Dirt and Trail Magazine October 2020

The 1100 Africa twin base model revisited.
We decided that a sundowner was a
good idea so we headed back to Clarens
before it got too dark. A few beers in and
a promise to the wife that she could go
shopping on Sunday with the credit card
got us brownie points to ride on Sunday
too…
Sunday was a chilled ride to Fouriesburg.
We went to kuier at the historic Union
House and Destiny Castle and had a chat
with the owner, racing legend Mike Fogg.
He gave us permission to head up to the
castle. We took a wrong turn and ended
up at the Caledon river.
All we wanted to do was jump across
the river and head to Katse Dam, but we
didn’t.
We made our way up to the castle and
took a tour.
You feel like you are on top of the world -
unbelievable. This really is a place to go
and visit.
www.destinycastle.co.za
Kyle Lawrenson takes his first ride in
Honda’s CRF1100L
Rider Modes, Cruise Control, TFT
screen, ABS, Traction control, Wheelie
Control, IMU, Manual transmission….
A few years ago when the Africa twin
1000 was released, our office was in
lust. Our Clive Strugnell in particular
did not actually want to ride anything
else.
The lady running the place was very
chilled and there was no issue with us
taking over the car park with the bikes
and cars and she wasn’t concerned about
the noise either.
We will most definitely go back.
www.lolasluxury.co.za
Saturday saw a breakfast in town with the
ladies before hopping on the bikes and
making our way to Golden Gate.
Before we could do any riding we had to
figure out how to use NASA’s control system.
I stand to be corrected but there were less
buttons on the space ship than there is on
the Africa Twins handle bars. It is all, however
quite intuitive and easy to figure out. And the
bike is packed with heaps of electronic aids.
We took a ride through Golden Gate,
one of the most scenic roads in Southern
Africa but we also took the two loops off
the main road into the mountains. Now
we were not sure if we were actually
allowed to ride there or not but we did
anyway.
The narrow roads Loop through the
reserve, a series of tight, twisty corners.
These roads would be amazing if there
was no speed limit but you get so lost in
the views that there is no need to go fast.
After our little expedition, we made our
way to the town of Phuthaditjhaba.
When I was growing up, this was a
fairly small town- and now it is almost
the size of Kempton Park. We did not
head towards the border, instead we
passed the border road and headed out
Witsieshoek way. What a cool ride.
We will be back soon to explore again
soon.
Having said that, he did show us little
road behind the hotel where we could go
and get some cool pics.
We followed the path to the top of the
mountain where we were greeted by a
spectacular view of the Amphitheater and
the unknown Dam that we couldn’t get to.
After a few more pics we carried on down
the twee-spoor which soon became a
single path.
After a few minutes there was silence.
This was a small problem because there
were 2 other bikes along.
I rode back to comments like “We are not
of Effing Dirtbikes!!!”
That says a lot about this Africa Twin it
proved to be very capable in the tight
techy terrain.
We made our way back down and
headed for home. The rest of the day
was spent taking the ladies for a ride, one
by one on the Africa Twin. We ended up
at the Ash River – this is an incredible
project. The water comes from Katse
Dam into the Ash River where it then
heads into SA’s network of rivers.
We also stopped off at the Van Reenen
family Grave site. It’s very interesting to
read the dates on the stones.
There is so much to do and see in this
area if you own a motorcycle. We are
very lucky for sure.
As a sidebar, Kyles goose Tazz said.
“Right, its time for an Adventure Bike!”
SH!T this was an expensive weekend…
The only one who was not convinced
was the youngest of all, our Kyle. So
as a second welcome back gift, we
told him to take the all new CRF1100
Africa Twin away for the weekend and
let us know what his thoughts on the
new bike was.
Where did we go?
We headed off to Clarens on Friday
morning and arrived at a cool little called
Lola’s Guest House just 200m away from
the Square. This made the boss happy.
Accommodation can vary in Clarens,
from quite budget to very larney. Our little
place was R500 pp/pn – this was for a 6
Sleeper and it felt like we were in a 5 star
hotel.
On the road to Witsieshoek, we took
a right up to one of the highest dams
in South Africa, tucked away in the
Drakensburg mountains. We attempted
to get to the top of the Dam wall but
we came unstuck, the security was not
having it…
A blue note and a coke didn’t even
convince him.
Good on you chap. However he did send
us on a big loop to nowhere, I think we
offended him.
Eventually we returned to a shut hotel on
the top of the dam where we asked again
to go to the view point. This security
guard was even more stubborn – the
hotel is closed, sadly, it did not survive
the Covid Pandemic.
Very modern, happy wife, happy life.