tankgirl
Pack Dog
I’m only going to share a few photo’s of the weekend, the story is long and boring about how / why we decided to do the trip and there wasn’t much planning happening to get us going. It was, after all, just a weekend away…
SilverSurfer pitched the Friday evening though, with his new panniers and tail bag and kit bag and sleeping bag and rain coat and cooler bag
…so we re-packed everything but he insisted on taking the panniers wanting to try them out on the open road. In each one he carried a 5L jerry can of Vpower, practicing for our journey to Mozambique in January ;Þ anyway, I just had my tank bag and offered to carry the little cooler bag, and copied some new songs onto my phone.
SATURDAY – 05/09
Loaded up the bikes and left the house at 5:10AM
First stop was about 15 minutes later for the big bright moon over Lavender Rd
Next stop: Sunrise @ 6:15AM headed towards Bela Bela on the tollgate-free R101
BelaBela Breakfast
Some pics we took as we stopped for chill pills along the way
Potgietersrus (i forget the new name now)
just before Polokwane we stopped for a longer while and done a bit of a phodoshoot
OUR FIRST DIRT! From Bandalierkop the first turn off towards Elim has the coolest speedbumps evAr!
Destination Beaufort (Levubu) where cold beer and fat steaks await us
SUNDAY – 06/09
First attraction for the day, we visited the bridge that caved in just over a year ago, causing all the traffic from Venda to mission through Levubu (which is where my mom grew up and her brother and eldest sister still stay)
From there we ventured on to the plantations across the road from where my uncle used to farm avo’s. The entrance (about 400m from the bridge) is actually closed off with a tree trunk blocking the way, but we wiggled our way in and just followed the road, hoping we’d get to the top eventually…
We did get to the top but there’s not much of a view coz you’re in the middle of all the tall trees!
At one point the path dead-ended and we had to turn back. The bed of pine needles was as thick as a mattress, it’s a miracle I didn’t dôner over, I performed a kind of split that was quite impressive, that shit’s flippin’ slippery!
So we carried on with the winding roads, hoping they’ll eventually lead us back out… the main road surfaces were very good, only the smaller ones were strewn with pine cones & those needles. Oh, and cow dung.
woodland creatures' ATTGATT seems pretty universal...
Some heavy duty machinery
We had wandered into another part of the woods – very varied terrain, big loose rocks, patches of powdery sand, solid rock, thick gravel. “Die Kliphuis” said the signboards, we didn’t enter the gate, didn’t look like they had a swimming pool or a bar, so, ja… On we went but had to turn back again, dead end.
Got really hot after a while so we parked off for a bit, unpacked the tripod and then heard baboons barking, then spotted the baboons and eventually decided we’d better be getting going…
I don’t really know how to entertain hungry baboons on a hot Sunday afternoon?
(digital zoom FAIL)
How are you sposed to pose when the timer’s set?
Some scenery along the way, quite a bit of cattle, not something I’m used to seeing around these parts here
Silversurfer’s gangsta style = kneeguards + shorts + winter jacket
A nice spot with a view of the Levubu valley
Since it was getting late we started to get worried about finding a way out, but just a while down this road a friendly chap let us out the gate which turned out to be Entabeni gate, right down the street from my aunt’s house!
Levhuvhu river - much littering going on there unfortunately
The moon a little later that evening
MONDAY – 07/09
On Monday morning we just had to squeeze another ride in quick so my uncle pointed us in a few directions and we had enormous fun, small mud pool we had to go through and back again, gravel highway through the location and mostly we didn’t know where we were but just savoured every moment
Just some pics from along the way
The mud was just enough to get yer pants wet and yer boots brown
On the road again, took the Mooketsi then Giyani roads back towards Polokwane, dodging all the N1 toll gates, a nice little detour I must say
Had a 3PM Steers Cheese burger and Chips at the Shell just after Pburg
A few more stops along the way, we realised we’d better hurry if we wanted to make it home before dark. Which we didn’t anyway.
There were three block offs for road works on the R101 on Monday. Thing is the blocked off bits aren’t getting any work done on?!! What a waste.
Last stop before Bela Bela
And the sun sets on a lovely weekend between Bela Bela and Carousel.
Filled up at Carousel for the last time made it home just after 7PM last night
Nothing says welcome back home like the last 100km’s in the dark with Monday night Hammanskraal traffic!
