The bridge at Nguvebu

[ianhogg]

there still isn't one.

Story to follow, previously in 2014...............

https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=156279.msg2964952#msg2964952

 

[ianhogg]

Bridge at Ngubevu.

After missing out on JonW’s ride to Zingela a couple of weeks ago I have been suffering from a bit a “riding fever” so when my old riding mate Mad Mike phone me up just before New year for a ride I was only too keen, so on New Years Day I was up and out at 5am to meet up with Mike and an engineer called Andrew Forbes who is doing well enough at Tetrapak to have bought himself a GS1150 a couple of months ago. I was quite impressed by him. He sucked it up like a man and didn’t complain once about the things we made him do with his shiny new Beemer.

It was misty and bit rainy going through the 1000 hills from Kloof to Greytown and just a bit on the edge of being cold. There were just a few groups of drunks wandering home and Shembe on the way to their mountain. At Montebello hospital some still drunk locals had barricaded the road with a chopped down tree and some rocks. They were stumbling around and we went round them but during the day I felt there was a feeling of a lot more hostility and stone throwing than I am used to.

Mike had met a civil engineer who told him that they had done quite a bit of bridge building at Ngubevu so we were expecting to be able to cross the river, either on a bridge or a construction weir and ride through the gorge to Jamieson’s drift, the bit we haven’t done.

Things looked not to bad leaving Greytown. The plantations and crops are doing not too badly. However as soon as we dropped into the Tugela tribal areas it changed.  Anyone who can’t farm boulders is in big shit because that’s all that is left. The heat in the Tugela valley was really like baking in the oven. At Shu Shu hot springs I wondered if we could get cooler by climbing into the hot springs!  

I realized quite early on that we weren’t going to find a new bridge as quite a few of the projects which had been started a couple of years ago were going backwards and sure as nuts we found the same marker posts but no bridge. The river is very low at the moment and there is a good crossing spot for plastics/big brave KTM riders but not for us so we cut across to Kranskop,  Shu Shu and then the spectacular road that follows the Tugela and rises up a long ridge to the R74. I’m going to have to come back here with my 250 and do the full round trip, probably trailing up to Greytown.  Any takers?

The ride we did is in blue and the bit that we didn’t accomplish is in red. I’ve attached the ride in various formats.
 

 

[ianhogg]

some pictures, the valley of 1000 hills  Tugela ( no particular order)

 

[ianhogg]

We are not alone! Here's a man who is not only involved in the bridge but is keen to ride. Can it get any better than that? He tried to post this story but it vanished into the ether.

Hey Ian.


Philip here. (Vislyp on the forum)


Read your ride report on the Wild Dog Forum and replied to you with a whole long winded explanation on the bridge that you did not find. Accompanied by a whole series of pictures. But alas!!! It did not make it through. LOL. I think I might have lost signal on my laptop as I was sending it and it now floating around in cyber space at the moment.


What it basically boils down to is that I was down at that location from the beginning of October to the middle of November doing the geotechnical investigation for the bridge that is to go up there. We did extensive rotary core drilling and soil investigation for the abutments and piling locations where the stanchions or uprights for the bridge will stand. That picture that you posted with the Beemer standing on the bank is actually my slipway that I dug to get to water level to put my barge in the river to load my equipment to drill in the middle of the river. We also did extensive drilling on the South bank of the river too for the adjacent piers. That location that you showed where people might cross, is not the best idea. I don't know if you took a walk down there to have a closer look. But those boulders are huge and the water channels down to that single choke point and is very strong. I crossed the river with my Merc 4x4 truck a little higher up and cut a path through the thorn bush to access the north bank. The riding over there would be awesome and you could access some beautiful areas not yet ridden, and I always thought that I would come back soon to do just that. But I have as yet not got round to it. Spent most of my Christmas break riding Lesotho with my son. And unfortunately the river now has come up rather substantially and I will now no longer be able to cross there until it abates.


We are also building a bridge across the Tugela a little lower down from there. But this one is far more advanced. We did have an earth platform going across the river to the North bank and I said I was going to ALSO ride it early this year. But ALSO did not get there, and it has now subsequently been washed away. Mores the pity!!! We will have to build it up again quite soon though coz me have machinery and cranes over the other side and its more that a two hour drive around through Mandini. It would make a most unbelievable ride though.


You asked in your post if anyone is keen to ride that area with you. I am ALWAYS keen on most any weekend to go riding down there or anywhere in those valleys for that matter. So if you will have me along. Just drop me a mail and I'm in. I sure I will be able to show you alot of interesting places. There is even a bridge below those two closer to Mandini that we are building. But I haven't been there for a while to see what progress has been made.


That's it for now Ian. Hope you get THIS mail. (took your address of the forum) Here are some pics of that bridge for the meantime. I'll send more later if this mail makes it through and I get a reply.

 

[Goingnowherekwickly]

Lovely part of the world that, we ride there from time to time....
I recognised that pic from the way back out of the valley, looks like a dragons back, with the road
snaking over the ridge like that... a favourite... looking very lush at the moment, with a bit of rain...

Also been quite intrigued about exploring north bank of tugela southwards, from middeldrift crossing, to Mandeni, looks quite promising on the satellite maps, doesn't seem to connect all the way tho...

Thanks for sharing  :thumleft:

 

[ianhogg]

seen in the New Age 18/2/2016

 

[AJN]

Hi Ian

Dead keen to join you on the return trip if you go on the smaller bike.

 

[ianhogg]

I would like that Andrew. We'll do it when the river levels drop a bit. Ian

 

[Vislyp]

Hey Ian! Dont forget about me if you put something together.  :laughing4:

 

[ianhogg]

could I ever Philip!

 

[trevorwb]

And you may as well count me in.

 

[ianhogg]

I was waiting for that. If there is 4 of us we can use the two sticks method to cross the Tugela if need be.