The Million turn tour: TRANSKEI and LESOTHO........(plenty pics)

[YellowFever]

Well that more or less sums up the whole trip in one signboard, haha



Okay so I had a pretty bad 2008, worse ever. So I decided to end the year good and start 2009 on a high. I phoned Ponkie 2 weeks before Christmas and she was keen to join. Had to plan the routes fast and make the bookings quick. What a trip it was, one of the best ever. Itâ??s been a while since Iâ??ve been on a pillion ride. My bike and all my gear are perfectly set up for it. So needles to say I was looking forward to it.

There are a few other days also involved, but Iâ??m not going to bore you with the basic ride around the block stuff. Iâ??ll just concentrate on the core days and tell the story as usual with some pictures and a few words.

 

[YellowFever]

Day 1 East London 630km odd

This was a very challenging day, as Ponkieâ??s never been on a motorbike trip like this. We had to sort our riding style out and get used to a very heavily loaded bike. A howling wind from the front especially close to PE making matters worse. Running full throttle at places the bike couldnâ??t go faster than 140km/h with the screen bending over towards me. Blowing us left and right all over the road. At one place doing 160kms with 17 litres of fuel. I took it fairly easy otherwise for the whole day.

Leaving home and looking forward to time away:

Grahamstown, what a lovely place as always:

Just outside the town we hit a serious bad patch of fog, slowing matters down to 40km/h and only a few metres visibility:

Take it easy, take it easy:

We were very happy to see East London, stayed at the Fish Eagle Manor, great place:

 

[YellowFever]

Day 2:  East London to Morganâ??s Bay - 88 kms

The next day was a short one, on the way to Morganâ??s Bay in the transkei.

Lovely weather and now getting into the rhythm of riding we took it easy with plenty stops:

Not sure what this is all about but found a plane and some restored busses next to the road:

Kei river mouth beach:

Where the ferries cross the river east towards natal:

We stayed at the Yellowwoods campsite next to a river. Note that this campsite is not close to the beach but still a great place to be at:

The clouds were gathering as almost every late afternoon on the trip:

The river close to the campsite:

Making a fire with wet wood was a challenge:

â?¦but we got it going leaving some time to take it easy and relax:

The campsite for the night had some nasty rain but the tent stood up to the test as usual:

Check out my mini braai grid:

Haha, but it did the trick:

GPS details for the day and the co-ords for the yellowwoods camp site:

 

[YellowFever]

Day 3:  Morganâ??s Bay to Coffee Bay - 269 kms

We took it easy that morning to take a few pics of Morganâ??s Bay:

Beautiful and beautiful, hie hie:

First gravel roads of the trip and we were pleasantly surprised to see the next to the road:

Daddy:

Mommy and baby:

A busy day in the town of Butterworth:

We got thrown with an inch wide and metre long stick on the route to viedgesville. It was hair raising as we were travelling at 120 km/h in a bend. A little boy came from the side of the road and flicked it onto the crash bars and Ponkieâ??s boots. We were very lucky to get away unscathed. Here we stopped next to the road to recover a bit:

Coffee Bay was great as always:

Our campsite at the White Clay camp:

Some shots at night:

Our neighbours, look at the dogs in the front:

GPS details for the day and the co-ords of the white clay campsite:

 

[YellowFever]

Day 4: Rest day

Transkei coast:

On the way towards the hole in the wall:

I decided to be a little adventurous and jump into the swell at the hole in the wall:

And here I am waving at the camera:

Take a closer look, hie hie:

Ponkie making sure weâ??ve got the sizing correct:

The river giving the sea a brown coffee colour, not a lot of flow this time round:

Some of the other holiday makers at the coffee shack backpackers, nice and vibey there:

The place was packed to the brim all over, with plenty of young people from all over the country:

Not sure what happened to the shop, haha:

It was a hot day and we very sunburned by lunch, so I had to make a plan to get into some shade:

Some nice tunes inside the tent, my mp3 player and Vox speaker:

Sunset:

 

[YellowFever]

Day 5:  Rest day

This day was washing day as we had a few days worth of continuous riding to follow:

The view from our tent:

And so we set of to the big new years eve party at the Bomvu backpackers. They a few bands an DJâ??s playing with lots of people attending:

They even had some people playing with fire:

This guy was the life of the party, showing us some serious dance moves; look at his pilot sunglasses, haha:

It was a great party and superb way to start the new year of 09:

 

[YellowFever]

Day 6:  Coffee Bay to Underberg - 389kms

So we set off leaving the transkei:

No need to say anything here:

On the way to Underberg:

The hotel in town, you can find the best ribs in South Africa here:

We stayed at Under the Berg guest house, another great place:

GPS details for the day:

 

[YellowFever]

Day 7:  Underberg to Mulamong (Lesotho) - 98 kms

This was the true test of the trip. Iâ??ve been looking forward to do Sani pass for quite a while:

The new roadworks on the way to Sani:

The extension screen really started to rattle at the front so I decided to remove it:

Some great views to come:

Wave at the camera now:

Me setting up the tri pod, haha

Leaving South Africa for a few days:

On our way towards one of the toughest rides Iâ??ve had in a while, luckily some friendly 4x4 people at the bottom took our panniers in their fortuner which made things a lot easier:

Up and up we go:

Starting to get a bit tired now:

��.and off course we all knew that this would happen, thanks to the bakkie on the left pushing me off line, haha. No harm done though.

