The non celebration of a birthday.

[Grootseun]

“A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving” – Lao Tzu

This was pretty much the plan for my trip to Hilton, in KZN.

Why Hilton specifically? Because I have a friend who stays there, and he had a bed available for me in his loft. I have ridden on two wheels in the area before, although it was human powered, and mainly in the Karkloof area.

I have always wanted to ride the area on my motorcycle, as the place simply looks enticing due to the rolling hills, and other than the N3, very few straight roads.

This idea of riding down for a weekend to see my mate, has been sitting with me for a while. I have just not made any concrete plans. For a serial procrastinator such as myself, this is just how it is. I always think, “maybe at the end of this month” or some such lame excuse.

We have recently put a new policy in place at work, where one can take a Friday off in the week of one’s birthday. I literally jumped at the opportunity, and selected Friday before my B-day.

In the meantime, I message my mate to see if his loft is available. He confirms it is, and the ball is on the top of the hill(ton), ready to roll.

My wife asks me a week before my Birthday, what I wanted for this “Special” day. I specifically put special in inverted commas, as I have never really understood why one’s birthday gets celebrated by other people. I mean, at birth one literally did nothing but survive emerging out of a womb. If anything, a parent should receive the gifts and high-fives for keeping their offspring alive and not the kids ..I digress… back to the trip…

Here is where my plan falls exactly into place (not bad for someone who makes no plans)

I tell her, I want to do a solo trip on the bike. No celebrations, no presents, just the freedom to do my thing from Friday to Sunday. She does not fully understand this desire to be travelling on one’s birthday but agrees, nonetheless.

The ball is now rolling.

That agonising long wait between finalising plans and hitting the road, makes the days drag by too slowly. I tried my hand at plotting routes to get as much dirt in as possible, but the maps loaded on the GPS and Basecamp was not gelling. I received some guidance from the wise folk on the forum, and the only real route I plotted was Grim’s suggestion to bypass Van Reenen pass completely. I plotted the route on the google earth app on my Ipad, which was surprisingly easy to load onto the GPS using Basecamp.

I made a note on my phone of towns I am aiming for from home up to Harrismith, with the routing avoidances on my GPS set to almost everything but cow paths, I was certain that the route would be interesting, based on this. ( I did not ride through any of those towns)

My workload up to Thursday is insane. I put in extra hours to make sure there are no issues on Friday.

I pack the night before, what feels like too many things. I checked the weather, and it’s all fair on my travel days, except the Saturday, which forecast 35 degrees in the Hilton Area. So no winter jackets, only a pair of shorts, flip-flops underwear and t-shirts. Sunday looks wet up to Harrismith so my jacket liner and rain pants and gumboots also tag along.

I do pack a light long sleeve jacket for incase…weather can turn you know.

Amazingly everything fits into my drybag and topbox.

Friday morning arrives, I take the kids to school, get home, pack my bike, and get going.

I head for the R59 towards Sasolburg. In what feels like a different life, I rode my Dakar on some great dirt roads between Sasolburg and Reitz. In my mind, I’m sure I’ll find them again.

I see a sign that reads Deneysville, and I follow it. I catch a glimpse of the Vaal dam and at the first opportunity, I take a dirt road, I’m hoping it takes me in the general direction of my destination. The GPS takes a while to reroute, and it seems to have been a good choice.

The dirt runs in between mielie farms, and it’s planting season, so there are tractors everywhere, ploughing dirt for crops to be planted. I don’t know if you have ever experienced it, but the smell of freshly turned soil is unmistakable. I take in nostrils of it, it smells so good.

I am a bit of a coffee snob, so I packed my grinder, beans and moka pot. I made a resolution to pack it on weekend rides, so I can stop for a coffee along the way. Often, when travelling these backroads and unexplored sections, the moment can be made a little more memorable by pausing for a short while to take in the surroundings, the sounds and the scenery. It’s all visible on a bike, but all too fleeting sometimes. It was one of the main missions on today’s ride so I have been on the lookout for a spot to stop for some caffeine.

It’s toasty already, so I focus on finding a place with some shade, and space so I can get the bike off the road a bit.

I spot some buildings, and after seeing they are abandoned, I pull over at the entrance to the deserted yard.

I unpack my coffee kit, grind up some beans a get a pot brewing.

It’s quiet, the wind in my ears, and the noise my boots make on the ground is the only major sound, other than some birds and the gas stove. This is exactly what I was after on this trip.

