There are more ways of getting to Heaven than you can imagine, riding to Mohale dam is just one of them. If you have the right bike, the right bunch of friends then this ride is what you need to do. There must be a list you have made, somewhere in your house/office/garage, of rides you “must do”. If this ride is not on your list, now is the time to add and then to tick it off, heck you can even score it out of 10 if you want. This ride too compares well with the Katse Dam ride, also not made for the learners, if you try any of the rides into Lesotho; you have to have a few thousand kilometres under your butt and the ability to take the bends without holding all and sundry up as you creep your way to Mohale. This road is to be enjoyed, don’t try do it too fast, the road and the bends will win. Remember, they have been there much longer than most of you have been riding bikes. This is a 4th gear ride, but don’t be fooled, there are some seriously sharp hairpins to be negotiated. One could name the three tar rides in Lesotho – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Mohale – The Good, Katse – The Bad, Oxbow – The Ugly. If you are new to the twisties, I would recommend that this be your first.
The border post at Maseru Bridge is an easy entrance into Lesotho, if you can read and write and have a passport, you can get in quite easily. Have R30 ready to pay as a toll fee and in you go. On the side of Lesotho you will be greeted by a bunch of street urchins. They mean no harm, ignore them and don’t offer them anything or you will have bunch around you. No need to be nasty to them, just ignore them.
Whatever you do, don’t take off through the centre of Maseru to get to Mohale dam, it is a nightmare of drivers and people, neither pay much attention to bikes. There is a sign about a km in, showing Mohale Dam (turn on your right) take it. You won’t see another sign for some time, no worries, just ride. The start of the ride does not give one any idea of what the road ahead hold for you. You start up going through little villages with strange names, like Nazareth for instance, quite odd for Lesotho. When doing the road I think they had some tar over and did not know what to do with it, so they made speed humps in each little village, some painted and some not. The non painted humps cause some urgent breaking, so watch out as you enter a village and leave the same; there are always two humps of varying degrees of “humping”.
It is only after you take your last left hand turn (junction in the road) that you can actually start enjoying the ride and the twisties. You start to climb and if you have you GPS set for altitude you will see some serious numbers being shown, although you will not go higher than 2 633m while doing Blue Mountain Pass. You will also be going through a pass called “God Help Me Pass”; I have yet to understand why they called it that. It is not that bad at all; you will find this near a town called Nazareth, not far from St Michael’s Catholic Church, so I suppose it has something to do with religion and not difficulty!!
The ride is great, the scenery not quite the Katse experience, but don’t get me wrong, what you see around you is still breathtaking; you don’t get to see this type of landscape in SA. It’s one mountain after the other, and if you take a second look, you don’t see any trees. One wonders if they ever had trees or if nature bypassed this country when it came to trees. The only time you see trees (of sorts) is in the little villages, they are full of Peach Blossoms, a lovely sight, one wonders who planted these trees.
The roads are very good, although the stones and sandy edges on the cliff side of the road is a problem when coming back. I found this road a bit “dirtier” than the Katse ride. Katse has big stones/boulders; this one had stones/sand, which make it a bit trickier. I do suggest you keep an eye on the edge of the tar, especially when returning for the dam. There are some seriously sharp hairpins with steep gradients attached to them where 2nd gear would be needed to negotiate them. On the whole one can say this is a 4th gear ride, with the odd 2nd gear. Just be careful this makes for a faster ride and sometimes harder breaking. You will see more animals on this ride so be careful of their dropping, they act as oil on tar, avoid where possible. One does not see the evidence of the dam until quite close, not like the Katse ride. You sort of ride and ride and all of a sudden, there it is, water!!
