No, we're not done yet....the fun continues....
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| Luke,Ru-hann, Marzanne, Nick |
We were very sad to say goodbye to Hannien, Marco and their
children. We had so much fun with them! The kids all got ready for school and
looked really different in their formal school uniform. The weather had changed
very suddenly and it felt like a mid-winters morning in Bloemfontein. Apparently there was snow in
Aliwal North. We said a quick goodbye to the kids and waved them off to school.
Hannien had time to join us for breakfast and then we packed and set off
towards Clarens to meet Mia’s parents, who would join us to Port Saint Johns.
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| Bye Hannien |
We followed the route through Clocolan and were yet again
stunned by the beautiful scenery of the Eastern Free State.
The temperatures were much lower than what we were used to and this made the going more tough than usual. We met up with Mia’s parents as Ficksburg and were grateful for our proper winter riding jackets that they brought with. After a nice lunch we continued with them
through Fouriesburg to Golden Gate.
We spent two days at Golden Gate visiting the town of Clarence and enjoying
some very scenic drives and walks in the National Park.
The evenings were filled with chatting and spending some good
quality time with Mia’s folks.
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| Hello Ma Nina & Pa Bok |
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| Golden Gate & our Accomodation |
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| The Long Toe Lake |
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| Our new Recovery.. |
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| Spectacular Golden Gate |
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| Mushroom Rock formations |
After two days of relaxing, we set off for the country of Lesotho.This would be our last country to be travelled and our last border crossing. Our first day, we wanted to see the famous Katse Dam.
10Km’s after we had crossed the border Mia decided to pull off for a quick she-wee and managed to some how, crash land off the side of the road and get stuck underneath the Yellow Canary. Great, so her parents got to see what they had been worried about during our trip on the bikes. Luck still on our side though, nothing broke and nothing broken except Mia's ego.Another 10 kms later the Lesotho Police pulled us over at a roadblock. Mia did not come to a complete stop entering the
road block and again we had to work our magic. After about twenty minutes of
threats of being hand cuffed,, arrested and court appearances, our negotiations started paying
dividends and we left with smiles on our faces but cursing under our breath. All they wanted was a bribe.....Welcome to Lesotho Mia!
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| Hello Lesotho |
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| Awaiting border check |
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| The long road to Katse Dam |
As we were approaching the Maluti Mountains from the Northern side we started realising the magnitude of the job at hand. This was going to be a long day.The top of one of the many passes we drove was about 3100 meters above sea level and we literally crawled up them all, bend by bend. At the top we were rewarded with spectacular views and at one of them decided to pull over for a good camp coffee at just over 10 degrees Celsius.
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| Maluti Mountains 3200 MASL |
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| Maluti Mountains Coffee break |
We arrived at Katse Dam…. 16:00 …a long day! We had missed the last day tour of the dam wall but
still managed a visit to the Katse Information Centre…Very interesting!
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| Katse Dam |
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| Accomodation at Katse Dam |
After a good look at the map and a chat to the staff we realised that we were faced with a very challenging next
day and probably the worse terrain yet. So that evening we spent some time
doing quality road route planning.
We wanted to get to Sani Top (from Katse Dam) and down
Sani to Underberg. The GPS map source indicated our chosen route was 241km long.
A Josy tour guide advised us on an alternative route (290km)
as the one we initially decided on had been front page news after 3 tourists
got stuck and the Lesotho Police /Military had to come and rescue them 3days
later. We were not scared…. but did not have three days to our disposal…. So we
took the tour operators advice.
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| Well-done Lesotho Police...go Bok and the Toyota! |
We crossed over mountains and rivers on little winding roads full of donkeys, sheep, goats and people and eventually at 12:00 we
reached Mothae on the A1 route.. The A1 route? I thought it would be tarmac…. For the motorbikes the remains of tarmac was
good enough at some places but no more than 10km/h for our poor recovery…this road gives the word potholes a whole new meaning.Really, it was the worst we had ever seen and we come from pothole country.
