was a challenge, if we weren't picking up our bikes we were picking ourselves up, it was impossible conditions! We eventually made it to the tar after dark in rainy misty conditions we completed the last 30km arriving wet and weary way after dark at Muguga Dam Lodge.
What a great feeling it is to sit with a few riding buddies after a hard days riding, drink a few beers and have a few laughs! Life is good! 8)
Rieks BMW decided to rest for a while! :-\ This is one of the few photos I have that illustrate the conditions, we were so covered in mud and far to busy to take photos after this was taken!! :dousing:
Some of the locals enjoying the entertainment!
After a good nights rest and a great Maguga breakfast, we set off in the drizzle and mist tackling a few challenging hill climbs twisting through the Piggs Peak mountains, rain gear on the riding was great, however we all battled with visibility as visors and glasses fogged up.
Rieks left us at mid morning returning back to Nelspruit for other commitments. Charl and I made it through to Mbabane for an early lunch as yet more rain fell.
After lunch the rain stopped and there was even a little sun! ;D
The afternnons riding turned out to be the best riding ever, awesome traction, no dust and the most unbelievably beautiful route along the top of the mountains eventually ending up back in the valley at Maguga Dam.
Maguga Lodge is a great stopover or base from where to ride and explore Swaziland, the accomodation is in rondawels which are comfortable and I always park my bike on the stoep. The service is great and the food good and beers are cold all at a reasonable rate! What more could you ask for?
This is our trusty waitress Phelile that always serves us when we stay over at Maguga Lodge.
Sunday morning early we departed from Maguga in beautiful weather and headed north to Luve where we filled up an then started heading west toward the Waverly border post.
Check this awesome gravel road!! :thumleft:
Then disaster!! Whilst climbing a pretty hectic mountain trail strewn with rocks and a badly eroded trail, Charl jumped his bike over a blind jumb lading squarely on a rock hidden on the others side. :eek7: The side stand and bashplate taking the brunt of the impact, the bashplate shattered one of its mountings and cracked right through, the sidestand bent slightly, but because of the well known bad design of it being mounted directly onto the engine, this also cracked the casing! Oil was leaking steadily from the crack! Oh shit what now! We were in the middle of nowhere, even a really good 4x4 would battle to reach us!
After removing the shattered bashplate, we found that our only superglue bottle had dried up and none of us had any pratley steel! Well a "boer maak a plan" and an engelsman perfects the plan! Unbelievably, we fixed the leak using patch solution mixed with fine sand! This McGywer plan got us home without losing another drop! A trip of more than 300km of rough terrain! ;D
If you look at these photos you will see the oil on the ground and the broken bashplate.
After a good 45 minutes we were back in the saddle conquering the mountain pass once again!
Waverley Border Post Swaziland side, we were the sixth and seventh vehicles to pass through the border that day by 3PM!
We then made our way back home via Diepgezet Village at the abandoned Msoli Asbestos mine, up to Josefsdal borderpost and via Barberton back to Nelspruit. The scenery was a perfect end to a true adventure weekend!
Rieks, Charl and myself set off last Friday at 12h00 for Swaziland, the intention was to tackle some of the rougher, tougher riding that Swaziland has to offer. Well as usual Swaziland did not disappoint and gave us all we wanted and then also threw in a bit more than we bargained for! :eek7:
Friday welcomed us with a few little summer showers which changed our route into a complete nightmare! At one stage we only covered 5km in 2 hours, we pushed, shoved, and lifted the bikes through the mud which clogged tyres and mudguards! We tried riding on the road, next to the road, the worst most slippery conditions I have ever experienced, even walking was a challenge, if we weren't picking up our bikes we were picking ourselves up, it was impossible conditions! We eventually made it to the tar after dark in rainy misty conditions we completed the last 30km arriving wet and weary way after dark at Muguga Dam Lodge.
What a great feeling it is to sit with a few riding buddies after a hard days riding, drink a few beers and have a few laughs! Life is good! 8)
Rieks BMW decided to rest for a while! :-\ This is one of the few photos I have that illustrate the conditions, we were so covered in mud and far to busy to take photos after this was taken!! :dousing:
Some of the locals enjoying the entertainment!
After a good nights rest and a great Maguga breakfast, we set off in the drizzle and mist tackling a few challenging hill climbs twisting through the Piggs Peak mountains, rain gear on the riding was great, however we all battled with visibility as visors and glasses fogged up.
Rieks left us at mid morning returning back to Nelspruit for other commitments. Charl and I made it through to Mbabane for an early lunch as yet more rain fell.
After lunch the rain stopped and there was even a little sun! ;D
The afternnons riding turned out to be the best riding ever, awesome traction, no dust and the most unbelievably beautiful route along the top of the mountains eventually ending up back in the valley at Maguga Dam.
Maguga Lodge is a great stopover or base from where to ride and explore Swaziland, the accomodation is in rondawels which are comfortable and I always park my bike on the stoep. The service is great and the food good and beers are cold all at a reasonable rate! What more could you ask for?
This is our trusty waitress Phelile that always serves us when we stay over at Maguga Lodge.
Sunday morning early we departed from Maguga in beautiful weather and headed north to Luve where we filled up an then started heading west toward the Waverly border post.
Check this awesome gravel road!! :thumleft:
Then disaster!! Whilst climbing a pretty hectic mountain trail strewn with rocks and a badly eroded trail, Charl jumped his bike over a blind jumb lading squarely on a rock hidden on the others side. :eek7: The side stand and bashplate taking the brunt of the impact, the bashplate shattered one of its mountings and cracked right through, the sidestand bent slightly, but because of the well known bad design of it being mounted directly onto the engine, this also cracked the casing! Oil was leaking steadily from the crack! Oh shit what now! We were in the middle of nowhere, even a really good 4x4 would battle to reach us!
After removing the shattered bashplate, we found that our only superglue bottle had dried up and none of us had any pratley steel! Well a "boer maak a plan" and an engelsman perfects the plan! Unbelievably, we fixed the leak using patch solution mixed with fine sand! This McGywer plan got us home without losing another drop! A trip of more than 300km of rough terrain! ;D
If you look at these photos you will see the oil on the ground and the broken bashplate.
After a good 45 minutes we were back in the saddle conquering the mountain pass once again!
Waverley Border Post Swaziland side, we were the sixth and seventh vehicles to pass through the border that day by 3PM!
We then made our way back home via Diepgezet Village at the abandoned Msoli Asbestos mine, up to Josefsdal borderpost and via Barberton back to Nelspruit. The scenery was a perfect end to a true adventure weekend!
