Post Card

From:
Grant & Margie Hendry
Krugersdorp
South Africa

Who Needs a GS when a Zongshen 200 will do!

Click on any image for a larger view.

The original plan was to tow a bike down here, so, as well as a “time share” break, we could ride the roads of the near North coast not marked off on our SA map. As the second part of the week away is in the Drakensberg, putting our two Chinese 200c off roads on the trailer seemed a good idea. But then plans evolve, don’t they? After one or two reviews, suddenly the idea of “why not just ride the Zongshens all the way there?” was formed!

So last Thursday, we loaded our luggage on the ‘little bikes’ and off we went via Lenasia, Kliprivier, Nigel, Devon and then some gravel to Greylingstad. This was Margie’s second time on dirt, after the 40km stretch she was keen for more! So after the major road to Standerton, it was dirt all the way to Piet Retief, via Amersfoort. But first the main road! When we left these bikes had 300km on the clock, so they were still running in. With our luggage on they struggle up to 110km/h. But that’s on the clock. Now with a GPS on board I could see the real speed, a mere 90km/h!! Now on the Greylingstad/Standerton road we had to deal with traffic which certainly didn’t plan on doing 90km/h and that’s us on the level. Uphill we would drop to 70km/h! So lots of mirror checking and pulling over was required, not at all pleasant, and nor were most of the car drivers!

Once off the tar, life became far more relaxed, the Mpumalanga countryside was at its best, rolling green hills and way more birdlife than you see on the busy roads. The ZSs were happy bumbling along at 80km/h and other than our increasingly numb bums, so were we. At Amersfoort at 16:30 a decision needed to be taken as to whether to continue as planned to Piet Retief 140km away or detour to Volksrust a mere 40km away and to a very nice lodge we had stayed at earlier this year. Usually a good plan is to stick to the plan and so that was the decision.

The next 90km of gravel started as good but once we started losing altitude so it turned more into forest roads, with more and more mud. The first long section with ruts and puddles had me concerned for Margie. As I was thinking that I hoped she remembered the principles of look ahead and keep the throttle open, what did I do, but forget all these rules and looked at a large brown pond and of course went straight into it! Down I went with not a chance to react. Margie just sailed right by!

Carrying on, the road thankfully joined the Ermelo/Piet Retief road but by now it was getting dark and cold. That last 40kms on the N2 was a real misery. The bikes were just so slow and concerns about finding a place to stay as it got later were growing. Eventually the town was reached and a County Lodge on one side of the road and a Spur on the other was found. Walking in to a 4 Star establishment covered in mud led to the usual “oh do you have a booking? – How do we get rid of them?” routine. Luckily the owner salvaged the situation with the ‘oh we have one room left’ answer. Of course the place was not even half full!

After breakfast, I borrowed a hosepipe and at least the bike was clean. My riding gear had dried but was now suitable for an army camouflage uniform! We set off for Paulpietersburg and as we turned off the N2 onto the R33 so did the Stop/Go sections start. The whole distance was made up of these but we just sailed through on the red light much to the disgust of the car drivers! They would catch us up later, only to get stopped again at the next section. As we carried on past Vryheid into Zululand the countryside changed into rolling hills and on a faster road bike would have been classified as biker’s heaven. On our 200cc’s it was an up and down the gearbox affair, but at an average of 70km/h you certainly get time to admire the scenery. Passing the turn off to Ulundi, we kept dropping in altitude and the ZS’s started to go faster, the fuel mixture was getting better all the time. Approaching Melmoth, we encountered the biggest road vehicle I’ve ever seen. Proudly displaying signage that it belonged to Eskom (national electricity supplier), we could see where our electricity spend had gone! I went back to look closer and spoke to the driver, it is used to move transformers! Visions of a nice country lunch at Melmoth disappeared as we explored this town, it is now an town, where Pep and Ellerines dominate (cheap department stores). Our only option for lunch was KFC which played loud African gospel music throughout!(not everybody's taste)

The coast was now near and shortly we turned onto the R102, as I did not intend on paying for two small bikes on the hugely over tolled N2. Again we were pleasantly surprised at the excellent condition, no traffic, no traffic cops and no road repairs that the “alternate route” delivered!

The last short stretch through Salt Rock led to our home for the weekend at Shakas Rock. We had made it! Our route from home over two days was 806.9km.

Saturday was NOT a riding day. A walk on the beach, a sea front lunch and an oil change for each bike was the order of the day.

On Sunday we set off to join the Durban Toy Run. We of course did not leave on time and underestimated the time to the meeting point at Pavilion, so as we arrived at Durban realised we would miss the mass ride to Amzimtoti. So after breakfast near the Port of Durban, set off to ride new roads through Kloof, Hillcrest and at Cato Ridge turned North on an unmarked road heading past Nagley Dam and on to Wartburg. This 70km odd trip led us up and down valleys through traditional African areas where we saw no other whites and to the locals we seemed a curiosity on our bikes. The countryside was really beautiful and we saw some new sights in the form of a nesting colony of what must have been a few hundred white egrets in two adjoining trees and a river whose banks were covered in clusters of elephant ears.

