Adventure and Dirt biking in the Maloti Mountains of the Eastern Free State
Words: Séan Hendley
Images: Séan Hendley, Mojaki Rammoneng & Footpeg Diaries
In the words of the Beach Boys:
🎵I’m gettin’ bugged driving up and down the same old strip,🎶 I gotta find a new place where the kids are hip. 🎶My buddies and me are gettin’ real well known. 🎵I get around round, round, I get around. 🎶
2 weeks ago, I was hanging out with another motorcycle brand on their ‘Weekend Away’ in Hazyview, a bit before that I was wandering across Botswana and Zambia on a bike and now this past weekend, I enjoyed the Maloti Mountains in and around Clarens and Fouriesburg in the Free State astride a new tricked out Transalp 750 with the team from Honda Wing South Africa. It was their Honda Adventure and Dirt Bike Holiday and the mountains were calling.
Honda Adventure and Dirt Bike Holiday Festival, doesn’t that just sound flippen awesome? Chuck in the Maloti Mountains of the Eastern Free State and you just know it is going to be a spectacular weekend. When I was handed the assignment and told that I was “it” because everybody else was ‘otherwise engaged’ I accepted it with a happy grin. Riding the Golden Gate on a great mid-weight adventure bike didn’t really seem like a chore to me, especially with the good bunch of people from Honda Wing SA – You really do meet the nicest people on a Honda.
The ride there:
We all started gathering at the Blockhouse 1-Stop on a crispy winters Friday Morning in anticipation of a properly excellent weekend of riding and camaraderie. Big hot cups of cappuccinos were the order of the day to stave off the winter chills. Our little group of 5 Honda adventure bikes attracted wistful stares from onlookers in their cars as we hit the road. The winter air does seem to make the bright blue skies just a little bit bluer and the shining sun even more shiny when you’re out on a bike in the countryside, despite the Baltic-like temperatures. I was once told that there is no such thing as bad riding weather, just bad preparation and incorrect riding gear. I was ever so happy with my thickly lined thermal riding jeans, Oxford Thermal socks, riding boots and 3 jackets, one of them a goose down filled unit, the other a thermal puffer jacket and my multi season Tankwa riding jacket. More so though, I was really grateful for the tall touring windshield and wind deflectors fitted to the Transalp, because goodness me… It was cold!
We had hoped to get a bit of dirt riding in along the way, but a long leisurely brunch at OJ’s in Heilbronn to thaw out, and a tea break in Clarens to take in the ambience had us hanging cable down the tar all the way to Fouriesburg, which was fun in its own right. It was just after national voting season, so as is the way in our country, the current government had fixed all the stuff just before elections they should have been maintaining anyway to try to garner more votes and hang on to their precarious positions. So, the roads are mostly in exceptional condition and we could really have a proper ride through the countryside and carve a couple of the mountain roads.
Where we stayed:
We joined the rest of the Honda team who had driven through directly in vans and cars to lug all the equipment needed as well as all the demo bikes in Fouriesburg and were split between 2 guest houses booked through Jana at ‘Di Plaasstoep’ restaurant where we also took most of our meals. The houses are renovated sand stone houses built more than 100 years ago, and they have been done to a high standard. Our place had a proper wood burning stove in the kitchen which was kept at full flame and warmed up the entire house beautifully, with the added benefit of that lekker woodfire scent drifting through occasionally, all very cosy and nostalgic. Each well-appointed room had its own private ablutions, a massive double bed with an electric blanket and goose down duvets, fluffy blankets, original wooden floors, period correct furniture and a well-stocked coffee station. Check out all the details of Di Plaas Opstal here.
Fouriesburg has never really been high on the holiday destination list, well not on mine anyway, but it is truly a little gem. Generally, we all try to get as far away from town as possible when it comes to holiday accommodation, unless you’re in Clarens or Cape Town or etc., but then you miss the character of the town.
We stayed in town and my first order of business after settling in was a wander around town. I dig walking around towns and taking in the sights, sounds and smells, chatting to the locals, sniffing around the shops and watching the people. When was the last time you could walk around your town at 9pm on your way back from dinner to your digs safely, taking pictures and waving greetings to the locals? You can in Fouriesburg.
The local populace are working hard to bring it up to spec. It is neat, clean and tidy with some really very nice restaurants. Accommodation is great, the roads are as good as they can be and the general atmosphere is relaxed, friendly and welcoming. I like the fact that a small forgotten town was chosen for this event to uplift the town and the community, too many of these old country towns are forgotten about and are dying.
Get to Fouriesburg, it really is just such a lekker place to be and with so much to do, especially if you enjoy the outdoors, mark my words, this is going to be the new Dullstroom or Clarens in a few short years, and wily investors are already recognising the potential of Fouriesburg…..
