Wilkinson's World

Archive for April, 1999

Mfuli (A) to Richard's Bay (B)

Final minutes – I kept my eyes peeled for a glimpse of the Indian Ocean as I progressed down this road, but was not to be blessed with even a glimmer of it on the approach to Richards Bay. It was to remain obstinately hidden to the very last. I finished the ride on the beachfront a few minutes after 8.00am when, at last, I made my way over a ridge of sand and was presented with the spectacle of the warm Indian Ocean. What a pleasure!

A hug and a smile and the journey was over.

General statistics:

Total distance – 1833.76km

Total cycling time – 74hr 17min 57sec

Average Speed – 24.68 kph

Longest Day – 7hr 50min 53sec

Shortest Day – 3hr 14min 49sec

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Day 15 - Mfuli Game Lodge to Richards Bay

Day 15 – The weather was kind to us on this, the last day of the trip. It was cool to start, warming fairly quickly when the sun came up, with no wind to speak of.

It was a comfortable ride to Empangeni as most of it was gradually downhill and the road was fairly quiet, but as I approached Empangeni the traffic picked up. I reached Empangeni at about 7.00 on a Monday morning and I guess that motorists are not at their best at this time.

The road from Empangeni to Richards Bay was busier still, and was rather narrow, making riding more than a little nerve wracking. I was nearly run over by a pedestrian who saw a gap in the traffic and decided to dash across the road, but was obviously not on the look-out for a cyclist.

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Day 14 - 20km from Babanango to Mfuli Game Lodge

Day 14 – The weather was really miserable when we awoke at 5am, by far the most miserable of the trip. We left Eagle’s View just 45 minutes later, with the wind already fairly strong and the dark clouds overhead threatening in the early morning light. Our intention was to drive directly to the spot where I had stopped cycling the day before. Right. We overshot our marker completely and had to backtrack. Just how do two people miss a signboard for which they are both looking, when they have a very good idea of where it is?

It started to rain as we offloaded the bike at 6.30am and the wind was bitterly cold.

The ups and downs to Babanango and then on until we had covered half the distance to Melmoth seemed endless. One uphill in particular, called Haveman’s Hoogte, just went on and on. I was in the lowest possible gear and it was still an absolute grind. Four heavily laden timber trucks, each with a heavily laden trailer were stopped on this hill – the truck in front appeared to have broken down – and this provided a slight distraction as I weaved past them. Near the top of Haveman’s Hoogte, while standing up to bring maximum weight to bear on the pedals and so slightly off balance, I rode onto a very slippery patch of oil soaked tar. You’ve seen what happens when a Formula One racing car hits a patch of oil at 240kph? Well, this was nothing like that. At 12 or 15kph the wheels slid, my feet shot off the pedals in anticipation of a fall, the bike went one way, my blood pressure went another and before you could shout “Oily patch!” the oily patch was behind me. And I still wasn’t at the top of the hill.

The potholes along this stretch, most noticeably between Babanango and Melmoth, as well as the corrugations in the tar caused by the heavy trucks, made riding thoroughly uncomfortable at times. It was not possible to hug the left curb, as I had done for most of the ride, and I was forced to duel with the cars and trucks for the more ridable surface towards the middle of the road. In truth a bicycle versus a ten-ton truck does not make for a fair duel.

Melmoth is situated in an area of hills that are ideal for the growing of trees, particularly wattle, and in 1926 a factory was established here for the production of tanning extract from locally grown wattle bark. I can’t vouch for the suitability of the soil, but I can certainly vouch for the presence of the hills. Past Melmoth, and on I rode.

It was really a moment to savour when we saw the first Richards Bay road sign (the port was 64km away) and I briefly entertained the idea of pushing on to the end. Just 10km further on, however, Avril had discovered the Mfuli Game Ranch and we decided to stop there for the night. It was nicely positioned, with just a few hours of cycling left to take us to the Indian Ocean.

We spent a very pleasant evening on the wooden deck of the reception area with a couple of beers as the sun went down, and could have been a million miles from civilisation. Inside the bar there was a scramble to watch the Formula One Grand Prix being broadcast on TV, but it seemed weirdly divorced from cycling through the hills of the Babanango district. We stayed outside and basked in the notion that the trip was almost done.

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Day 13 - Junction N11 & R602 to 20km from Babanango

Day 13 – A thunder shower in the early part of last evening left the air cool and fresh, but except for the occasional puddle on the road, there was very little evidence of the rain as we made our way back to where we had stopped cycling the day before. I offloaded the bike and set off along the R602 towards Dundee. This is a pleasant stretch of road, taking us past the site of the Battle of Elandslaagte, which was one of the early battles of the Anglo-Boer War, taking place in 1899. The traffic was fairly light and although the road was narrow, it was a very pleasant ride.

