Clocolan to Uvongo…via Lesotho !!

It was going to be a long day…. I decided to leave the Clocolan Fair at lunchtime, ride through Lesotho and get as far down the road to Uvongo as possible… I wanted to get down to my parents home, to spend an extra day with them, rather than get to them on Monday, as I had originally planned…

The Fair grounds were pumping when I rode back through the gates and parked the bike in front of the Xkulcha stand again… Bikers had arrived overnight and pitched their tents wherever they could find a suitable spot. The sun beat down, so shade was a priority… I spent a lot of time talking to interested visitors, who all expressed an interest in what I was doing… I realized that many of the questions were repeated over and over again, and I have decided to put up a link headed “F.A.Q.’s” ( Frequently Asked Questions, and not a list of insults entitled “Fa Q’s” !!!) Look out for it in the coming weeks under the GBWT 2010-2012 Link…

Big Fella and I take up position again at the Clocolan Trekker Fees and Maluti Adventure...

I spent a few minutes fiddling with my GPS bracket, as I find that the sun glints off the screen, making it hard to read without craning my neck… Improved that situation and then met up with the owner of 4 X 4 Safari in Bloemfontein, who took a particular interest in the various attachments I had put on the bike and ended his visit at our stand by asking me to come and pick anything I wanted from his stand, loaded with biking accessories… I found this very kind of him, and asked for a Torque Key Set, which he gladly provided. We placed a sticker advertising his company on my pannier and after a firm handshake, we parted, promising to keep in touch…

James and Vanessa Moffett arrived and after a brief chat they went off to locate their progeny, who had scattered to take in the sights… After a short while they all returned, and I tossed

Charles my keys, urging him to “take it for a spin”… Vanessa’s eyes widened as Charles sprinted to the bike and started looking for the ignition slot….

The Moffett Boys line up, Charles in the saddle, a friend they hooked up with, then Shamus and Ross...

“You had better go and check what he’s doing,” she said, “he might just tear off around the showgrounds…!!” I let Charles push the electric start button and as the motor kicked into life beneath him, the look on his face turned to pure rapture…. (Sorry, James… !!) He opened and closed the throttle a few times, his eyes widening each time the Big Fella rumbled throatily… It was a great thing to witness… It’s not an easy thing keeping up with “cool” these days… Kids have so much more to occupy themselves with, than when we were kids…. But with a big bike around, it’s a whole lot simpler…

I made a quick tour to say farewell to all the sponsors, getting more caps, stickers and T-shirts than I could carry as I left them, and finally sought out James  and Vanessa again to thank them for their hospitality and wish them well for the future. We exchanged hugs, and kitted up and swung into the saddle, giving James a salute as I passed… Good people, the Moffetts… I hope we meet again…

As I rode out of town, a long procession of bikes, their headlights flashing, greeted me as I passed, shouting encouragement and waving wildly, some of the pinion riders standing up in their saddles, giving me the thumbs up sign…some even blew kisses…( I think they were women…but I couldn’t be sure, so I yanked down on the throttle to get out of town quickly… Still waters run deep, and this was deep in the countryside, after all…)

I burned rubber through to Ficksburg, riding the open road at high speed, as it was now almost 2.00 pm and I had a long afternoon ahead of me… The Lesotho Border was taken at a gallop, I was the only vehicle passing through and in no time at all, I was out of Fickburg Bridge Border Post and into the informal madness of Maputsoe, the border town on the other side of the Caledon River… I paid a M20.00 toll fee and then struggled to get through all the pedestrians that walked willy-nilly across the road without looking either left or right… Taxis hooted and jostled their way through the mayhem, and despite have Dire Straits plugged into my helmet at quite a high volume, I could still hear the thumping music from the many beat boxes that sat out the various shops on the roadside… I rode on with a grin on my dial, as I realized that I was back in the REAL Africa, rather than the relatively orderly existence just a few hundred metres behind me…

Into Lesotho...and into the madness of Maputsoe...

I rode out of town and at the T-Junction turned left, towards Leribe. The road wound down through a few twisty bits before entering the small town, also bustling with activity… Saturday afternoons are busy times in Lesotho it would seem… I passed the turnoff to Mokhotlong and Katse Dam, reminded of the 3 hour ride to the Orion Hotel, that Debbie and I undertook in 2009… This is a very technical stretch of road, with hundreds of hairpin bends, switchbacks, steep ascents and descents, the debris of rockfalls litter the road in the most awkward of places, horses, donkeys, cows, sheep and dogs choose the most inappropriate time to cross the road. And then there are also the stone-throwing little buggers, commonly known as herdsmen… This is the only country I have traveled in so far, where I have been stoned by youngsters bored out of their skulls, and looking for a bit of excitement…

It is vital to take this ride in a few stages, and there is a beautiful viewpoint about half way, where you can stop and look back the way you have come, the road far below draped like a Black Mamba across the preciptious slopes of the Maluti Mountains… A great ride for any biker…but take it easy, Dudes, this road can break you and your bike…

Poplar trees line the road just outside Buthe-Buthe, Lesotho

I whizzed through Buthe-Buthe, turning off towards the Caledonspoort Border post, where I caught up with a pair of Harley riders and their pillion chicks, as well as a couple of more serious bikers on their BMW K1200T, a beautiful touring bike. We chatted for a while and I offloaded a few more business cards, as they wanted to follow my ride on the web…

Biker meeting at Caledonspoort Border Post, Lesotho.

