Pilansberg - Sunday 19/07/2009

Hi,

I am planning to go and ride around the Pilansberg on Sunday. I don't think bikes are aloud inside the reserve, but that is ok. I will just ride around it. I have no idea what the road is like or how much tar/dirt there will be. I also have no idea if there will be sand or not.I also have no idea if it will be pillion friendly or not. Hell I don't really know anything about this route.

Bring something to eat and drink with you for lunchtime, as I don't have any plans to stop somewhere specific. If we find a lekker place to eat then we will. If we get hungry and we have not yet found some place to eat we will just eat next to the road somewhere. This ride will be long (475km) and I am not going to stop a lot. It will be a faster ride than normal, but I don't ride that fast in any case, I like the more technical riding than the fast stuff. The road will pass through lots of townships, so we might encounter lots of animals/taxi's/people etc etc.

If you would like to join me, meet me at Mahem Caltex (S25.71526 E28.10462) at 07:00 on Sunday 19 July 2009. If you have any questions just send me a PM. What I said above is pretty much all I know of the route. I just went and plotted it on Mapsource, so I will have to go and find out.

Cheers
Etienne

There is not really any eating places outside the reserve and Sun City, even on the main routes to Pilansberg. From East side of Pretoria it takes 2 hours just to get to Pilansberg, another 2 hours to get back. I have no idea the distance to go round the reserve will be. Have not seen much in terms of roads to the NW side of reserve.

Fueling stations. There is one near Sun City entrance. Next one is on the N4 between Brits and Rustenberg or Brits itself.

I might just be free on Sunday...

I may go if there is a mostly dirt roads involved, because the tar road eats the knobblies like it's sweet cakes!!!

Sounds great..
If our weekend plans don't realise, we'll certainly join in.
I'll confirm.

Marnus wrote:I may go if there is a mostly dirt roads involved, because the tar road eats the knobblies like it's sweet cakes!!!

I reckon there will be plenty dirt roads, but I think there will be a lot of tar as well...

That is why I am going, to go and find out.

My wrist is still sore, so I be skipping Sunday's ride. Also think I got some flying action lined up for the weekend, find out tomorrow morning. Just tell us what it is like.

So how was the trip around Pilansberg?

Happy-go-lucky wrote:So how was the trip around Pilansberg?

Very nice and long. 560km on a X-Challenge with no air-hawk can be a pain in the arse....... But it was not that bad.

Sias joined me for the ride, and it was nice to have him along. Thanks for tagging along Sias!!

There was just to much tar. We did some nice dirt roads, but no sand, no rocks, no mud, just normal dirt roads. We did a nice water crossing at Lanseria on the way back. We did not take to many pics. I will upload some tonight. I am not gonna do a ride report, there is not to much to report.

Trip report

There was the back stuff, then some more black stuff. Black stuff continued some more. Finally found some dirt after two near dozing of sessions. Now awake, travelled the dirt, looking for the soft sand that never arrived. Discovered the black stuff once more, a lot of it. Took a detour to find some known dirt and water crossing. Eventually arrived home on more black stuff.

Thanks for having me along Knopkop! It was a very nice relaxing ride. Started out FREEEEZING!!! On my way to Mahem I was already thinking of how I would be able to get along once my fingers had frozen off! I wasn’t too disappointed with the tar/gravel mixture. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

I also think a full report is really not necessary, but would just want to share some highlights:

We rode in between some game farms (I assume) in and around Pilansberg where we spotted some Koedoes, but not much more than that.

Then we stopped at a tavern for a quick Zamalek and had a chat with the locals about the operations of Sun City, the 2010 World Cup, Golf and Michael Jackson off course!

Thereafter we headed around Pilansberg, tried to go through one of the Nature Reserves (without success) and then headed back to Harties where we had lunch at Upper Deck.

From there Knopkop took us home via some back roads and that water crossing at Lanseria. Very nice! Has a dip or something half way through which kinda throws you off course!

Some pics:

Somewhere past Harties


Knopkop's new torch!


A beast in his natural habitat!


Outside Koster


Knopkop at the water crossing. You can see he just hit that dip I mentioned...


Thanks again Knopkop! No better way to spend a Sunday than on the road (on a motorbike)!

Now that looks like a nice river crossing. Thanx for the pics Sias.

Happy-go-lucky wrote:Now that looks like a nice river crossing. Thanx for the pics Sias.

There is a "moerse gat" just behind me there. If you are not careful, you're gonna swim. You cannot see it very well when you ride as the water is flowing at a pretty strong rate.

In summer this will be another story !!!!

KnopKop wrote:

Happy-go-lucky wrote:Now that looks like a nice river crossing. Thanx for the pics Sias.

There is a "moerse gat" just behind me there. If you are not careful, you're gonna swim. You cannot see it very well when you ride as the water is flowing at a pretty strong rate.

In summer this will be another story !!!!

Is dit hoekom jy Sias eerste laat gaan het???????

"Things are not always as they seem"............


This pic was taken on our 2nd time through the crossing. We went through in the opposite direction first, then we turned around to do it again and take some pics.

I went through, then Sias, then we turned around, Sias went through, took this pic, then I turned around went through again and took pics of Sais going through.

So we did the crossing three times each.

I will post some pics tonight.

Maak net seker...

Me and Colin did this same crossing in May, me on the 650GS and Colin on his mothership, no problems.

Ons stuur gewoonlik vroulike pillions wat nie wil saamwerk nie, vooruit om die riviere se diepte en sterkte te bepaal.....

Ons stel die veiligheid van ons GS ryers hoog op prys

Here are some pics

First bit of dirt past Harties:








Sias on the water crossing:

Mud Pooh-bah wrote:Ons stuur gewoonlik vroulike pillions wat nie wil saamwerk nie, vooruit om die riviere se diepte en sterkte te bepaal.....

Ons stel die veiligheid van ons GS ryers hoog op prys

Oooooo!!! Nou verstaan ek hoekom Sias my heeltyd laat loop het deur die modder by Rhino Park!!!!

Hehehehehe! En jy dog 'n pillion is net daar om die scenery uit te check?

Thanks vir die pics Etienne! Ek het nie eers daaraan gedink om meer as een van die water crossing te neem nie. Het dalk nog bietjie te leer as fotograaf Of dalk is dit juis 'n goeie fotograaf wat wag vir daai een perfekte foto?.......Nee ek twyfel! Note to self: Druk daai knoppie hard en aanhoudend!

Sias die geheim van goeie fotografie is om 'n baie groot geheue te he. Dis hoekom ek vir my 'n 8GB stokkie gekoop het vir die kamera

If you now take the picture I took of the park below, I had to take about 300 pics before I got the angle just right...

Wow lyk na 'n lieflike park! Het hul braai fasiliteite?

As ek so na Knopkop (geen kommentaar oor die naam nie) se nuutste avatar kyk - die vorige een was baie sagter op die oog. Kan net nie verstaan hoe hy willens en wetens sy pride and joy so in die modder kan parkeer nie - sal my hart breek.

LeRoy Olivier wrote:As ek so na Knopkop (geen kommentaar oor die naam nie) se nuutste avatar kyk - die vorige een was baie sagter op die oog. Kan net nie verstaan hoe hy willens en wetens sy pride and joy so in die modder kan parkeer nie - sal my hart breek.

Dit was "wetens" maar verseker nie "willens" nie

Ek het my bes gedoen om hom daar deur te ry, maar dit het nie so lekker gewerk nie