Magoebaskloof – The misty mountains

This looks like God’s own country, the mountains, vegetation, unexplainable beauty with no specific reference, just unexplainable man!

This again, came from Garth and Belinda. On their “Downs” trip they came across a log cabin up in the mountains in Magoebaskloof…lucky for us! After a few calls from Garth and Belinda and a few confirmations, 7 of us (Jaapster alias oudste boet, Shaunie alias the model man, Garthster alias the handy man with his wyfie, Belinda, John Ferrington alias the connection from Liverpool, myself…boetie and my bokkie, Marianne) gave a yeh to go to Magoebaskloof.

This one nightstand started on the Saturday morning (10/09/2004) @ 8 in Cullinun for breakfast. First time ever I saw 5 different bikes, which represents 3 brands (detail under statistics). After a deserved breakfast at “Die Bistro” we left for Magoebaskloof. All we knew was that we have to travel north… 10km outside of Cullinun we encounter a nice dirt road that took us almost to Kwa Mhalanga…. on route to Marble Hall. Had something cold and away we went again. All the dirt roads were rideable, but I found it to be very sandy…maybe because of the lack of rain.     

Went passed Hearnertsburg  (German community) towards Tzaneen on a very lekka tar road with enough twisties to make you dizzy….everybody could test their cornering skills on this stretch of road. After we bought some meat and beer we left for the misty mountains. Up the twisties again and then onto a beautiful dirt road deeper into the mountain.  After a long climb, and which felt like riding in a “digte woud” we suddenly saw a… picture beautiful lake, a waterfall towards the lake and a log cabin. Garth turned his UFUDO II onto a “tweespoorpaaidjie” towards all of this. To our amazement, this was our overnight point…yeppieee hi ho! The evening around the fire was as always entertaining….from comparing the bikes….bokkies…and just sharing different stories. John Ferington (Liverpool) turned out to be a  “stoute” uncle at times. From speeding on his English built boney to his heavily outland accent…Japie, as always - there was no control. Shaunie was all smiles…first outing on his new “Desert Naartjie”. However, he was forever fiddling with his Scottoiler. “We love given them KTM”S attention hey Shaun”?!. Marianne and Belinda had their own thing going…women stuff I suppose. Garth and I, as always, were talking a lot of sense in general. After all of this, a few cold one’s and a great dinner, we all went to bed…well deserved though.

We woke the next morning bright and early for another chat, fire, coffee and something to eat. Thereafter the packing started, after we have decided to travel the mountains some more, before going back. Garth took us on a spectacular route through… and to the top of the Magoebaskloof Mountains. Too put it mildly…the view and ride was totally orgasmic.

The ride home was strangely enough also very lekka. We went towards Polokwane and then took the old road towards Naboom where we turn onto the Freeway. Japie with his Beemer and me (the GOMMA GOMMA KTM) were racing at every change we got. Nobody saw or knew about this because we were riding at the back. Who won?…..see statistics below. Last stop was at the Petroport just outside Tshwane/Pretoria to say our good buys. Then we all left for home……

PS. This was definitely one of the best one-night trips that I have experienced. Thanx again to Garth and Belinda.

STATISTICS  

Bikes:

KTM 950 Adventure S-               Shaun

KTM 950 Adventure                    Hein

BMW1150 Adventure                    Garth

BMW1100 GS                        Japie

Africa Twin 750                  John

Was good to see 5 different models together

Consumption  

Although we didn’t check this variable, the one time we did put fuel together the BMW 1150 Adventure needed less fuel than the rest. Ok, for Garth’s sake – there was about 1,79 litre difference.

Distance travelled

864 km point to point

Problems

None, not even on the Beemers. A lot of attention was given to the KTM’s though.

Falls

John fell over with his Africa Twin…nothing serious though. Solution - don’t stare at Shaun’s KTM when riding on uneven dirt.

Race 

A BIG BMW 1100 GS – one up with luggage

A little KTM 950 Adventure – two up with luggage

Sorry Japie (BMW) what can I say, the KTM is a KTM.

Next race between me and Japie….His Nissan bakkie (Soft body) against my Nissan bakkie (Hard body)….thereafter it’s gonna be the mountainbikes, then maybe running……………!? Watch press for details.

Conclusion – Don’t judge a book…. I mean bike, by its size!

Contributed by Hein Prinsloo