Bike Ride 42 - Touring Mpumalanga - Day 1

On Saturday I attended JSinSA with was excellent, but did take away 1 extra day we could have had touring Mpumalanga. But that's the way the cookie crumbled this time around.

I got home Saturday night and we did the final packing for the next day. Not much to pack as the space is very limited on the bike.

We left Sunday morning early, stopped in Bapsfontein for some petrol, and took our first town photo in Bronkhorstspruit, at the "Welcome to" sign we saw. From there I thought I knew better then the GPSr and ignored it and rode further north. This was the wrong road to follow to get to Loskop dam via a sand road I had ridden before with some other bikers. We rode through Dennilton and after turning right to Loskop dam took our first smoke break. 20 minutes later we were at Loskop restaurant ordering breakfast. After the breakfast we stopped at the wall so Trish could have a look as it was the first time ever she was here.

Then it was off towards Middelburg, and on route we stopped for 2 geocaches. One we could not find (on a dirt road) but had much more luck with the second one right next to the tar road as one goes up the pass.
Then it was along go-around-trip to get to Stoffberg via Middleburg. This road from Loskop dam to middleburg was in excelent condition. From middleburg we pointed norht again and stopped for our first @BMWMotorradSA #AlphabetChallenge photo at Stoffberg. Then it was not to far to Roossenekal where we turned right and went towards Lydenburg which would be our first night stop.

On the way to Lydenburg we stopped on Steenkampsberg pass for a geocache. This really was a superb geocache location as one gets a good view of the country side. Somehow I missed that it was part of the BMW Club Alphabet Challenge and so we did not take any photos of us there. Oh well. I am sure we will come past this point again in the future. Then it was not to far to Lydenburg where we filled up with petrol again at the Shell garage. My trustee steed only drinks Shell (although later on this trip I was not able to do this all the time). Shell garage toilets were clean, but the soap dispenser did not work and there were no paper towels. As there was still some light left we did a 3rd geocache in town by an old munument, and then it was off to get some dinner.

After dinner at Spur we rode the 2 km out of town to Rooidraai Estate Guest lodge, where we had a lekker shower, before turning in. I found this place 5 stars good. They had DSTV, coffee and tea, with milk ready. this place was the smallest of the 3 days, but I think superb. Trish did not like it that much.

Totals:
Total Distance for the day: 413 km
Caches completed: 3 geocaches.