425Km
Another early start after a great stay at Rand Self Catering. Did I mention how impressed we were? Without a doubt in the top 3 of our trip. We are planning to be on the road no later than 6 am. Outside the mist is hanging low when we wake up but by the time everything is packed it has lifted.
The plan for today is to ride to our overnight stop in Gravelotte via Diepgezet, Hazyview and Hoedspruit. As soon as we leave the town of Carolina the mist descends with visibility less than 20m at some places.
As long as it does not start raining, as long as it does not start raining I keep on repeating to myself. I am really looking forward to Diepgezet pass and the rain will really put a damper on it.
And then just before we start up the pass I spot something moving in the mountains to my left. As I look all I see are weird shaped rocks but then one move. And there on the mountainside is a whole herd of elephants. Two things I find strange is the steep mountainside on which they are walking and their colour which is the grey we are used to but brown. We do not have professional camera equipment so the cell phone zoom will have to do. It did a terrible job but you can see them if you use your imagination.
Word and photos cannot do justice to the beauty of this pass. We’ve done many passes but Diepgezet is up there as the best of them all. What makes it so unique is a combination of a few things – It is not overly technical so you can actually enjoy the surroundings, there is the ghost town of Diepgezet that lends a bit of mystery and it is high enough (14th in South Africa) to provide some stunning views.
The mining settlement of Diepgezet was abandoned in 2002 when asbestos mining was stopped with the eminent law banning the use of asbestos. Sadly the infrastructure is being completely destroyed.
The road down towards Barberton is deserted and we have not seen any other vehicles since we started going up the pass. The area is rich with all sorts of geological treasures, none of which I understand, a rock is a rock.
We ride past Barberton and Nelspruit before stopping in White River for a quick bite at Zannas in the Bagdad Centre. They make some great bread and baked goods. For some reason, Google seems to think they are closed permanently but they are definitely still open.
From here things just went downhill. I know that supposedly any day out riding is better than a day in the office but there are limits and the R40 between Hazy view and Klaserie is just one looong township ride with taxis, sheep, goats, children, speedbumps, broken cars, potholes and anything else you can throw in to make riding dangerous and frustrating. But the irony of it all is that this road is the Panorama Route.
Believe me, you won’t find anything panoramic on this stretch of road but you will find plenty of this for kilometres and kilometres.
What a relief it was to get past Klaserie, eventually the Panorama Route starts. Anthills like these are common and they can be several meters high.
It is clear that we are not the only guests when it becomes difficult to have a conversation with music booming. Apparently, this is for day visitors who would like to hear the music everywhere they go. Other than that the place is clean and we should be able to get a good night’s rest. At least we do not have to worry about food.
Overall today was a win, the nice parts of the ride totally made up for the township ride.
Tomorrow is a relatively short day to Alldays where we will be staying in the hotel again. We are coming close to the end of our adventure with less than 1000Km remaining.
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