Beautiful Sani Pass:

Yes girl we made it, but it was tough, no walk in the parkâ?¦..although she had to walk the last 200m as I had very little traction and the bends got to tight:

Saturday night yellow fever:

Thanks to these friendly people for assisting with our panniers:

Lodge at the top:

Just to prove that I was rally there:

The watch dog, woooof woooofff:

So we set of towards the town of Mokhotlong, with very few holiday makers in this area it was a pleasure, most people come up sani and then go down again:

What a view, we took some time to take it all in:

The beast and the beauty:

Strike a pose:

We stayed in a hut at the mulamong lodge, no electricity here but seriously well worth the visit:

This little one was only four days old, shucks:

Rebecca and I having a chat about the life in Lesotho:

Our transport and those of the local people:

The view from our hut:

Again some clouds and strong wind moving in:

Some braai vleis and sweetcorn by candle light:

No elec as mentioned, but the candles did the trick:

Die aand ster en die maan:

GPS details and the co-ords of mulamong lodge:

 

[YellowFever]

Day 8:  Mulmong to Katse Dam - 163kms

Some more pics of the lodge:

This is me and the 3 managers of the lodge, Daniel the one to my left is only 1 year older than me, believe it, because itâ??s true:

A very long day and some serious turns and twists in the road made it a very tiring ride to Katse:

Taking a well deserved break:

Some of the local kids enjoying the new people in town:

We needed to stop at a shop for some coke, as the turns got more and more and weather hotter:

Not much to write home about:

Oops thatâ??s going to be a wet boot:

Running into the town of Thaba Tseka:

A donkey, a horse and a racing horse, hahahaha

We booked into the Orion Katse lodge that evening. We planned to camp but the clouds rolled in and luckily so:

GPS details and co-ords of the Katse lodge:

 

[YellowFever]

Day 9:  Katse to Roma - 268kms

The next day it was clear skies, and again a lot of gravel and twisty turny stuff.

A better clear weather look at the dam:

Trusty old GS, after 60 000kms, still does the business perfectly:

Turns and twists:

Tar road turns and twists:

Mohali Dam:

This guy was on his way to buy some mielie meel for his family, a 2 day ride by horse:

Bikers heaven:

The best overnight on the whole tour was at the Trading Post just 40kms south of Roma:

Sunset pics in Lesotho:

The people were still ion Christmas mode:

We had a perfect setting for the evening, wish we could stay there for much longer:

Yum yum:

Some evening shots of the place:

GPS details of the day and co-ords of the trading post:

 

[YellowFever]

Day 10:  Roma to Rhodes - 313kms

Another long day ahead with lots of gravel and a border crossing, it was very hot. The road into Roma:

The man doing his stuff:

Inside the town of Roma:

We continued further south to the south African border where we crossed at Telebridge:

Bye bye Lesotho, it was awesome, will for sure be back again one day:

The road south next to the Tele river:

Well it was so hot, I had to cool of, some skinny dipping or what??

Then we were in for a serious surprise, The Lundeonâ??s Neck pass. There were no people for miles, and the sights the greatest:

Taking a break:

Our overnight place was the Walkabouts in roads, speak to old dave, he is a character:

Some pics around Rhodes:

GPS details for the day and co-ords of Walkabouts inn:

 

[YellowFever]

day 11 to follow

sjoe by the way, the killers new album is kickass :bueller:

 

[YellowFever]

day 12 to follow

 

[BMWPE]

Great pics

 

[David van Breda]

Ai lekker RR.

One day soon I teel you . . . I've gotta see these place with my own eyes!

 

[YellowFever]

Ai lekker RR.

One day soon I teel you . . . I've gotta see these place with my own eyes!

David eks baie spyt ek het jou gemis toe jy in die kaap was, maar jy weet as die wiele moet sing, dan moet hulle :ricky:

sal weer opvang sometime

 

[Trailrider]

Nice so ver!

 

[DRAZIL]

nice RR and nice pics :thumleft:

 

[BigEd]

Bliksem Geles! Moerse vakansie, trip en RR!

Ace!

 

[Eisbein]

Bliksem Geles! Moerse vakansie, trip en RR!

Ace!

+1000!

This is a trip and a half.

Very cool pics and RR...