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[Colyn]

It has been just around 30 days since my last trip and every fiber in my body was longing for the road ... I really needed an excuse to ride. Now normally I don't have excuses to ride but this time I was treading on thing ice because less than 21 days ago I returned from a long trip to the Cape via Gariep and my loving wife is going to frown on me ... it is the holiday season and family time is sort of expected.

I stared at the map that was e-mailed to me for a long time and visions of sweeping wide turns with huge trees lining the shoulder came to mind and I could swear I smelled the pines. I had to go ... there was no other option on the table.

"Poppie ..." my pet name for her "... I think you should go and fetch your mother to spend Xmas with us ... she is getting old and who knows how many Xmas's is left for us with her." Well the look on her face was priceless but I have decided that I will endure ANYTHING to go on the trip and 3 weeks or so of Mother in Law is a cheap price to pay.

"When should I go ?"

"Next weekend ... you can leave on Saturday and be back on Sunday."

"Ok ... are you sure you don't want to come with me ?" She was curious and maybe concerned ... who knows.

"Nope ... you know I hate cities and you and her can have some quality time in the car."

"Ok."

Well phase one of the Big Bluff was in place and now I had to wait ... let things simmer for a few days. I started preparing and quietly got my things sorted out for a sudden "On the Spur of the Moment" sort of decision.

My trip was booked and my younger brother called me to tell me he was going too. With a sick feeling in my stomach I knew that I had to move and move fast. Andre's wife and my wife speak a lot to each other and the risk of my "Bluff" being called was high now. I put the phone down and lit a smoke.

"Poppie !"

"Yes ?"

"Some guys are going to do the Stone Butt in Swaziland and Andre is going with them. I think I will go with them."

"When ?" there was a curious note in her voice.

"Well this weekend ... seeing that you will going to Pretoria I may as well go riding. No need for me to sit here at home alone." I played a high card.

"Hmmmm ... makes sense ... just be careful and no racing."

That was it ... I was on my way and my conscience was lavishly pasted in honey and lavender. However ... I knew that I was going to pay for it for three weeks but what the hell ... biker's are tough.

I was still not too sure if I will take the LT or the GT and I stood in the garage for while ... weighing up the pros and cons of each bike. My problem was that I have never traveled in Swaziland and had no idea what the road conditions were like. In the end I decided to take the LT. I know that bike is great on the open roads and this was going to be a long day in the saddle. Big mistake ... I had no idea that around 40% of the route was narrow winding mountain passes with too many hairpins to mention. Although the LT was King of the road if the road was wide and sweeping bends that same bike was a handful in tight corners and narrow roads. The sheer weight of the bike required some space in the bends and I was going to work hard.

Well I made choice and prepared the bike for the trip. By prepare I mean check the oil, fuel and tyre pressures. Wash the bike and load the panniers. Somewhat different to many other bikes especially if you take into consideration that I just returned from a 5,000 km trip 20 odd days ago and this one was roughly 1,600 km.

Friday 10h30 and I rolled out of my yard ... the trip has started.

Fueling up for the first leg ...

... and then we were riding.

... Ooops ... did I take my bike's papers.

... Yep I did and off we go ... again ...

We took the "Long way Round" to avoid the roadworks between Barberton and Nelspruit so we travelled to Kaapmuiden and then swing right past Lowe's Creek to Barberton.

A bit longer but worth it because the scenery is great.

[Colyn]

The Lowveld was hot and humid with scattered clouds all over. There was a realistic chance of thunderstorms by late afternoon and I checked the navigator ... hopefully we will be in our hotel before that happens.

We cruised past Barberton and took the left turn to Badplaas. The lush vegetation was a reminder that we had some good rains and everything was growing like crazy. I wouldn't be surprised if I see a telephone pole sprout some twigs.

As we approached the bottom of Nel's Heights I settled back on the LT and began to prepare myself for a nice run up that mountain, long sweeps and sharp bends, lined with trees ... the type of road that makes you appreciate and enjoy a big tourer. Now I need to add that my brother is very competitive and in our young days we diced till we ran out of road or out of speed or out of fuel but neither ever gave an inch. Now in my twilight years ... jeez that sounds grim ... I have decided that dicing with anybody is going to seriously limit the time I have left to spend in the saddle and I do not engage in that type of fun any longer. So as the sweeps came up I made sure that he had a good start on me. I don't want him to see me coming into his rear view mirror and view it as a "nudge".

