Trans Talk Adventures

Then the “fun” started, we headed out to the Rhodes area in the Southern sections of the Drakensberg with lots of rides and runs planned in the mountains… but the #Berg had other ideas for us! Rain and more rain, when we hit the first gravel road the Isuzu bakkie almost did a 360, the roads was properly wet and slippery. This was only the first blow to the little expedition. The plan was to travel along the foot of the mountains on our way to Pietermaritzburg (the next Trans Talk town), with some added adventure. Well we got the adventure, just not in the form we expected! After the bakkie did a 360, the wiper broke with torrential down pour of note on a gravel road with mud being tossed at the windshield with every pot hole you hit. We looked into fixing it but there was no way figuring it out in the middle of what now has become a storm. So out came the “Braai Tongs”, this was the only solution at this point in time and it worked except for getting sopping wet every time the tongs had to be used! We eventually made it to Balloch (crossing a few dodgy rivers along the way), a place I have long wanted to visit due to the #SkyRun reputation. Now camping is our preferred way of accommodation on these sort of trips, but there was no way #Littledude was having it, so we nestled in quite nicely into the chalet at Balloch.

The next morning’s destination was Nottingham Road (ambitious much?). Hoping to get a hearty breakfast at Rhodes, but instead we had some “moer” cofffee as there wasn’t much bacon and eggs going around in what seemed to be a bit of a ghost town. Right so now for the famous Naude’s Nek pass. So while we where having our coffee at Walkabout’s in Rhodes, the lady there scared the living “hell” out of Elmarie and Carmen as she explained with very wide eyes what exactly we where in for on this infamous pass. Immediately the stares of absolute disapproval came my way, aka “The Route Planner”. Naude’s Nek wasn’t so bad, these people don’t know what they are talking about, we ride, drive, run and truck passes like this for a living… About halfway through at around 2500 meter above sea level the Isuzu start puffing like an old man (technically it is one, at almost 300 000km) it must be the altitude, I think and nurse it forward, no it doesn’t want to go. Ok so maybe I have miscalculated the diesel usage and its running low? Out comes the tow rope and Carmen and I start singing very loudly in the car for “Lukas” as we get towed to a nearby lodge: Tenahead. We begged for some diesel from the very friendly manager and had some lunch at the lodge. The bakkie’s diesel tank got about 25litres added to it and off we went, no that was not the problem it seems. Out comes the tow rope again and the result was getting towed for about 75km’s over the Naude’s Nek with a wiper that wasn’t working and a vehicle that didn’t want to idle which meant, no hydraulics for brakes or steering. Let’s just say the weather inside the car was getting worse than the storm outside! We finally made it to Maclear, Eastern Cape where we spent the night.  A local mechanic was able to sort out the problem the next morning. A diesel pipe got damaged with a hole the size of a needle! R750 later and we where on our way again, now to get to #Notties. We made it without any problems except for the damn wiper that still didn’t work, but we eventually got it fixed with a combination of wire, duct tape, rubber tape and some good old “boer maak n plan” theory behind it. (it is still running on that fix at the moment) #Notties time was spent in relaxation with some family.