The Honda Adventure & Dirt Bike Holiday Festival kicked off with an informal get together on Friday evening at Di Plaasstoep restaurant, with live music, smoky wood fires for warmth, great food and much revelry. Breakfast on Saturday morning was an informal happy affair at the same place, and the food was even better. I prefer summer to winter any day, but there is just something about a chilly, sunny winter morning, sipping on excellent coffee and gathering around motorcycles for a chin wag with good people before heading out for a lekker day of riding that is just my happy place. I have only ever done it a handful of times, but each one shines in my memories so much brighter than the thousands of warm summer morning rides I have done, I can’t tell you what it is, but it is JUST LEKKER to me.
A short ride down to the main event staging area at Happy Days Adventure Farm just outside of town included our first bit of mountain dirt roads for the weekend and the excitement grew. If you have never been to Happy Days, you are in for a real treat. Firstly, it is in the foothills of the mountains with views that go on forever. Secondly, it is all built out of the local sandstone, some of it newer than others and surrounded by rolling green lawns that melt into the mountains. There is a great pub come entertainment area and most importantly of all it is owned by an old school dirt biker, Steve, who has a museum on site of some rare and collectable old dirt and moto-x bikes. YES! Belinda Carlisle was right on the money when she sang, “Heaven is a place on earth”.
The sun decided to put in a real effort and the temperature started climbing towards 25°C. Yeah, the nights might be cold making cuddling in front of a warm cosy fire with your nearest and dearest really lekker, but the days do get really nice for outdoor activities like hiking, mountain biking, picnics in the mountains and most importantly for riding motorcycles. People were milling about amongst the Honda arches and gazebos’ and around the museum, chatting excitedly and chomping on vetkoek and mince, sosaties and the like from the local vendors while waiting for the event to kick off.
This is country living and everything was quite relaxed and informal, after a little while we were all gathered in the pub area for a riders briefing before heading out to a skills course set up on the farm. The adventure bikes kicked off the festivities with the first loop around the MX track which is a couple kilometres long on the hillside. It included grassy off camber tight turns, a couple of humps, bumps and jumps, loose rock and shale and an entertaining short sandy section. It was fun for the experienced rider, easy enough for the beginner riders to wobble through and as scenic as you can imagine. The dirt bikes were off next onto the same course, which remained open until 4pm for everybody to ride at their leisure. As the dirt bikes set off, the adventure bikes headed out for what was supposed to be a hour or two through the mountains, but because it was so lekker and some clown, (me), kept stopping everybody for photos and videos it ended up being a lekker 3 hour jaunt.
Now, adventure riding in the Maloti mountains and experiencing the beauty of those golden cathedrals in the surrounding countryside under the bluest skies and the warm sun has to be on your bucket list at least 400 times or more in my humble opinion. Clean, crisp mountain air, crystal clear bubbling brooks and rivers, leaves fading from the brightest greens to vibrant reds and soft golden yellows and vistas that just go on for eternity – absolute perfection.
By the time we got back to base camp we were ready for a proper snack and a refreshing drink to wash down a bit of the dust. Live music was on the go, the fires were stoked and the crowd was gathering to watch the rugby. Organiser, Ferdinand Rabie of Legend Events, tried – somewhat unsuccessfully – to gather everybody for a couple of off-road drag races and some barrel racing, but the rugby was about to start and the happy juice had started flowing freely. It possibly would have been better to have all the challenges done before the big ride, but nobody was unhappy. It was a happy, chilled event full of great memories and I am already looking forward to the next one – I really like these chilled-out affairs…
A little bit about the bike I rode:
I have written a lot about the Honda 750 TransAlp and I am still as enamoured with it as I was the first time I made its acquaintance. I had no concerns about keeping up with the four 1100 Africa Twins in our posse. I knew she could easily run at the double ton for most of the day fairly easily, let alone our ton and a half cruising speed we maintained all the way there and back.
The Transalps fuel consumption is significantly better than the Africa Twins at the same speed. In the dirt I whipped along at 130/140/150kmh in some instances to get ahead of the group for pics and she was absolutely stable and only once did I hit a really big bump that banged through the suspension. I weigh 115 kg – so don’t talk twaddle to me about the Transalps suspension. I spent a lot of my off-road riding time holding on with one hand while holding my phone in the other hand and filming. The quick-shifter fitted to this bike is an absolute must and better than DCT in my humble opinion.
Other than cruise control, I wanted for nothing on the Honda XL 750 Transalp on this journey. She is light, agile, nimble, quick enough to be a giggle on tarred mountain passes, believe me, I gave it stick through the corners wherever they presented themselves.
As a single rider bike, I was dead happy. Had I been riding with a pillion like 3 of the Twins were, I may have had a bit less fun.
Get down to your local Honda Dealer and go ride one for yourself.
Thank You to the team at Honda Wing SA for inviting me along, I had a great time. Incidentally, this was just the final part of the event. It started down in the Cape at Tarkastad and finished off in Fouriesburg. Find out more about that here.