And then we are over the mountain, taking the final straight towards Badplaas at leisure. It was really hot and both of us were hungry. We did not eat breakfast and it was close to midday.

Manufacturers and suppliers makes lots of claims about the comfort of their riding gear but let me tell you ... when it is hot and humid it is a rumour if you think that any type of protective jacket and pants can be cool. I am riding with one of the latest space age jackets and boy that thing is everything but cool. Okay it is not as hot as most other jackets but it is still not cool.

It was with a sigh of relief that I rolled into the petrol station in Badplaas and ditch that jacket.

We filled both bikes up and then lounged around while we ate some cold meat and crisps. This is another one of my pet peeves, yep I have a few of those, what to eat when on the road. Fast food is greasy and oily and unhealthy and tastes great but oh boy, so many things can creep into your digestive tract of which cholesterol is the least of your worries. So I tend to look for a packet of cold meat of some sort and pray the cold chain was maintained up to that moment that I rip the seal open. On the positive side, a nasty smell or slimy green color is usually a good indication that the fridge went on the blink at some stage between sealing it and me opening it.

It was hot, oops, said that a few times already but damn it was hot ... and very humid. We saw a few other bikes go past and decided to saddle up. The next stop will be Oshoek Border Post.

[Colyn]

To many Badplaas is just a little dot on the map, a place that you need to drive through to go somewhere else but to many others it is their annual holiday destination. Mineral pools and cold winter nights.

We swung left and cruised over the rolling grasslands, speckled with knolls and rocky outcrops.

The waving grasslands were dotted with grazing cattle but that was not all ... some cattle were hitting the road to greener pastures and this is a big problem on this stretch of road. One poor traveller found out the hard way that it makes no sense to speed along this stretch of road ... four wheels do not take kindly to jerking the steering left and right in quick succession.

Sad but part of life ... let's continue. We took a right and the road started climbing up the escarpment. This section is lovely to me and although it teems with goats, taxis and all other types of strays it is still a lovely section of road.

Approaching the Oshoek T-junction we encountered Law and Order on the road ... for a while I am trying to figure out how they can be so casual when the road is swamped with individuals with no road sense, no respect for solid white lines or without any regard for common road rules but then it hit me ... it is Friday and they obviously are on their way to some place where they can fill in their weekly logs and comply with the distances required to travel. Why would they now go and spoil their cruise by actually doing some Law Enforcement ... that would be plain silly.

We reached the T-junction, saw the Trooper find a parking and we turned left. Swaziland was close and I have never been into this little African Kingdom. I have heard that people come from all over the world to taste the famous Swazi Gold but that is not on my shopping list ... I like to know where I am and who I am talking to and is really quite skeptic when people tell me how much fun the Swazi Zol is. How can it be fun to be zonked out of your mind ?

Hopefully the Kingdom has more to offer than Swazi Gold. Enjoy the following shots of our approach of Oshoek.

Riding along the escarpment is great and for me this is a first time experience on this stretch of road so I did miss a few nice shots because I did not know they were coming up. However, the magic of riding amongst the trees and getting glimpses of the deep valleys on my left was great. I kept one eye on the sky and what was brooding up there surely looked like we could get a shower or two if we kept on hanging around here in the high country. I nudged my brother a bit and he pushed on harder, always very aware of the free ranging wild life ... well ok not really wild life but free ranging all the same.

The big signpost with the directions on to the arrestor bed spelled only one thing ... there is some serious stopping to be done up ahead and I adjusted myself in the saddle ... no more slouching and dreaming just eyes wide open and one or two fingers lingering on the break lever.

Suddenly it was in front of us, the Oshoek Borderpost and I felt a few butterflies in my belly. Not from fear but from anticipation. This is Africa and borderposts are usually bustling with bobbing heads and plenty paper shuffling but slow action. You can expect the unexpected and "unpacking" is usually more of a prelude to an invitation to do some money laundering rather than to ensure illegal transits did not take place.

I hate it!

I have a deep seated resistance against paying a Government Official "extra" to do his job properly ... but hey as I said ... This is Africa.

[Colyn]

To my surprise I found another LT like mine in the parking area in front of the Immigration offices. This is rare and I had to take a picture of it.

