4,3,2,1 CLARENS!!

Bright and Early Saturday Morning and our quirky Quartet were once again on the move to adventure!
We were:-
-4 Fantastic Females (Ursh (Avatar), Me (Sparkyjo), Michelle (Hells belle) and Sharon (Sharon – she’s a nickname in progress) on
-3 Awesome bikes (A Honda CD 200 (Duran), A Honda CBX250 Twister (Trouble) and a Kawasaki Ninja 250(Beast), on our way
-2 just
-1 destination…Clarens! (A small mountainous, arty town in the Free State.)

The ride was both better and worse then we anticipated. Going down we found the long ride to be rather straining on our muscles and definitely noticeable in the rear section, but not too bad as a whole.

Until we hit the R26 that is.
A rather small, narrow road for a main road, the blasted thing had more pits and potholes then the moon (though less American flags) The grand canyon would have felt impressed by some of those holes and the ‘all-but-trees’ growing out of them! At one point Ursh looked a bit like a dancing puppet, sticking this leg out, (to show the other riders the dangers), then that one, then both, then that one, then her third one… O_O


[[This was basically what I saw for most of the trip. A pillion rider doesn't get to see forward though I could strain to the left and right. Mostly though I watched that tag flutter gently in the breeze...]]

The road goes on for kilometer after kilometer after kilometer after kilometer, with helpful signs that say “Potholes for 5km!” that, once you’d driven the 5km, popped up again telling you, “Potholes for 5km!”
We passed nothing but wide open beige fields of dead grass, with so many varieties of cows that if we’d been agricultural students we’d probably have been wetting our knickers in excitement.


[[]This was our view, add or subtract a cow or two]]

We eventually had to stop to rest our weary muscles at the first and only place we could. (A stone taxi shelter littered with booze bottles and fragrant with the smell of vast amount of urine).


[[At the shelter stretching our bits! That blasted backpack, I swear for every ten kilometers it gained half a kilo in weight!]]

But once we hit Bethlehem it was pretty much smooth steering to Clarens, where we picked up our keys to the place and gratefully got off the bikes. (Only to end up walking around everywhere making this the ultimate fitness workout weekend! Who has buns of steel? We have buns of steel!!)


[[The view from our room window, isn't it oooh?!]]

Oh and the place we were staying though!!! It was a full on house! Marvelously yummy and worth every cent of the not exactly expensive price! It even had a fireplace and did that make us purr when the night and the cold set in!


[[I want to live here!!]]

Clarens itself is gorgeous! Everything is a mixture of quaint and arty nestled between the bosoms of some beautiful sandstone mountains. You can buy clothing, paintings by the bushel, arts, crafts and more. And why not stop at the Brewery and try their many different drinks? (and relishes like the cherry and onion marmalade? Horse radish? Or cherry jam?) Speaking of cherries, you can go to the Cherry Company and pick up just about anything you could possibly make from cherries. (And a lot of things you wouldn’t have thought possible!)


[[Some of the relishes they give you with your meal! I can't even begin to remember them all, you'll just have to come with us next time to try them!]]


[[Of course we took Jovvi food! We had to put all my mushrooms in one bag for the trip to lighten the load. Oye don't make faces they were Scrumptious!]]

(Speaking of the Brewery again, they were selling apples at R10 for 3kg and boy did I lust after those red devils! Sadly being on a bike means watching the weight you carry. So we didn’t get them and now EVERYONE who has come in contact with me for more then 5 minutes knows this tale of woe, including you! I got an awesome fluffy hat instead though which was very soothing on my acquisitive soul and already strained back muscles. It left me with some deep warm feelings…mostly in my ears)

Funny enough, though the fire was lovely, the conversation invigorating and the food tasty, we ended up going to bed around 9pm. Riding a bike like that takes it out of you!
[It is here that I should remind folk not to leave your only set of jammies on the floor of the bathroom when you shower. My pants ended up soaking wet and I had to sleep without them, which sounds so deliciously kinky but mostly just made getting out of bed to go to the loo a small form of torment.]


[[More loveliness]]

Next morning Ursh and I bounced out of bed and watched the sun and mist come up over the mountains which is very romantic in a cold, cold, cold sort of way. After a good breakfast we loaded up our bikes and prepared for the ride home. Duran, the CD 200, was a little grouchy from having been forced to sleep outside, but once on the road she recovered her pep and happily kept up with the bigger bikes, bogged down as she was with Ursh, myself and that blooming backpack I carried everywhere! Duran is an awe inspiring little bike with a lot of vooma, she really belongs in our family!


[[Getting ready to go! Ursh patiently waits for me to get on while I take the must have pic! And don't we all love saddlebags?!]]

The ride back felt a lot quicker and a lot more painful. Muscle aches that had lain dormant from the day before started raising their knobby heads and making themselves known.

Once again we hit the dreaded R26 but this time knowing what we were up against! (And if we happened to have a small incident where a grove of fine trees served as an impromptu loo well, what happens on the road stays on the road…and my blog).

I think it was only the last stretch where our rears began to make their presence felt with thunder! You’ve never seen more bum wiggling then in the last few kilometers before home, none of the vixens at teasers could shake it quiet like we did!

All in all in was a wonderful trip though! Hindsight (Or the sight of our hinds?) allows me to write this with an extra warm and rosy glow that can overlook the long hours in the bike saddle. In the end it was 100% worth it! And trust me we will be going back again! For the ride! For the adventure! For those goddamn apples!!


[[Al our bikes glistening in the sunshine and ready for whatever next adventures come calling!]]