1 May 2010 - Upington to Kenhardt

Hi again! Sorry, seems some of you missed my blog of yesterday. Seems that the blog page does not automatically date the entry correctly. I have fixed it now, so catch up on two days worth of news.

I am writing now from Kenhardt, a tiny little dorp (village) south-west of Upington. If you drive too fast, you might just miss this town! We are camping out in the back yard of a local odd's-and-ends shop.

We had a good stay in Upington, but I must say, my last day on the bike was on the 19th of April. This rest has been too long and I could feel my body protesting today. But then again, I had to do 122 km for the day, and maybe that was too much to kick off with?

First stretch out of Upington was good, and after approx 30km's I crossed the Orange River for the last time at Kanon Eiland. The river splits into 2 main streams which are still quite impressive when you cross them. Weather was good this morning and the road was good, till I crossed the river and got onto some corrugations and loose gravel. The scenery made up for it, and at 50-odd km's, I was back on the tar. The total ascent for the day was just over 600m, but there was very little down-hill, which meant pedaling all the way. By 75km I was ready to go home! But, again, this is about endurance (vasbyt) and I just had to keep going.

I saw another dead porcupine today, and was greatly upset when a tiny Steenbokkie jumped up and ran into a fence trying to get away from me. He hurt himself (concussion perhaps?) and I picked him up and put him on the other side of the fence so that he could at least get away from the tar road. I truly hope that he will be okay.

The total distance traveled to date is just over 2,100km and I am happy to be heading home now. This is a fantastic experience, but it will be good to get home, not that I really have a home that I can call my own. Rolling stone for ever?

Tomorrow is going to be another big challenge. Distance around 143km and many people have warned about the bad condition of the road. I put my off-road tyres on the bike this afternoon, and might just leave my panniers in the trailer tomorrow. We will see.

As I am quite tired and the time is moving on, let me get off-line and get into bed for a lekker rest.

Cheers and keep those comments rolling in, they mean a lot to me.