A stop you must make and also take the tour is at the Information centre of the Mohale dam. You will be met by a lovely lady, with a strong voice, don’t worry even the deafest amongst you will hear what she has to say. The tour will cost you R10, well worth it and is actually most enlightening. You will hear how the dam wall was built, how the height of 145m was attained etc. Some really interesting facts are gleamed from this talk. After running through different charts and illustrations, you are shown a model of the dam. This done and absorbed, don’t worry there is no written exam; you will be ushered off to the dam wall itself for more. You need to get back on the bikes and head down a steep gradient to the wall and you must park in front of the rock face which actually acts a great backdrop for pics of the bikes. Here you will be taken into the dam wall to see how things work. Just keep to the steps and don’t wonder off, like the sheep and goats you see in the mountains, you will be reprimanded by the very same lady with the strong voice. After this there is time for pics and posing before you head back, in our case to the Mohale Lodge for the night. This Lodge has been organized for the lunch as this is the only place in the area to supply food and refreshments, and let me tell you, you will need both after the ride. For those that need to keep your food and liquid intake at certain levels, take something to eat and drink, there are no stops at Wimpy's on this ride. The Lodge is 8km back from the Dam.
Now for some, this is a quick ride to the Lodge, in our case, on the recce ride, it was not quick and I must admit it was quite nerve racking. At the lookout point Colin’s bike refused to start again, no matter how much we stood there and stared at it, no look, no comment and no tinkering would coach the machine into life. Now what do you do 8 km from the Lodge in some of the steepest and twistiest of roads, you can’t push the bike and you can’t leave it there. Well one clever gent, who goes by the name of Seamus came up with the bright idea – tow it, and even produced a tow rope! Now nobody in the group had towed a bike before, granted we had seen it in books and some even read about it, but no practical experience amongst us. After some discussions and testing it was done, footpeg to footpeg, right side tows left side. Now who is going to do the towing? As the leader of the group and without a pillion I drew the short straw. Now let me tell you chaps and girls out there, this is not something I would recommend you run out and try, not on these roads. I had never done this and had no idea what to do. What we did do is tow up the hills, and some very steep ones, and down the hills Colin freed the bike as far as it would go, which was ¼ way up the next steep incline, which made starting the towing a bastard up the hill. But never the less we made it, another first for me. No damage to either bike or rider. The bike was left behind at the Lodge when we left.
When I arrived at the lodge, after my towing experience my wife was so happy to see me she even did a jig!!
The next day would also be a first for me, I have never pillioned a guy before. If any of you know Colin, you will also know he is not the smallest card in the deck and I am not the biggest either. So it was sort of an unfair situation, but heck what are friends for. I just hope that if something like that happened to my bike that I would be treated the same. They say do unto others as you would want done unto yourself – remember that.
After some great food and conversation we all decided to call it a day and headed off to our rooms. The next day was the long ride back home.
After a more than adequate breakfast we saddled up and got ready to go. Now this is where the fun started, I am told Colin getting onto the bike as a pillion (also his first) was not a pretty site. The bike was tossed around like some dingy on the rough sea, pretty hectic!! Once moving it was okay, I was not the fastest kid on the block anymore, but still managed to maintain a decent speed, all the way. Through the border and on the home stretch, what usually was a good easy ride was somewhat difficult. The wind had picked up and made it an arduous and nerve racking ride. Often the wind would push you across the white line and really shake your helmet. With my bigger than average pillion I picked up wind like some yacht with all the sails up. We did however get home without any incidents and only sore butts. To the dam and back home was 1 236km, and in two days that was some serious riding, but enjoyable. I would not have planned a return trip last night, but as I type this storey the next day, I am ready for it. Just now need to service our bikes and replace the rear tyres of both bikes and we are ready for the Eco.
All you out there planning to do the ride for the first time, you won’t be sorry. Just remember, Rossi never practises on roads like this, don’t try being a Rossi or Stoner. Be careful and enjoy it, if you enjoy it the first time you will go back for more!!!
Thanks to all those that joined Anne and me for this ride, great ride and great friends make for a great time.
Witten by Wymoth
Accompanied by: -
Anne, John & Jenny, Ray, Colin, Seamus & Liza
