VRYHEID KZN: An adventurous ride to Wakkerstroom
The friendship fires were high at the ‘skaapbraai’ on Saturday evening
You know the feeling when you want to embark on an adventure, but never get around to it or can’t get a weekend that suits all parties concerned. Well, at last it happened over the weekend… Way before lockdown was implemented, we have been discussing taking a mountain bike trip to Wakkerstroom. But the trip being about cycling and good South African ‘kuiering’, we decided to sleep over halfway. This past week was hectic, with us watching the weather predictions and realising we were in for an extreme weather challenge over the weekend… but being a cycling group that doesn’t back down to any challenge, we didn’t even discuss changing the date. It was always full-steam-ahead. So we set out on Saturday morning from Vryheid to Luiperdskloof Trout Farm on the first 70km of the journey in cool but dry weather. We were all pleasantly surprised! We had our first water point at 32km after a hectic climb. The water point was well stocked with lots of goodies to eat, as well as hot coffee. Everything was still ‘lekker’, but then the weather changed and it started to drizzle a bit and got really icy-cold. But we pushed on and at the second water point, we were all clapping each other on the back. The last 13km to the farm was a bit more challenging after the two days of rain they had had. Certain places were a bit slippery and muddy. It was a welcome relief to reach the warm Luiperdskloof Chalets with blazing fireplaces. After a hearty lunch, we had a visit to a spectacular waterfall and then the men did some trout fishing. The friendship fires were high at the ‘skaapbraai’ on Saturday evening . The lamb was ‘fresh’ from the farm – thank you, Eckhard and Kiki Benecke. The Sunday morning trip to Wakkerstroom (60km) was a perfect day – cool but sunny skies and dry roads. After a shower and lovely lunch at the Wakkerstroom Hotel, we all headed back to Vryheid. Lovely memories were made!
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