Things have been a bit hectic lately! Sorry, I do not always have the opportunity to write because of time issues, bad weather or no mobile reception. Excuses, excuses....
At this stage I am not even sure where I left off. Will try to recap briefly:
Day 1: Heideplaas to Wilderness - 77.5km
Day 2: Wilderness to Mossel Bay - 81.93km
Day 3: Mossel Bay to Gouritz - 67.46km
Day 4: Gouritz to Jongensfontein - 65.35km
Rest Day
Day 5: Jongensfontein to Witsand - 85.72km
Day 6: Witsand to De Hoop Nature Reserve via Malgas Pont - 66.85km
Day 7: De Hoop to Waenhuiskrans/Arniston - 77.71km
Rest Day
Day 8: Waenhuiskrans to Pearly Beach via Elim - 85.65km - will tell more about this ride below
Day 9: Pearly Beach to Hermanus (Sandbaai) - 71.74km
Day 8: Waenhuiskrans to Pearly Beach:
We decided to take a rest day in Waenhuiskrans and explore the surrounding area. After a night of heavy rain and a leaking tent, we set off towards Die Mond, Struisbaai and Cape Agulhas, the southern most point of Africa.
I suspect that due to the rain the previous night, there were many small tortoises out, drinking from the puddles in the road. This is always a pretty sight for me.
Die Mond is a "Cape Nature" Reserve with lovely picnic spots under the Milkwood trees, hiking trails and fresh water fishing. Worth a visit if you can spend the day as you have to pay a R25 entrance fee. We only had a quick look around and then continued on to Struisbaai.
Even though the wind was pumping, Struisbaai harbour was its usual, beautiful self with aquamarine water and colourful fishing boats. Great spot for photography and after taking some pictures, we had a quick drink at the Harbour Cafe.
From there, you continue in a westerly direction, driving right up against the rocky beaches to Cape Agulhas with its beautiful lighthouse built with limestone rocks from the area.
The Southern most point is a short distance away - I have attached a photo of Thys, Nerina and myself at the point marking the division between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
After a long day of exploring, we returned to a blustery campsite at Waenshuiskrans. Thys and Nerina's big tent (which I had been using the night before) was taking punishment in the wind and we decided to collapse it and that I would pitch my little tent for the night.
And so the morning of 24 March arrived. The plan was to ride to Elim - a Moravian Mission station with lovely Cape Dutch style thatched cottages lining the main road, spend the night there and push through to Hermanus the following day.
The going to Elim was good as the road had been tarred since the last time I drove on it. This came as a pleasant surprise and made riding much easier. There was a bit of a head wind in the morning, but since the terrain was quite flat, it was manageable. When I got to Elim, I phoned Nerina to ask her to find out how far it was to Pearly Beach. If I could push through, it would mean a shorter ride on the 25th. She said that it was somewhere between 25 and 35km and so I decided to push on (as it was still only 12:00).
But, ouch! The wind had picked up and was now coming directly from the front. This made the going very tough and there were times that I was doing 6 to 7km/h on flat roads! The road surface was now gravel, but it was in a fairly good condition.
A car pulled up next to me along the way (a lady and gentleman from Haga Haga in the Eastern Cape) and wanted to know the standard: where are you from, where are you going, why etc! The kind gentleman offered to drive slowly if I wanted to hold onto the trailer he was pulling, but I opted not to do this, as I don't think it would be very safe.
At one stage, I was asking God: if He could cleft the Dead Sea for the Israelites, could he not put a gap in the wind for me? Well, he sent my answer in the shape of a silver Isuzu bakkie with Nerina behind the wheel! I explained to her where to drive, and suddenly, because I was riding in the lee of the bakkie, I could my push my speed up to 20km/h going up slight hills! Believe me however, I was eating dust!
After way too short a distance, we had to turn off to the left and go over a hill (mountain?) with the wind blowing solidly from my right. By this time, it had picked up to at least 60km/h and road conditions had deteriorated seriously. There were many corrugations and lots of loose gravel. The wind from the side did not help at all and as a matter of fact, I was blown off my bike (or should I rather say the bike was blown out from underneath me). With the gusts, the bike was veering all over the show, and it was inevitable that my front wheel would end up in the loose gravel - and down she went! I am a bit bruised, but it is always the ego that takes a bigger beating!
The downhill that followed, was scary as I knew I was going too fast for the road conditions, 65.2km/h with a fully loaded bike!
The corrugations got worse and at times it was extremely difficult to make head way. Thys and Nerina had gone ahead at this stage to find accommodation and we ended up booking into a self-catering unit in Pearly Beach.
We had dinner at Loko 15, a local pub and restaurant. Lamb/tomato bredie(stew) was the dish of the day and at R25 a pop, it was an absolute bargain.
25 March: Pearly Beach to Hermanus (Sandbaai)
I woke up at 6am, packed my stuff and made coffee and oats for breakfast.
By 7:45 I was on the road. Not much sign of the predicted 30km/h westerly, but I was not going to complain! There were low clouds and it was wonderfully cool.
Not long into the ride, the first rain started falling, but did not stay around for too long. The road was virtually flat, and the going was good. As a matter of fact, I got to Gansbaai with an average speed of 20.7km/h!
Just out of Gansbaai, it started raining again, this time quite heavily with visibility decreasing rapidly. The road was very busy, and I was keeping a sharp eye on my rear view mirror. Every time a big truck (especially trucks - although cars are worse, just less scary) came up from behind, I pulled off the road and cycled on the gravel shoulder. The main climbing of the day, was done between Gansbaai and Stanford, but I have enough gears, even though my legs are tired!
I popped in to see some friends in Stanford, but they weren't in, so I kept going to Hermanus. Sadly, with the rain, the clouds were very low and I could not see much of the majestic mountains of the area. The weather was clearing as I approached Hermanus and my spirits started soaring as Hermanus was very much a milestone on this journey. If I had a breakdown between Plett and Hermanus, I would have had to make some plan for a lift, but from here on, we will have a trailer behind the bakkie with extra space.
Again I beat Thys and Nerina to our destination - her brother's house. Deon gave me some coffee and when my friends arrived, I tucked into some lunch (at least 5 slices of bread, an egg and avocado!) I am still a growing girl, after all!
After a warm shower, I had a very refreshing snooze and am writing this page now.
Stats for today: Distance 71.74km; Time on trail 4:02 ; time actually cycling 3:40 ; calories 1773
This page is too long, but at some later stage, when I run out of things to say, I will tell you more about my nutrition on the bike and other interesting things. (If this kind of thing interests you!)
Tomorrow is another rest day, and I must say, the timing is perfect! My body is a bit bruised and tender after the fall yesterday and it will do me good to rest and recover. We will clean the bakkie, do some birding and sightseeing in Hermanus.
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