Boven / Kaapschehoop / Barberton / Malalotja
About 200 km
It was cloudy in Boven when we packed up, but by the time we reached town to fill up, it was raining again. The first bit of the day was on the N4 until the Kaapschehoop turn-off. I didn't like this one bit. It was the beginning of the Easter weekend traffic and while most cars were patient, there was an idiot or 2 that made riding dangerous.
It was a relieve to get off the N4. Visibility on the Kaapschehoop road was very low, so it was slow going. Luckily the few cars that we encountered on this road were travelling very slowly too. At about 60 km it was still a bit early for breakfast, so we decided to continue to Barberton about 50 km further. We followed the same route to Barberton than we did when we were here 2 weeks ago (Dirt road to the right, just after Kaapschehoop).
There was no one to stoke the donkey, but there was plenty of wood so we stoked the donkey ourselves, had a hot shower, and then made proper coffee. There was no chance of a fire in this weather and anyway we didn't have anything to braai. Luckily there was some leftovers from the previous night's braai, and a whole kg of soetkoekies (from the Barberton breakfast stop) with more coffee. All was well with the world.
About 200 km
It was cloudy in Boven when we packed up, but by the time we reached town to fill up, it was raining again. The first bit of the day was on the N4 until the Kaapschehoop turn-off. I didn't like this one bit. It was the beginning of the Easter weekend traffic and while most cars were patient, there was an idiot or 2 that made riding dangerous.
It was a relieve to get off the N4. Visibility on the Kaapschehoop road was very low, so it was slow going. Luckily the few cars that we encountered on this road were travelling very slowly too. At about 60 km it was still a bit early for breakfast, so we decided to continue to Barberton about 50 km further. We followed the same route to Barberton than we did when we were here 2 weeks ago (Dirt road to the right, just after Kaapschehoop).
It was a lot wetter than 2 weeks earlier!
We stopped in Barberton for a late breakfast. It was the last time we were going to have internet, so we checked the weather forecast for the next few days ... the whole of today and the whole of tomorrow will still be very wet over the whole of Swaziland.
We filled up and continued on the R40 (Bulembu) pass towards the Bulembu border post about 50 kms further.
A beautiful pass with lots of twists and turns. It was very cold and wet, and there were very little traffic on the road. It was a day for staying indoors!
There was very little activity at the border post. I wanted to ride this road since we were there with the Jimny last year November.
We stopped in Piggs Peak (20 km from the border) to fill up, and then continued towards Malalotja (another 30 km)
Although it was a short day (230 kms if you count the detour to almost the Oshoek border) we found we were chasing daylight again. We arrived as the sun set, and by the time we checked in, it was dark.
There was no one to stoke the donkey, but there was plenty of wood so we stoked the donkey ourselves, had a hot shower, and then made proper coffee. There was no chance of a fire in this weather and anyway we didn't have anything to braai. Luckily there was some leftovers from the previous night's braai, and a whole kg of soetkoekies (from the Barberton breakfast stop) with more coffee. All was well with the world.
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