Sani over Easter – “The road gets better – I promise”...........

Normandien Pass



Day 4...



So the last day started. After a very quiet evening at the super B&B, where everyone got to bed early and Buffle was born, we said cheers to Kawasefi and were on our way. Another nice stretch of tar to get ready for the stunning road to Memel and we hit Normandien pass. What a stunning climb! Dani nearly took out a buck, so she was a bit shaken at the first viewpoint halfway up the mountain.

Buffy made sure he got there first to get some shut-eye...




Next stop was the top of Normandien, at a place called The Love Rock...



...where I pulled out another geocache to show da peoples - The Love Rock
(http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=3281bd13-9d7c-42f0-b3a8-467aa2130719&log=y&decrypt=y)

A challenging but lovely little section that got hold of Marius, attacking his brand new Trax panniers.




It was also at this point that we discovered Buffy is not completely comfortable with heights! In his own words, "..I get scared standing up on my pegs!..."




...so he went for a little rest instead. Again.




...leaving his Miss Piggie to soak up the beauty of this part of the world, alone.




We parked the two 800's on the edge of the cliff and started working with the cameras...




Frome here we took another (insert your own superlative) GS road to Memel, with some pieces perfect to open up a bit. An exposed water pipe nearly caught Dani out near the end, but by now she was flying - a seasoned adventure rider on the best bike in the world!




And then it was all over...




Some repairs... (how many hands to fix an annoying hugger...? Must be the most silly part on the 1200 and 650 singles...)




Some more people resting...




Peter heard something about Heidi and started frollocking in the Alps..uh cosmos...




And just some beauty in the middle of nowhere...




I then proceeded to lose 6 bikes, a 4x4 and trailer in 60 seconds, but we'll skip that part.

The LM Cafe in Vrede was the low point of the trip, but it acted as a stubborn bookend to the end of four awesome days of adventure riding.




Sharkie did a brilliant job putting these routes together, and having cut out some stunning pieces opened the door for a follow-up trip!

... and stunning pics and reports!



We need to organise a reunion?

Thank you once again for sharing your trip and for the stunning photos.

I felt privileged to be able to read about it and………..also some excitement and I must admit somewhat scared as well

nonetheless.......respect to all of you

Fantastic photos !!
How do you do the Panoramic Pic ? Is it a feature on your camera? If so, what camera is it. A really stunning photo.

Thanks for sharing. A photo, especially like that, is definitely worth a 1000 words !

Thanks again

Fantastic trip and great photos! Sure the memories will last quite some time!

deonp wrote:Fantastic photos !!
How do you do the Panoramic Pic ? Is it a feature on your camera? If so, what camera is it. A really stunning photo.

Thanks for sharing. A photo, especially like that, is definitely worth a 1000 words !

Thanks again

Jip, panorama a feature on my camera - a Nokia 6110 Navigator 2.0 megapixel. Maar hy werk vir my, is altyd daar as ek hom nodig het. Neem snappies, vind geocaches, route my as die Garmin oppak of by die huis is, check my e-mail EN hy bel. Dis als wat ek regtig gebruik, nie net dooie features nie, geniet regtig die foontjie.

Thanks for the info.
Amazing pic for a cellphone.Nokia, in my opinion, still the best !

Hi guys
Well done to all who did this trip and Ettienne for organising. Looks like a load of fun - I am very jealous indeed.
The pics bring back good memories - my brother and I did Sani Pass 2 years ago on the mountain bikes (ja die ysterperde wat jy moet trap) and that was certainly one of the hardest days of our lives but well worth it. If I remember correctly the 18km's up the pass our average speed was 7.3 km/h or something ridiculous. But what an experience. I will definitely join the next trip so I can do it with the powered two-wheel version as well!!