Three Weeks and 6300km Around SA on my Bike

[mother]

I Camped at Magoebaskloof Lodge & Camping all alone in the camp site but the lodge was full mainly from Matric Students at Stanford College down the road who were apparently having their function......reception warned me it was going to be noisy but i didnt mind....... :deal:.
...


....little did i know what was in store for me later that night.......... :spitcoffee:  :lamer:



:deal:

 

[mother]

and then my route after Magoebaskloof............... :spitcoffee: :lamer:

 

[petri oosthuizen]

@Mother

More newbie questions if I may

What tyre pressures did you have, front and rear?

VERY nice RR, baie dankie!!

My Wife is NAGGING me "Bokkie gaan bietjie weg vir paar dae met daai nuwe bike van jou, op jou eie, jy werk jou gat af"........so Bokkie is VERY jealous yet keen this side!

 

[Noneking]

Lekker man!

 

[mother]

[member=5078]Mother[/member]

More newbie questions if I may

What tyre pressures did you have, front and rear?

VERY nice RR, baie dankie!!

My Wife is NAGGING me "Bokkie gaan bietjie weg vir paar dae met daai nuwe bike van jou, op jou eie, jy werk jou gat af"........so Bokkie is VERY jealous yet keen this side!

take the gap and go.........
tyre pressure front was 2.2 rear 2.9
tyres looked like this after 6300km when i got home

 

[mother]

on the tyre issue it must be noted that i seldom went over 120km (gps speed) this was also to preserve the tyres for the duration of my trip  :ricky:

 

[mother]

ok lets go on........

Magoebaskloof Camping.....a night to remember :-\  :'(  O0

Well true to form as the ladies in reception warned me the Matrics came back to after party and that continued until late into the night........

But just as i was going into dream land it started raining.......and not just a bit ........hard rain with thunder and lightning .........here i was in my little tent........wondering why just why did i not fasten down the fly sheet properly .........maybe it was the deception of the blue skies earlier the afternoon.........lazy.........or just being in the comfort zone...........

trust me it was a long night.......where ever my kit touched the side of the tent it was wet .........i barely fit in my tent head to toe.....so opted that my feet rather get wet

when i eventualy got up in the morning from broken sleep there wasn't much that was dry

and putting on a wet **** suit wasnt fun....... :xxbah: :3some:

i was marginally pissed at myself for putting up my tent half hearted the previous day........i paid the price :eek7: :xxbah:

packing up in the rain and mud was not fun but it was a process i had to do

i put my rain coat on under my kit in the hope the weather would turn........but it didnt.......in fact later it just bucketed down till around Ofcolaco....by then i was soaked through

riding past the villages and taxis outsside of Tzaneen was challenging with wet glasses and visor too

 

[Cublondie]

Lekker report makes me want to go riding the same places even though I've ridden them before!!!

 

[mother]

with everything wet i knew i wasnt going to ride like this all day and i needed a place to dry out

Haven't been to Bylde river Canyon.....have always blasted past.....ok i been to the top of Mariepskop but this time i decided to head for the Forever Resort of Bylde River Canyon

it was a good call....

the ride from Ofcolaco to Blyde River Canyon was intermittent rain.......
I remember the guy at reception doing the Covid temp test on me and all it showed was Low ...... :biggrin:

the water was pouring off me as i filled in their forms to get a Chalet......they must have also felt sorry for me because they gave me a generous discount  :ricky:

although a shortish day i was relieved to get out of the rain into a Chalet........life began to feel normal again

 

[mother]

There is something about a warm place to stay and a shower after being wet to the bone.......
i really enjoyed having the Chalet to myself
hung all my stuff up to dry even got some groceries from the litte shop in the resort to make an awesome curry and rice


life was good........and i decided to stay an extra day to wait the rain out......and get my kit 100% dry

 

[Noneking]

ok lets go on........

Magoebaskloof Camping.....a night to remember :-\  :'(  O0

Well true to form as the ladies in reception warned me the Matrics came back to after party and that continued until late into the night........

