Riding in Mist, Rain and Heat.

To finish the story of our bad ride from Malelane to Durban, Valentino is going to let Daddy tell the story of the ride. We take off from the Cradle of Life stop near Badplaas in Mpumulanga.

Ready to Ride

My hope that the rain would disappear while we had a warming cup of coffee was not to be. It wasn't raining heavily, but the dark clouds looked threatening. It was now 10.30 a.m. and we had only travelled 124 km's, with more than 600 still to go. We took the Barberton turnoff just before Badplaas and rode steadily and easily to Barberton. The next section of road required taking a couple of turnoffs before finally getting on the road to Piet Retief if we wanted to return on the same road we had travelled up on.

The mist became so thick that we had to ride in second gear riding on the yellow line on the side of the road to avoid faster traffic travelling in either direction. Visibility was down to about a cars length, and riding was very dangerous. A car came past us from behind doing at least three times our speed, and would have had no chance of avoiding us if we had been in the middle of the road. While riding on the yellow line, which disappeared from time-to-time due to road works repairing pot-holes covering where the lines were, we missed the turn-off to Piet Retief. Eventually emerging from the mist safely, I soon saw a signpost indicating that we were well on our way to Ermelo. This meant we were probably about 20 km's past our intended turn-off, but I wasn't going to ride into that dangerous situation again, and decided it would be safest to continue on to Ermelo, then go via Newcastle, Ladysmith and the National Johannesburg/ Durban freeway on home.

Croc on Rock in Crocodile River

Get a pic of the Croc - not ME!

With the clouds rapidly giving way to hot open blue skies, we stopped in Ermelo to ask which road went to Newcastle from a woman stopped outside a cafe' in the main road. "Just turn left at the next robot, then go straight on..... straight..... and watch out for the pot-holes." 20 km's down that road, I took note of the signs saying we were now 80kms to Piet Retief (the long way there). 20 km's back to Ermelo, swearing at that stupid woman, wasted time and petrol. I had been on the right road before I asked her.

We had lunch in Ladysmith at 3.30 p.m. and eventually got safely home to Durban at 7.15 p.m. An 11 hour trip. While there was a degree of skill involved in dealing with the dangerous road conditions (my sweet wife declared me the best Harley rider in the country - an exaggeration by a large way, but her sentiments are appreciated), it has to be acknowledged that a degree of luck always plays its part.

Monty Munstermann in HOG Office - Durban Chapter.

What positives can be taken out of the ride? My safety kit was fully stocked and on board. I had checked out three possible routes each way on the trip. The Milwaukee iron was in tip-top condition when we left on the trip. Concentrating on having a safe trip and using the experience gleaned from my good friend Monty Munstermann on previous trips in misty conditions, I believe made the difference between an unpleasant ride and a disastrous ride.

I got my precious wife home safely, and love my Harley even more. Never missed a beat, roared past slow traffic quickly and safely, and carried myself, my wife, Valentino and lotsa luggage safely, but making the trip a life experience that will not be forgotten.

Malelane to Durban - Long ride!

This is the story of the second half of our Christmas holiday ride from Durban to Malelane and back.

All ready to roll

We packed the shining Milwaukee Harley like this on the trip from Durban.
The ride back from Daddy's family in Nelspruit on Boxing Day was a short pleasant 60km's, made more enjoyable by the pleasant feeling of sharing time with family that has not been seen for a long time.

Maybe if I ignore it it will go away.

With a long ride back to Durban ahead of us the next day, we decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants near the Malelane entrance to the Kruger National Park. One was still cleaning up from Christmas Day, another was fully booked, so we found ourselves at the very nice restaurant called Hamiltons. The meal was really unexpectedly nice, in pleasant surroundings, and some unusual residents waling around freely. While chicken was on the menu, we were surprised to see them walking around our table and then jumping up onto one of the other tables and chairs. It must be a regular occurence as the waiters ignored them and carried on with their duties in a very relaxed and friendly manner. Fortunately, the monitor lizard in the garden stayed well away from the dining tables.

The rest  of the afternoon was lazed away around the bungalow, looking at the buck, hippo's and birds in front of us.

Mommy, me n Palmira.

Rio Vista Lodge only starts serving breakfast at 7 a.m. unless you specifically make different arrangements if you want to leave earlier. Not wanting to make a fuss, we decided to pack, have breakfast, go say goodbye to the family, and be on the road by about 7.45 This would get us home about 5.00 p.m. No such luck! Breakfast was late, and then we bumped into Palmira, the owner of Rio Vista and a good friend of Granny Maria when handing the keys in. With the pleasantries over we went to have a long farewell with Granny Maria.

Entrance to Rio Vista Lodge

We eventually got riding at about 9.00 a.m. and rode into overcast threatening weather. By the time we got to the mountain pass near Barberton we had to stop to put on raincoats because of the fine drizzle coming down in misty conditions. This just got steadily worse until we pulled in to fill up with petrol at Cradle Of Life tourist resort near Badplaas. The temptation of a soothing hot cup of coffee drew us in to the restaurant before we got back on the road.

The rest of this bad days ride tomorrow.