8/6/2019 MCN Africa Princes Article 2008

1/3

8/6/2019 MCN Africa Princes Article 2008

2/3

www.motorcyclenews.com

OCTOBER 29, 2008 MOTOR CYCLE NEW

part of the occasion.Within minutes of wavingodbye to the crowds, themac roads ended and thert began.After some challenging

ding, we came to a plannedst point where we wereven a choice: The highad or the low road? They id: The high road is beau-ul, scenic and meandersom the mountains down toe coast. The low road will

ess you up.A group of 14 of us took up

the option of the low road,including the Princes redgroup, and the next hour wasspent dropping down theaptly-named Devils Stair-case a series of staggeredrock steps descending downa mountain. At the bottom we became the first evergroup of motorcycles tocross the Mtsikaba River andthen had to fight our way outthe other side of the stun-ning gorge. As first days go it

was a big challenge biggerthan anyone expected.

DAY TWO Mbotyi Lodge to Hole inWall 136 miles

AFTER the demandingopening day, there was norespite as day two kicked off

with the target of reachingthe famous coastline epito-mised by the Hole in the

Wall rock formation some136 miles away.

River crossings and steep

climbs were the focus as thesix teams travelled through

Port St John and Poenkop. As each rider crossed theriver and blasted up the hill,more and more water wasdumped on the bank of rockson the other side, making itprogressively harder for thenext rider in line.

In the afternoon we wereall given another low roador high road option. Despitethe extremity of day oneslow road, the vast majority

were well up for the formeroption. It proved an exhaust-ing end to a tough day, withsome serious rocky climbsmaking it a challenge foreveryone.

I was riding with theorange team, who showed

just how strong their spirit was by getting through every challenge as one no matterhow hard it was. Withboundaries already brokendown, the atmosphere in allthe teams was incredibledespite the fact wed only been on the road for lessthan two days.

Riders cheered each otheron when the going gottough, picked each other up

when they went down andproceeded to take the mick-ey out of each other at any given opportunity.

After another long day,there was time for a stop off

at the beautiful Coffee Bay before arriving at the stun-ning Hole in the Wall just intime for sunset.

DAY THREE Hole in the Wall toMzazappa Bay 95 miles

DAY three proved one of theshortest days in terms of dis-tance but the hardest andmost demanding by far interms of routes and terrain.By now, we were in the heartof the Transkei, where habi-tation is sparse and theterrain is harsh.

By mid-morning, as theEnduro reached the Bulun-gula, it became clear that theday was about to get eventougher due to a sickness anddiarrhoea bug that begunsweeping through all the rid-ers. I was one of the first tocome down with it, and wasforced to make a number of untimely stops on route,

with bouts of throwing up.I was soon treated by the

roaming medics that alsocomplete the route on bikes,

who administered an injec-tion and tablets. Havingcaught it early, I was able tocontinue, but a lot of other

riders werent so lucky including Prince William,

who had to sit out the wholeday due to the illness. After a hard start, the green

team I was riding with thatday stopped off to take agroup photograph and thensat breathing in the sea air.

We started to hear whispersof a sting in the tail to theend the day, in the shape of along and windy rocky gorgeat the very end of a toughlow-road option.

Unfortunately, with thesickness bug sweeping its

way through the riders fasterthan they could make groundthrough the demanding

Transkei, casualties startedto increase includingPrince Harry who, despitetwo injections, was unable tofinish the day. That left meriding with the depleted redteam, but after taking someadditional and impromptulow road sections, we foundourselves the last team rid-ing at the bottom of the nowheavily cut-up and looseQora gorge, with the lightfading fast. The next 30 minutes were

spent man-handling ourHonda CRFs up the 50metre-long gorge. Com-bined with the after-effectsof the sickness bug, this left

me completely exhausted.But despite the lack of expe-

rience in the four-mteam, they gainedrespect by getting thCRF up the gorge.

DAY FOURMzazappa Bay toMorgans Bay 52 m

IT MAY have only52-mile day, but dstill took us eight thanks to an incredriver crossings. Tstarted with a fantasthrough dense wmore reminiscent Enduro in Wales rath

Africa. Riding with tboys at the front of low group, I had to nfallen trees anddescents which meantaining 100% conceto avoid crashing. Tcrossings varied fro

across shallow, rocky wading across m

Theresnothingbetter thanputting onyour helmetPRINCE HARRY

Thecamaraderiethat comeswith biking isbrilliantPRINCE WILLIAM

The Princesshowed theirundisputedriding talentMCNS MICHAEL GUY

ders were allowed one day off from riding, during which they helped renovate a local creche

igue to ascend the top of the Katberg Pass first thing in the morning. It was a long, tricky climb, but the view was worth it

Michael Guy offers Prince William some advice as they tacklethe descent of the Devils Staircaseon day one of the Enduro

Riders kick up dust as they leave the Kwande Game reserve

8/6/2019 MCN Africa Princes Article 2008

3/3