Deane's 2009 Motorcycle Trip
South Africa
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Deane's 2009 Motorcycle Trip South Africa |
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Nov 14, - St Lucia to Oribi Gorge Day 8 - 396 Km (245 Miles) |
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Today was a day of making miles to get to the scenic Oribi George. It was quite a ride, with Darryl leading the group of four bikes, and threading his way around and through small towns, toll roads, and other time consuming things that pop up. Riding 245 miles may not seem very far to those of us who live in the western United States. However, when you are rarely on a road without traffic or towns and cities, it makes for a really hard charging ride. The two-lane roads here in South Africa are usually built with an extra wide shoulder, making the available width for each lane the equivalent of about 1 and 1/2 lanes in each direction. There is a center line and two painted lane edge markers, with the edge stripes at the edge between the 1 lane and the 1/2 lane. Most of the cars and trucks drive with about 1/2 of their bodies on the wide shoulder. For passing from the rear, it is acceptable to take the side lane's 1/2 width and another 1/2 lane out of the regular lane, and then pass on the center line. That means that you may be passing between two opposing cars, one with you and one against you while you run down the center lane ! Its a bit scary some of the time, (most of the time for me) but motorcycles can continue their ride very much faster than to be stuck behind traffic. We did a lot of that kind of passing today - I don't know how many times we ran on the center line while passing. - It ain't your Grand Pa's Gold Wing type of riding!! Our weather today started out with temperature in the low 70's (F), with a high overcast, and it looked like it would rain at any moment. However we made it through all but the last 10 miles when it started raining. Of course, not knowing how far this rain would last, we stopped and put on our rain clothes. And, of course, when you take time to put on the rain gear, it stops raining. - It did just that. But we are now settled in at the Oribi Gorge Lodge, and looking forward to seeing this Oribi Gorge. |
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