But just as i was going into dream land it started raining.......and not just a bit ........hard rain with thunder and lightning .........here i was in my little tent........wondering why just why did i not fasten down the fly sheet properly .........maybe it was the deception of the blue skies earlier the afternoon.........lazy.........or just being in the comfort zone...........

trust me it was a long night.......where ever my kit touched the side of the tent it was wet .........i barely fit in my tent head to toe.....so opted that my feet rather get wet

when i eventualy got up in the morning from broken sleep there wasn't much that was dry

and putting on a wet **** suit wasnt fun....... :xxbah: :3some:

i was marginally pissed at myself for putting up my tent half hearted the previous day........i paid the price :eek7: :xxbah:

packing up in the rain and mud was not fun but it was a process i had to do

i put my rain coat on under my kit in the hope the weather would turn........but it didnt.......in fact later it just bucketed down till around Ofcolaco....by then i was soaked through

riding past the villages and taxis outsside of Tzaneen was challenging with wet glasses and visor too

We rode back to Nelspruit from Hoedspruit on that same day. Dressed in enduro kit and a thin rain jacket, I nearly died in the 9deg celsius on the very wet ride home 

 

[mother]

Blyde River Rest Day

after the previous days rain it was overcast and i took the opportunity to go look at the Canyon and Pilgrims rest as well as the Bourkes luck pot holes

for most of the day the clouds were low so the Canyon had limited views .....the rain held out most of the day and i didn't get too wet doing a bit of sight seeing

what was very notable was the lack of people/tourists but i presume Covid and the weather were the main reasons

it was nice to not be crowded with other folks and the roads were fairly quiet

rest day was good to get the batteries charged again

 

[mother]

ok lets go on........

Magoebaskloof Camping.....a night to remember :-\  :'(  O0

Well true to form as the ladies in reception warned me the Matrics came back to after party and that continued until late into the night........

But just as i was going into dream land it started raining.......and not just a bit ........hard rain with thunder and lightning .........here i was in my little tent........wondering why just why did i not fasten down the fly sheet properly .........maybe it was the deception of the blue skies earlier the afternoon.........lazy.........or just being in the comfort zone...........

trust me it was a long night.......where ever my kit touched the side of the tent it was wet .........i barely fit in my tent head to toe.....so opted that my feet rather get wet

when i eventualy got up in the morning from broken sleep there wasn't much that was dry

and putting on a wet **** suit wasnt fun....... :xxbah: :3some:

i was marginally pissed at myself for putting up my tent half hearted the previous day........i paid the price :eek7: :xxbah:

packing up in the rain and mud was not fun but it was a process i had to do

i put my rain coat on under my kit in the hope the weather would turn........but it didnt.......in fact later it just bucketed down till around Ofcolaco....by then i was soaked through

riding past the villages and taxis outsside of Tzaneen was challenging with wet glasses and visor too

We rode back to Nelspruit from Hoedspruit on that same day. Dressed in enduro kit and a thin rain jacket, I nearly died in the 9deg celsius on the very wet ride home 

yes it was very cold and wet

 

[mother]

Rest Day Pilgrims

 

[mother]

Bourkes Luck Rest Day

 

[mother]

After my Rest Day at the Bylde River Canyon Resort the weather cleared up nicely and i decided to put some km under the belt now that everything way dry and clean

also was looking forward to get some riding time again

this was my route I took....I still wanted to stay off the main roads as much as possible

 

[stcomza]

What an awesome trip - thank you for sharing  :thumleft:

 

[mother]

The high light of this days ride was the beautiful twisty roads through the forrests
the views and vistas just breathtaking......

I basically rode all day enjoying the route i had taken and stopping here and there for a few pictures along the way.......

it really was very scenic and the fact that i had not ridden some of these roads really made for an enjoyable experience.......

my bike was purring along as if it was right in its happy zone......it was a great day to be out riding.....

my route was the following: Blyde Sabie Nelspruit Barberton Badplaas Lochiel Amsterdam Piet Retief Paulpietersburg and then dodging potholes came between Vryheid and Dundee

I found a brilliant place to stay just before Dundee called the Battlefields Lodge and a room was cheap for R449.00.......was a nice long day over 500km


went to take a pic at the clear Canyons and Gods Window

 

[mother]

Some more pics of the days ride to Dundee

 

[mother]

Amsterdam and Paulpietersburg the signs were the only things worth taking a pic of  ??? :