The coffee is ready after a couple of minutes. I find a place to sit on a fallen over wattle tree trunk (after checking for snakes, not afraid of snakes, but after surprising a cobra on my MTB once, very aware.) to enjoy my coffee.

This is perfect. The coffee tastes the best it has in a very long time.

I post a short video and a photo as a bit of a fynbrag to my friends, it’s Friday morning, and everyone is at work…. It gets the desired responses.

I finish my coffee, and pack everything back on the bike for my journey to continue. I still have a way to go. No rush….

 

[RobD]

 

[Ri]

I'm with you on the celebrations - I always congratulate the parents.

Following

 

[roxenz]

Good attitude for such a trip. Slow down, appreciate, soak up.

 

[Sheepman]

Follow your trip

 

[petri oosthuizen]

Nice
Mooi paaie daai.....you make me SUPER jealous!
This damn shoulder must now heal, and FAST

 

[Bliknêrs]

Ek lees lekker saam.
As ek mag vra? Waarmee maal jy die Koffie langs die pad?

 

[skydiver]

Ek hou van die manier waarop jy die storie vertel

 

[XTZCharlie]

Sub

 

[Grootseun]

Ek lees lekker saam.
As ek mag vra? Waarmee maal jy die Koffie langs die pad?

Ek het 'n Hario handheld wat ek gebruik.

 

[Grootseun]

Apologies for the delay in getting this done, It's silly season at work, and long hours will be a standard for the next couple of days.

 

[Wildwindfr]

Nice, thanks, I will follow along.
This time of year is always madness.

 

[Black_Hawk]

Sulke trippies is kos vir die siel. Baie geluk aan jou ouers met jou geboorte dag.

Ons sien uit daarna om die res van jou avontuur te beleef

 

[Grootseun]

Ok, I needed something to get my mind off all the shit that went south on site today, so here’s a little more:

….It feels like the dirt road ended too soon after my coffee stop. The road I’m on is tarred and it really is straight and disappears into the distance over the small hills. The GPS is showing this to be the route, but what does the GPS actually know.

I get a call. It’s my host for the weekend, checking in and letting me know that the coffee stop pic is awesome. We discuss some logistics, and he invites me for sundowners at “the point”. My misssion for this trip was never to interfere with their very busy schedule, and I made it abundantly clear, that I require nothing other than a place to sleep. This is not in my friends nature. He is excited that I am making the effort to come and stay, as we only see each other 3 or 4 times a year.

I spot a signpost that shows “S” with a number. I brake hard, and take a right onto some more dirt, the Garmin is not fond of this choice, and wants me to make a U-turn. Eventually I listen to the damn thing, as it seems this road is turning in the opposite direction of where I want to be.

Reitz is my next waypoint, and I settle to follow the Garmin to there, it's not too far.

I am using the tar stretch to minimise some travel time, and as I roll into the town ( the name escapes me) I am pulled over by a KK (except, there was no Koelte in sight). I thought they got me for speeding…but luckily only a routine check.

I produce paperwork, my disc is checked, and I am interrogated about my origin and the destination.

The conversation is getting a bit long in the tooth and my fake friendliness wears off, I am let go to proceed with my Journey.

As I ride through Reitz, my focus is purely on the GPS. This focus results in me riding through town without filling up with fuel.

I hit some dirt straight out of town, dirt is maybe too generous of a description. Its cobbles, with hard-packed dirt in between. There are some ninja rocks in between, and I hit one or two of them so hard, I thought I must have dented my rim. It’s tough going.. too slow, and the handlebars are loose, which makes me panicky. Too fast, and the bigger rocks are waiting to take out a front wheel.

After a fashion the road turns to “regular” dirt. The scenery is out of a picture book.

I stop for some pics, and to give my hands a bit of a rest.

When I start the bike up, my reserve light comes on. WTF? I check the consumption on the display. Some mental math, and I have a bit of a panic. I realised I should have filled up in Reitz, but I didn’t.

I scroll through to another page on the Garmin that has some nav stats. It shows 110km to Harrismith. My math tells me my consumption up to this point gives me less than that. I wasn’t sure If I had passed my bingo point (I have waited a very long time to use this in any kind of written piece) but going back to Reitz never crossed my mind.

I slow right down. I know my bike well enough that I will be able to get the consumption way down. In the meantime, the reserve light has turned off, but my gauge no longer shows above half.

The Garmin shows left, it’s a small dirt road, it becomes tweespoor, and passes a lovely farmhouse in fairly close proximity.