I walked into the Immigration office on the South African side, fully prepared for a long and frustrating wait. The end would be a time consuming filling in of a form with all sorts of trivial questions worded in such a way that you are bound to get it wrong. Then moving between four different kiosks to get four simple tasks completed.

Wow ... to my surprise there was none of that. A friendly lady took our passports, promptly stamped it and issued two slips for the bikes. She jokingly referred to the fact that we are risking damaging our passports by not having them in covers and dropped two nice plastic covers on the counter.

"Try that and see if it fit."

Well being in transit between countries we gladly obliged and smiled broadly as the covers fitted perfectly.

"Wow ... thank you very much." I beamed and she laughed.

"No thanks needed ... it is R10.00 each, thank you."

For a moment I almost allowed my inner miser to take over but I beat him down with my wallet and just shook my head I walked back to my bike.

"Hmmmm ... that was so smooth ... super smooth."

My brother just laughed.

We saddled up and proceeded through the gates ... Vehicle Pass between the teeth. It is a bit awkward to ride a bike and keep a slip of paper ready for a waiting hand. The other LT and a GS was already through and we waited patiently for our turn.

On the Swazi side I was also pleasantly surprised ... quick and no hassles. A few jokes about the road tax and the lady wished us a pleasant stay in Swaziland and told us to be careful on the Stonebutt Run. The other LT guy was in such a hurry that he left his whole plastic bag with all his documents on the counter and being the nice guy I took it with the hope that I would see him at the pre-run briefing and make his day.

Surprise ... he was still in the parking area.

Finally we were out of the border post and headed for the nearest garage to fill our bikes up. The weather was getting more threatening and we needed to push on for our sleeping spot or we may get wet.

[Colyn]

Our new found friends stopped with us as we filled up and we drank some Coke and made lots of jokes about the money and change and laughed a lot. Five guys on a trip to who knows where and the weather threatening to douse our good spirits.

Scary hair the youngster is sporting but regardless of the tons of banter he took it all in good spirit and provided us old toppies with lots of big smiles.

Maybe now is a good time to tell you a bit more about our mission into Swaziland and I quote from their website.

Stone Butt Run:
King's Brigade Motorcycle Club in Swaziland will mark the celebration of their 30th anniversary by inaugurating what we hope to be an annual event, the King's Brigade 1058km Stone Butt Challenge. The event will take the form of two loops around Swaziland.

The event briefing will take place at 18h00 on Friday evening. We were booked into a Hotel close to the club where the meeting will take place in the Izulweni Valley. All of this is now strange to use and we had no idea how far we have to go. The weather was not looking good so we decided to saddle up and dash for our Hotel.

Happy Valley Motel ... hmmmm ... from the outside it looked quite ok but as we found out to our shock and annoyance ... there is truth in the saying "Looks can be deceiving." This truth hit us as we arrived in our rooms. Damn it, nothing was working. The aircon was trashed and the shower was wobbly. The bed felt like a bad corrugation road and the pillows felt like a bag full of potatoes ... DAMN!

It was fairly late and the rest of the Nelspruit crowd was meeting us here so we decided to zip our lips and take it in our stride.

There is a nice shopping center across the road and we decided to go and get something to drink and a snack while we waited for our friends to pitch up.

This little interlude was fun and we agreed to come back here for dinner. We left for the briefing and as usual these briefings are fairly boring.

The guys from SJW Motors in Nelspruit, in a way our hosts, were very helpful and sorted the paperwork out very quickly. By 20h00 we were back at the Sportsbar and pretty soon all of us tucked into a nice succulent Swaziland Steak. By 22h00 me and my brother were in our rooms and crawled into what they called a "comfy" bed in the advert. Somebody should actually sue them for misrepresentation. At 02h00 I was sitting under the carport, smoking. The heat and the combination of bad bedding and useless aircon has won the fight and I could not stand it for another minute. An hour later I crawled back into that hellhole and it was with relief that the sound of birds woke me up at 04h30.

[Colyn]

It was with mixed feelings that I got out of bed and tried to construct a resemblance to a cup of coffee from the equipment in the room. I sat down on the step at the door and slowly sipped on the mug and imagined that it was a perfect cup from my own kitchen. The smoke trail floated on the thick humid air and I noticed that there was a lot of fog around.