I reached Dundee in well under two hours and we were well into the coalfields of KwaZulu Natal. Dundee was the site of the Battle of Talana during the Anglo-Boer War and this is commemorated by a unique museum located on the battlefield and embracing many of the forts and gun emplacements that were used during the battle.

Exiting Dundee, I turned on to the R68. This change made it seem like the “last leg” of the journey as the R68 will take us well on our way to the coast and is therefore something of a psychological boost.

But there is no end to the rolling hills! Up and down, up and down. I guess we are losing altitude, but my legs would disagree most strongly. This is the section of roadway popularly known as the Battlefields Route and it led us past the Rorke’s Drift turnoff, and later past the Isandhlwana turn off. These hills were the scene of several great battles during the Anglo-Zulu war, witness to great bravery on both sides, and also to the deaths of numerous soldiers on both sides.

Cycling along the strip of tarred road in the pleasant autumn sunshine, the red jackets and gunfire, the blood curdling yelling and the beating of spears on shields seemed light years away. The hills of KZN, it is said, are well fertilised with the blood of its people. So sad.

We were well into rural KwaZulu Natal where the villages that we passed through have names like Nqutu and Silushana, and the local folk are extremely friendly. There is much waving, whistling and shouted greetings. I guess a lone cyclist on this road is something of a novelty.

“Hey, where have you come from?” This from a chap on the side of the road, who sported a magnificent set of teeth that would have done any toothpaste advert proud.

“Port Nolloth.”

“Where?”

“The west coast.”

“Where?”

“Ladysmith.”

“No, man! That’s too far!”

I eventually stopped the day’s ride just 20km short of Babanango and hitched the bike onto the back of the car. We drove into Babanango to find that the advertised B&B we had planned to stay at was closed, apparently as the lady of the house had taken herself off to have a baby. Babanango, which means “father, there it is”, a kind of “Eureka!” reference to a nearby hill, is a small village and there are not a lot of accommodation options. We back-tracked a short way, then followed the signboards to the Eagle’s View Lodge which we recalled seeing advertised on the way past. This superbly sited lodge is a long way off the R68 on a rather poor dirt road, but offers incredible views over a valley ringed by hills, which has “heritage site” status. We quickly settled down for a pleasant one night stay.

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Day 12 - Harrismith to Junction N11 & R602

Day 12 – Forget Freddy Krueger and Elm Street – the real nightmare is cycling on the N3 outside Harrismith in the early morning mist. I only started cycling at 6.15am, once it was properly light, but the wisdom of this decision was negated to some extent by the thickness of the mist. The limited visibility encouraged many of the heavy trucks to move over onto the shoulder of the road. Just where I was riding. Concealed by the mist until they were almost at my back wheel.

For the very first time it was actually cold when we got up. It warmed up later, but never really got hot during the course of the ride. What a relief! What a pleasure to escape eight days of sweltering heat, to feel the need to don long sleeves!

On leaving Harrismith the N3 leads through an impressive sandstone massif, that looms over the road on both sides. After 20 kilometres we passed the village of Swinburne, and another 10 kilometres or so brought us to the settlement of Van Reenen. Van Reenen stands at the summit of the Van Reenen Pass, and at 1680 metres above sea level may be the highest point on our route.

Thankfully the mist had cleared by the time we reached Van Reenen Pass which gave motorists more time to see me and allowed me to enjoy the spectacular views. At the top of the pass we crossed into KwaZulu Natal, the last of the provinces to be traversed before reaching the Indian Ocean. Downhill it may be, but this Pass is not easy riding because of the traffic. Heavy trucks travelling very slowly – I had to pass some of them on the left because the fast moving traffic in the right lane allowed no space for a bicycle. Somewhat hair-raising. Fourteen kilometres of steep downhill. I reached 74kph at one point, the highest speed reached on the trip, but generally a lot of braking and much slower speeds were required.

The road drops 580 metres from Windy Corner at the top of the pass to the bottom, and follows the route originally blazed by herds of wildebeest, zebra and other game animals migrating between the midlands of KwaZulu Natal and the highveld. The original road was built in 1856 and the present N3 follows much the same route down the escarpment.

Shortly after reaching the foot of the Van Reenen Pass we turned off the N3 and onto the quieter R103 which took us to Ladysmith, which we had planned as an overnight stop. We felt that it was too early to stop when we reached Ladysmith and after a brief consultation we decided to go a little further.

Avril made some phone calls and located a suitable place for us to stop for the night. I eventually stopped riding at the junction of the N11 and the R602, which, although not as far as I had hoped to get, was convenient to the B&B that Avril had located.

We loaded up the bike and drove up the N11 to the B&B, which was a farm situated on the banks of the Sundays River.

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