The road ends, and the Garmin shows a right, and then left through the open farm gate. As I pass through the gate, it clear that I am on someone’s field.

Tracks4africa may be taking a liberty here. The map shows this route joining with the R57 not too far from where I am, but there is a ploughed field, with no apparent road.

I am very wary of trespassing, and turn my bike around, backtracking to the bigger dirt road. The chance of me getting to a closed gate is too big, and I’m allergic to angry farmers. I am also not in the position to drive around looking for a road or an exit.

This lovely little detour took another 10kms range off my limited fuel range.

I follow the GPS at a sedate pace. Every so often I recalculate my consumption (which has improved since my slowing down) with whats left distance wise on my GPS)

I take opportunities to take some photos.

Not too long after this bridge I roll into Harrismith. I sigh from relief.

Not only was the bike running low on fuel, but my stomach was pretty empty as well.

After filling up (still had a litre in the tank after all the stress) I sit down at the Wimpy for a burger and a couple of cokes.

 

[Grootseun]

After Brunch, I roll through the bustling metropolis that is Harrismith and hit the dirt again. A section of the road is being graded, which makes for a couple of oh-no seconds.

The surrounding vistas keep me mesmerised. The road is quite entertaining.

The route I plotted may or may not be what Grim had in mind, but it’s picturesque, and after riding through a small settlement, the dirt changes into a tar (with some decent sized potholes) that ends up in Geluksburg.

The view on this pass is simply stunning. There is a strong green theme in everything around me.

There’s quite a big fire in the distance, that obscures the berg views. But the whole area is simply breathtaking.

I blink and Geluksburg is behind me. My endpoint for the plotted route is Bergville.

From there I input Hilton into the gps, and after trimming down about 90km detour from the avoidance route, I head towards Hilton.

I will not see any dirt for the remainder of this leg, but the roads are sublime.

With this route, I completely avoid the N3, eventually riding through Estcourt, the road to Mooi river is very entertaining, with little traffic.

It’ green, like I didn’t think its possible for nature to have so much green concentrated in one area.

Before long I’m on one of the Midlands Meander roads. More astonishing green, Roads that begs to be ridden with a bit of vooma. It’s as if the engineers that built these roads were motorcyclists themselves…

I spot the Notties brewery. I decide not to stop, as I will already only reach hilton after 5pm. I’m hoping to meet up with the group that already have kicked off “sundowners”

The road between Nottingham road and Howic is another masterpiece. The sound of my akra in the little rocky cuts of the road entices me to give more throttle… braaaaaap….

At Howic, I hit the N3 for the first time on this journey. The road between Howic and Hilton is ok, but not at the level that I just experienced. I’m keen to have a beer as soon as possible.

About 10kms and the offramp is taken.

I arrive at the estate’s entrance, the security guard asks me If I am there to see Mr H, I say yes.

He explains to me laughingly, that Mr H told him to tell me to turn around and go home…of course.

I ride up to the house and park my bike. It’s got a pretty decent view, even from the driveway.

I unpack and don my plakkies and shorts.

The next leg of my route is to roll down to the point on a mountain bike to join the others. Not what I had in mind, but this is an adventure trip after all.

We have beers, I meet new people and we enjoy the sunset.

 

[GRIM]

That's exactly the route I had in mind, glad you enjoyed it

 

[mtr89]

What a lekker ride dude!

 

[Grootseun]

Saturday

JonW made contact contacted me prior to the trip when I was checking out routes down to Hilton. He offered to take me on an outride to Notingham road brewery today. Initially he just sent me the route, but later said he could join, but had to be back home around 11.

This was the plan when I was still up un JHB, but after sundowners at the point, my host insisted that I join them for supper. We had some steaks, and a couple of bottles of wine. Just after supper Jon messaged me to check if we were still on for the next day. I had to cancel. I drank way too much, and there was no way I was going to be ready to ride at 8am.

I woke up on Saturday morning, feeling exactly the way I knew I was going to feel from the Beers and the Wine from the previous night.

I fell asleep a couple of times, but eventually got myself together.

I loaded Jon’s route, filled up the Camelbak and headed for Howic.

Just after the dam, the route takes a left on to some dirt. It’s hot. The weather forecast showed 35 for Hilton, and it was not wrong.

The route is very picturesque, and is sufficiently winding. The road surface is the best I have ridden thus far, and despite my physical state, I am having fun.

I hit a small section of tar, turn off right and start going up a little dirt pass. It’s purdy.