A German lunch at the Wartburg Hof Hotel was not to be missed, but then the mist came down. The 90km back to Ballito was a real misery, as we could only see a few meters in front and with wet roads discovered the amazing grip Chinese tyres have - none! The last 10km to the coast was dry and clear and a crab curry at the excellent Salt Rock Hotel for dinner made the day complete.

The second part of the week away was booked at Little Switzerland on Oliviershoek Pass. We have stopped here many times for lunch or drinks on the deck, which in my opinion must rank as one of the most beautiful setting in the world with its backdrop of the Amphitheatre. The route planned was back to Stanger and then follow the R74 inland all the way to Bergville via Greytown, Weenen and Winterton. We woke to rain, but thankfully no mist. Once on the road, with full wet weather gear on, the rain was not too bad and much as we went up and down the hills so would the roads be wet and then dry.

The route now was mainly uphill as we climbed from the coast towards to escarpment and on the ZS’s was heavy going, most of it in low gear. Luckily, or by plan(?), the roads were not busy and our slow passage did not cause a problem. Our planned coffee stop at Greytown became the lunch stop but then as we headed to Weenen so the weather cleared. Again we encountered abnormal loads and got in between three rigs moving huge structures. There is a part of the road just before Weenen, that if you stop on it, you hold the brake so at to prevent you rolling on down the road. The strange part is, take your hand off the brake and you roll BACKWARDS! Because of the rigs we could not stop here to experience it, but last time on the Rocket we had. Just before Colenso, the R74 doubles back on itself towards Estcourt, but we took a shortcut across the Weenen Game Reserve. We could see the weather coming up across the escarpment and did the turnaround before encountering it.
As we rejoined the R74 there is a marker for the capture place of Winston Churchill, never knew this before. Onto Winterton and the obligatory stop for a drink at The Bridge, as well as grocery shopping at the superette. The last stretch to Bergville and then up the pass to Little Switzerland was done with the rain following behind us. As we finished offloading our luggage into our 2 bedroom chalet so the rain started and the vista disappeared in the mist. That evening we walked down to dinner in our rain suits and back as the rain was relentless.

After a good night’s sleep, our aching bodies were recovery and a relaxing day was had walking it the berg and relaxing at the hotel.
We were up at 5am and at reception fully packed by 6am. Up Oliviershoek so early in the morning was truly magnificent. The tribes of baboons were on the road picking up yesterdays insect road kill.

I have always wondered about the Piet Retief Pass road which leads off from the R74 as you pass Sterkfontein Dam, and dos has determined that we would take this route to Harrismith. However as we left the tar the gravel was treacherous as it had only just been graded and the surface was not compacted at all. Margie got quite a fright as the bikes had no stability and we turned around rather than take a chance, as well as the going was going to be very slow. The road along side Sterkfontein Dam is being rebuilt, hopefully they will fill in the high speed wallows that this road had always had. A Wimpy breakfast at Harrismith and off on another route long pondered, to Verkykskop.

The 50 km road there is tar, but beyond is gravel in all directions. Although not a straight route, the one to Vrede was that chosen. After the first 2 parts, the third part was not just recently graded, but the grader was still somewhere ahead. It was obviously doing the task in 3 passes and was currently in the second. The remaining part to be done was the only hard surface left, and was fairly narrow up to the point in places of being nonexistent. For 30 odd km we travelled like this and then we passed the grader. Now we had two thirds of the road to use, what luxury! Near to the end of this 80km gravel section the road drops down very steeply and we reached the top the road disappeared – into sheep!
To be precise 1060 of them, according to one of the shepherds. After waiting for all 1060 of them to pass us, we completed the last section and were back on tar 10km before Vrede. The remaining trip was fairly uneventful but painfully long. Passing Vrede, we scrapped into Cornelia for fuel, then Villiers after the toll, a detour off the N3 at Grootvlei and through the back of Heidelberg, this missing the next toll ( a saving of R160.00 with the only penalty being more interesting roads and a whole 10km extra distance! We repeated the outward route through Suikerbosrand, Kliprivier, but this time skirting Lenasia and Soweto home to Krugersdorp. The day had been long, leaving at 6am we got home at 15:30!

The days distance of 431km was therefore done at an moving average of 58km/hr. Total distance for the trip had been 2022km on my bike and 2003km on Margie's, with a moving average speed of 65.4 Km/hr. We had spent just over 30 hours in the saddle and our bodies felt it! Would we do it again – of course!

Grant and Margie