All in all we travelled just over 1000km for the 3 days
Thanks Charl for coming along and letting me use your camera all weekend :thumleft:
dankiebaai!
SilverSurfer pitched the Friday evening though, with his new panniers and tail bag and kit bag and sleeping bag and rain coat and cooler bag
…so we re-packed everything but he insisted on taking the panniers wanting to try them out on the open road. In each one he carried a 5L jerry can of Vpower, practicing for our journey to Mozambique in January ;Þ anyway, I just had my tank bag and offered to carry the little cooler bag, and copied some new songs onto my phone.SATURDAY – 05/09
Loaded up the bikes and left the house at 5:10AM
First stop was about 15 minutes later for the big bright moon over Lavender Rd
Next stop: Sunrise @ 6:15AM headed towards Bela Bela on the tollgate-free R101
BelaBela Breakfast
Some pics we took as we stopped for chill pills along the way
Potgietersrus (i forget the new name now)
just before Polokwane we stopped for a longer while and done a bit of a phodoshoot
OUR FIRST DIRT! From Bandalierkop the first turn off towards Elim has the coolest speedbumps evAr!
Destination Beaufort (Levubu) where cold beer and fat steaks await us
SUNDAY – 06/09
First attraction for the day, we visited the bridge that caved in just over a year ago, causing all the traffic from Venda to mission through Levubu (which is where my mom grew up and her brother and eldest sister still stay)
From there we ventured on to the plantations across the road from where my uncle used to farm avo’s. The entrance (about 400m from the bridge) is actually closed off with a tree trunk blocking the way, but we wiggled our way in and just followed the road, hoping we’d get to the top eventually…
We did get to the top but there’s not much of a view coz you’re in the middle of all the tall trees!
At one point the path dead-ended and we had to turn back. The bed of pine needles was as thick as a mattress, it’s a miracle I didn’t dôner over, I performed a kind of split that was quite impressive, that shit’s flippin’ slippery!
So we carried on with the winding roads, hoping they’ll eventually lead us back out… the main road surfaces were very good, only the smaller ones were strewn with pine cones & those needles. Oh, and cow dung.
woodland creatures' ATTGATT seems pretty universal...
Some heavy duty machinery
We had wandered into another part of the woods – very varied terrain, big loose rocks, patches of powdery sand, solid rock, thick gravel. “Die Kliphuis” said the signboards, we didn’t enter the gate, didn’t look like they had a swimming pool or a bar, so, ja… On we went but had to turn back again, dead end.
Got really hot after a while so we parked off for a bit, unpacked the tripod and then heard baboons barking, then spotted the baboons and eventually decided we’d better be getting going…
I don’t really know how to entertain hungry baboons on a hot Sunday afternoon?
(digital zoom FAIL)
How are you sposed to pose when the timer’s set?
Some scenery along the way, quite a bit of cattle, not something I’m used to seeing around these parts here
Silversurfer’s gangsta style = kneeguards + shorts + winter jacket
A nice spot with a view of the Levubu valley
Since it was getting late we started to get worried about finding a way out, but just a while down this road a friendly chap let us out the gate which turned out to be Entabeni gate, right down the street from my aunt’s house!
Levhuvhu river - much littering going on there unfortunately
The moon a little later that evening
MONDAY – 07/09
On Monday morning we just had to squeeze another ride in quick so my uncle pointed us in a few directions and we had enormous fun, small mud pool we had to go through and back again, gravel highway through the location and mostly we didn’t know where we were but just savoured every moment
Just some pics from along the way
The mud was just enough to get yer pants wet and yer boots brown
On the road again, took the Mooketsi then Giyani roads back towards Polokwane, dodging all the N1 toll gates, a nice little detour I must say
Had a 3PM Steers Cheese burger and Chips at the Shell just after Pburg
A few more stops along the way, we realised we’d better hurry if we wanted to make it home before dark. Which we didn’t anyway.
There were three block offs for road works on the R101 on Monday. Thing is the blocked off bits aren’t getting any work done on?!! What a waste.
Last stop before Bela Bela
And the sun sets on a lovely weekend between Bela Bela and Carousel.
Filled up at Carousel for the last time made it home just after 7PM last night
Nothing says welcome back home like the last 100km’s in the dark with Monday night Hammanskraal traffic!
All in all we travelled just over 1000km for the 3 days
Thanks Charl for coming along and letting me use your camera all weekend :thumleft:
dankiebaai!