We reached Mokhotlong at 15:00 where the fun was only about to start
and 50km’s to go.
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| Mia stuck in Lesotho Traffic |
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| More Lesotho Traffic |
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| Little tacmac left |
The last 50km provided us with a new challenge as Mia’s
Yellow canary’s back brakes started to fail. So we offloaded all gear and
loaded this into Bok’s (Mia’s Dad) Toyota.
Switching the seats and bikes to lower the blue BM (So Mia could touch the ground) and we were off again! I think the reason for the
failing brakes was that they were getting too hot and started malfunctioning.
With two fingers on the front brake we arrived at Sani Top
at 17:00. One hell of a day!
Minus one mirror on the Yellow Canary and a big blue bruise on Mia's shin, we had made it.
Here we decided to change our plans as the remaining part
of our road to Sani Top was described to us in hours and not kilometres. The
border control at Sani Top closes at 17:00 and the bottom gate at RSA Border
control at 18:00. No room for error!
We were all tired, hungry and cold…
So we agreed on our final destination for the day, Sani Top!
In hind sight… a huge blessing in disguise!
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| 16:00 - 20km to Sani Top |
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| A hard squeeze for a last smile |
All was good when our attention was drawn to the fact the
they had lovely chalets available and the Highest Pub in AFRICA
was open and ready to serve!
So we spent our evening in a cosy restaurant/pub sharing
our experiences of the day and plans for the next. The scars of the last day
left us super sensitive as to the information given for the decent of Sani Pass.
25km @ 2hours… can it be. I was not worried about the time, nor the terrain
only the back breaks……
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| A Great Reward! |
A View of what was to come - Sani Pass
Again prepared for battle we were ready to leave Lesotho at 8:00
the following morning.
After the ice was melted off the bikes in the early morning
sun the yellow canary’s brakes seemed fine??
Loaded and ready to tackle Sani
Pass or so we thought….
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| Ready to go down.. |
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| 500m Down and Hennie to fetch Mia |
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| Toughest road ever |
300 meters down Sani, Mia destroyed the Blue BM’s record
time for being upright for just under 10 000km. Ag no Mia!! Mia’s courage
failed her and she completely forgot all her valued experience. She refused to
get back on two wheels until half way down Sani. This left me taking down the
motorbikes one by one. At least Bok was ready to provide the transport back up
each time to fetch the other bike. Must admit, a couple of very close calls…
My
ears were hurting so bad as I had to pull my helmet on and off a 100 times.
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| Road evaluation.... |
So basically we did Sani Pass
twice. Mia at least caught some good footage!
At 11:30 we arrived at the bottom border control. Three and
a half hours later ….
Hello Kwazulu Natal,
South Africa
and Tarmac!
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| Glad to see RSA |
As we said good bye to our last country that we visited on our trip.. we didn't quite know if we were happy or sad..
We stopped in a little town called Himeville for fuel and
some food shopping in Underberg with 260km to go through the old Transkei to Port st Johns.
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| Mia at road works stop - 30 Min |
The longest day on the road was in the making… with 3 long
roadwork stops and hectic traffic on top, I signed in at Cremorne lodge
reception (Port st Johns)
at 18:14…
Sani Top to Port st Johns -
290Km (3000m above sea leave to
sea leavel)
Time on the road -
11 hours
We received a warm welcome at Cremorne Lodge and all agreed
to spend two days at Port st Johns.
The wild coast of South
Africa is a new experience for both myself
and Mia. Hopefully Port st Johns
can provide some long awaiting crayfish as we spent our last day with Mia’s
parents.
We plan to travel from here to Coffee bay (Hole in the
wall), a ferry crossing to Kei Mouth and the R72 via Port Alfred back to PE.
I’ll try my best to provide some extreme adventure and
excitement over the last couple of days for all of you!
Stay tuned as we are hot as can be!
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