At 05h30 we saddled up and made our way to the starting point. As we traveled higher up the fog got worse and by the time we reached the garage the visibility was around 15 to 20 meters. We went through the process of registering and then we took off. Pretty soon I couldn't see further than 10 meters in front of me and blindly followed the tail light in front of me. At one stage we left the highway and the road turned North. This was a terrible piece of road, narrow, winding and no fencing. The reality of encountering animals and pedestrians became obvious and as the road went further into the mountains the visibility decreased to a point that I was enveloped in a swirling grey paste with visibility less than 10 meters. I was beginning to doubt my own sanity and the big LT was a handful on the wet. slippery and twisting road. Just as I was beginning to contemplate a sudden desertion of this crazy run we crested the mountains and the fog lifted a bit.

Everywhere that I could see on the sections of winding roads were bikes in groups of two or three snaking ahead. As we approached the first checkpoint the fog were above us and the bikers all started scrambling down the mountain.

With a sigh of relief I turned into the checkpoint and was glad to see that everyone was dismounting. Every person was talking about the hairy experience in the fog and a few stated that if they get that type of fog again they will pull out.

Me and my brother just listened and watched ... each with his own thoughts but pulling out was no option. We came to do the run and we will finish it.

Here at the first checkpoint I was actually amazed to see so many black guys on superbikes and I mentioned it to my brother. To us it was a strange sight.

"Let's go !"

My brother was anxious to get on the road and we saddled up. Unaware of what lied ahead and blissfully ignorant of the condition of some sections.

[Colyn]

I usually have my camera around my neck and take lots of pictures as I go but on this day I did not ... first of all the weather was ugly and I was afraid of getting the camera wet, secondly the roads were unfamiliar to me and I did not feel comfortable doing it.

From the first checkpoint we quickly descended down to the lowveld again and the road was very narrow. The big LT struggled and I rarely got over 60 kmh.

The rest of the trip was spent riding as hard as we could whenever the road allowed it and shortly before noon we completed the circuit ... now we had the second round to deal with and it was getting extremely hot. Some stretches of the circuit had horrendous potholes and everywhere we encountered these crazy speedbumps that hit you all of sudden with teeth jarring shock. By 16h00 we realised that we need to go balls to the wall or we would not finish on time.

Twenty minutes before Final Call we arrived at the finish line ... tired but happy.

It was a long day in the saddle but it was actually quite an experience. In the end 21 of the 42 starters finished on time and there was one fatality. A local rider lost control in the fog and hit a rock.

My youngest brother made bookings for us at the Royal Swazi SPA ... no way was I going to spend another night in that motel.

[Colyn]

Well what can I say ... it was a hard day in the saddle and my body was in serious need of some pampering. The Royal Swazi SPA is all it advertises to be and more. The rooms are comfortable and the food is excellent.

My two brothers ... Wouter did not complete the trip and Andre looks a bit "used".






Dinner is done and my body was aching for a soft bed.


Last Round !


Off to dreamland ...

I hit that bed with gusto and I am not sure that I have even felt my head hit the pillow. It was a peaceful sleep and the air conditioner played a major role in the quality of my sleep.

Mental note to self ... Steer clear of the Happy Valley Motel.

[Colyn]

I woke up early and felt great. As I sat on the verandah of my room, coffee in one hand and a smoke in the other, I watched the fog trails through the Ezulweni Valley and it is great to be alive. I am happy that I did this trip and once again the fun of long distance riding made me smile. It is only a long distance rider that can understand why we do it and I have given up to try and explain to others why I do it.

The trip home was mostly in the rain and this time we tackled the roadworks sections between Barberton and Nelspruit. It was a sigh of relief that I cruised into Nelspruit ... slightly wet but happy. This was a great weekend and despite the Horror Hole Motel I enjoyed it.

I think I will do it again next year.

[roan]

Colyn.

Thank you for sharing. I am sorry I missed this one. Hopefully this year I can join you.

[Colyn]

It was rough at stages but a great experience.

[avon]

eendag as ek groot is, wil ek ook doen.........

Wow, what an experience - shared brilliantly as always - thanx Colyn.

[Colyn]

My pleasure.

[avon]

I gave a friend of mine this link & he pointed something out to me 

Have a look at 002_MG_7345.jpg Colyn

I don't want him to see me coming into his rear view mirror and view it as a "nudge".

Looks like he had to get away from you by overtaking on the solid line..........

Not to mention the top speed on the GPS - naughty-naughty

[Gregoryinfug]

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