The Harleys roared off, their distinctive throaty roars reverberating off the canyon walls… Once through Customs, the BMW riders and I rode together all the way to the Fouriesburg turnoff, before heading west along the R711 to Clarens… We picked up the speed the closer we got to the winding bits about halfway along, our bikes taking the turns at between 130 / 140 kms/h… We were both quite loaded and despite this, the balance of these machines allows you to ride at high speeds with total confidence…. We stopped at the turnoff to Clarens and the Golden Gate National Park, where the pillion rider filmed me flashing a salute and riding off into the distance… Thanks for the company Guys… Great riding to you both….

What can you say about the Golden Gate… This is God’s Country, man…!! Each time I ride through here, I feel a pinprick behind my eyes and a knob in my throat at the blinding beauty around me… This huge sandstone buttresses, with their multi-coloured strata, of mushroom shaped rocks, rear up towards the heavens. Streams and rivers run through the verdant green valleys, and if you are lucky enough, you will see Mountain Zebra, Blesbuck, Springbuck, Mountain Reedbuck, Eland, Klipspinger and a few more species of the smaller antelope.

Golden Gate... a piece of Heaven on Earth...

Baboons shout obscenities from the rocky cliffs, and work their way down to the viewpoints and picnic sites to scavenge from the tourists…. I once saw one running up a steep slope with a camera with a long lens attached to it, under his arm…. Or was it a Basotho…? Couldn’t be sure….

But most go just for the ride…. I met a guy once who rode the 30 or 40 kms through the park, five or six times a day, just to keep the adrenalin and excitement flowing all day long…

I stopped just at the entrance to Lichens Pass, at 2041 m above sea level, the highest point on the road through the Park. “Arm-cam” came into play as I took this picture on the left, and then looking back behind me, I noticed the most amazing rock formation, silhouetted against the setting sun…

The light wasn’t great, but I snapped it anyway… Doesn’t it look like a great big bird to you ? Check out the two shadows that run down the mountain behind it…. Wings perhaps ??

Big Bird Rock...! Well, to me anyway...but maybe I'd been smoking my socks,,,again !!

And then there are the most amazing rock formations to marvel at….

Up through Lichen Pass, Mushroom-like rock formations abound...

Leaving the beauty of this amazing place behind me, I lit the after burners and roared off down the R712, heading past the turnoff to Phuthaditjhaba, former capital of Qwa-qwa, past the settlement of Bluegum Bush, and then on towards Sterkspruit Dam… Just before Harrismith, I turned south onto the R74 to Bergville, skirting this massive dam, whose waters lapped up against the road in some places… Clearly there had been good rains here in recent times… The sun was setting quickly now, and over on the Drakensberg mountains to the West, a massive thunderstorm was brewing, lightning flashing down to strike the mountain tops, every few minutes… I prayed that the wind would carry the storm and dump it in Lesotho, as I made my way down into Bergville to refuel. I noted that the higher speeds I had been riding at, had done my fuel consumption no favours at all, and it would get even worse…

I put the hammer done again, blasting eastward toward Winterton and the N3, turning south again, for Estcourt, Mooiriver, Howick and Pietermaritzburg… It was now dusk, and the boys in Khaki had packed it up for the day, so I set the throttle rocker for 150 km/h and thundered towards Durban, taking the South Coast highway, and stopping in Kingsburgh to refuel again, just after 7.00pm…. The Big Fella gets thirsty at these speeds and I knew I would not make Uvongo if I did not fill him up again… The last 90kms passed by in a flash of oncoming headlights and receding tail-lights, as we barrelled down the highway in the darkness. I could smell the ocean on my left, and despite the high speed I was riding at, I had to open my visor a touch to get some cool air onto my face, such was the humidity…

At 8.00pm, I arrived at my parents home, ostensibly to surprise them, but it was me who was in for a surprise !!! They were not at home !! I finally located them at an uncles home, where they were celebrating his birthday… What a co-incidence !! James Moffett’s birthday last night, and now another the very next night !! My timing was perfect !! Another great meal, and after a long afternoon’s and evenings ride, I wanted to get out of my gear and into a bed… I had covered almost 700km in the last seven hours, complete with two fuel stops and numerous photo stops… It had been a long day….

Mom, Dad, Judith and Ron...who was celebrating his 55th birthday... Many more Ron...!!

© GBWT 2010