5 April 2010 St Helena Bay to Elands Bay

With a good night's sleep and lekker breakfast in me, I got going from Sandra and Franks beach house in St Helena Bay at 8:15 in the morning. The wind was still pumping and it took me an hour to cycle the first 12 km straight into the wind (Mind boggling average speed of 12km/h!). Once I took a left onto the Velddrif road, my speed picked up considerably and I made good time.

The ride for the most part was fairly uneventful and I was pleasantly surprised to find that dirt roads I had previously been on, have since been tarred. This made the going much easier and for the most part the wind was from behind.

On the first 9 days of my tour, I counted 9 dead porcupines. Well, on the West Coast I have found far too many dead little bokkies, mongooses (mongii, what is the plural? Please!), bat eared foxes and snakes. I counted 5 dead snakes and 2 tortoises today alone.

Thys and Nerina spent a bad night at Parternoster, because of the wind and cold night temperatures. They treated themselves to a good breakfast at the Parternoster Hotel and then hit the road.

I stopped to fill my water bottle at a Potato Cold Store (this region around Redelinghuys is well know for growing quality potatoes) and was told that I had only about 35km to go and that there was a restaurant along the way. When I got to the restaurant, I phoned Thys and Nerina and was told that they were not far behind. I had done 70km by this stage and felt that it would be in order to reward myself with a coffee and toasted sandwich.

Nerina decided to continue hardening up her tender bits, got into her cycling gear and joined me on the ride into Elands Bay. I am very proud of her, she did over 25km today and coped well with the section of dirt road running between the coast and the railway line.

I mentioned the long train in the blog of 4 April. Well, we saw another one today: It had 4 sets of locomotives, with over a hundred cars between each set of engines. I would estimate that there were 350 carts, full of iron ore and at least 12 engines. A sight that brought a lump to my throat. I stopped to take a photo or two and enjoyed listening to the wheels singing on the rails.

The landscape from Velddrif is very flat, but as you approach Elands Bay, there are rocky outcrops (small mountains?) on the inland side. A truly spectacular part of the country even though it is in its dry season now. I am hoping to see a Black Eagle tomorrow, as the area is perfect for them!

Total distance today, was 95.86km and I was out on the trail just under 8 hours. Nerina cycled the last 25km with me and up until she joined me, I was averaging just under 19km/h (remember the first hour at 12km/h). I burnt over 2000 calories but believe that I have consumed far more than that after we had our left over oxtail stew this evening!

Tomorrow, we head off to Lamberts Bay. I am not sure how far it is, but it should be fairly short (well under 50km) as there is a toll road that runs next to the railway line. This does not show up on my GPS maps, so I can't plot tomorrow's ride. Will let you know once I have done the ride.

We are hoping that Thys will find some bait and catch us a fresh fish or two tomorrow! Let's hope for the best!
It's cheers for now, I hear my bed calling me. Please don't stop sending e-mails and writing comments on the blog - it is lekker to hear from you.