I ride on, and get stuck behind a truck running aggregate. I had to stop and wait, as the dust was ridiculous. While waiting for the dust to settle, another truck passes me…this is how it’s going to be for the rest of this section. I resort to putting behind the trucks at a distance that minimises dust. No way to pass.

I arrive at the section where the trucks are dumping the aggregate, and from then it’s plain sailing. Not too long after, I get to some tar. It’s a great section of road.

I take a left turn into the Rawdons estate property, and park in front of the deck.

I nurse the beer, and order some chicken strips. I’m feeling rough. I decide the rest of the day will not be spent exploring, and head back to Hilton, following the same route. I was going to pop into Michael House to watch the game between Michaelhouse and Hilton, but the temps and me being in riding kit, did not sound appealing.

The temps on some sections of the road is 39. I drink from my camelback often.

Back in Hilton, I get out of my kit, and hit the pool. It’s great.

After being bob for a good while, I head to the loft. I watch the Hilton Michaelhouse game on the telly, while falling in and out of sleep.

My mate and I have a beer when they get home, he’s on his way out again, and I will not see him the next morning when I leave for home.

A storm is rolling in, and the view over the valley from his home is spectacular.



(My 12 year old started reading my ride report, and after a while he commented on “too many paragraphs”)

Criticism noted for future reports.

 

[RobCrouch]

Congrats on the birthday... Excellent plan... Enjoyed the RR so far.
I intend to do likewise in June then... Heard rumblings of "but it is a milestone, you need to celebrate with all your friends..."

 

[Grootseun]

Sunday morning, I’m up early. Normally before I set out on a ride I wake early irrespective. I’m restless and want to get going as soon as possible.

Brew a coffee, which I have while packing. The previous nights storm was a good one, and it has been drizzling the whole night.

I double check the room and I’m ready to roll. Rain pant, gumboots donned.

I’m basically following the route out that I rode in. It’s different in the wet, and the low clouds makes it look like in another country.

Just before Estcort, I break the cloud cover, and it gets toasty very quickly. After sweating through the town, I find a place to get rid of my kit.

The missus phones to wish me a happy B-day.

The road is uneventful, and I am enjoying myself.

I’m heading back to ride up the pass that I rode two days ago. Geluksburg flies by again, and As I ride up the pass, I stop often to take photos.

Harrismith is my breakfast stop. After I refuel.

My plan is to take it easy on the way home, I’m not really in a hurry, as I started early enough to not be home too late.

Just after Harrismith, The road is pretty rough. My chain is slack, and it pops off at about 100km/h. I’m fortunate that it doesn’t hit the engine case, but it gouges the swingarm and hub. Nothing terminal. Except the chain has a bent link and it pops off as the chain rotates. I’m about 15kms out of town, and of course reception is terrible.

It’s hot, and there is not a tree in sight. I am slightly paranoid about getting stuck next to the road without water and shade, and I made sure my camelback is full. I also have a cap with me.

I leave my jacket on, as African sun takes not prisoners.

It’s Sunday, and I don’t know how I’m going to solve the chain problem, even if I get back to town somehow.

I desperately post on the forum, because somehow I can do that, but not make a phonecall without it dropping after 10 seconds.

I managed to arrange a tow-in service through my insurance. The plan for now is to at least get back to town.

This whole process takes about 2 hours till they arrive.

In the meantime, my eldest starts making calls in JHB to see if he can arrange a chain, then it needs to get to me somehow.

In this process one of his contacts knows someone that moved to Harrismith, and works at the local Bikeshop. He phones, them and they have the correct chain. They also have a mechanic, that is willing to go and open the workshop to fit the new chain.

We load the bike onto a flatbed trailier, it’s not ideal, and I worry about the bike rattling loose and falling over. When things start going wrong, it’s normally a snowball effect.

It’s slow going, and we stop every couple of km to check the straps. The 15kms takes us an hour.

Eventually we arrive at Xtreme Motorcycles Harrismith.

They have me back on the road 20 minutes later.

If you are ever in the area, support them, spread the word, leave a google review. These guys went way beyond to get me going again.

It’s around 3:30pm when I hit the road home. I take the N3, as this is the fastest way to get home. Not wanting to have to ride the streets of JHB after dark on a Sunday PM, this is the way.

This whole section is uneventful. I have some tunes in my helmet that helps getting the long highway miles done.

I arrive home just before 7. I somehow missed all the thunderstorms around JHB, and basically put my rain kit back on for nothing.

Despite my misfortune in Harrismith, this trip was great. I set out on a solo trip, doing my own thing, and it was achieved.