Tuesday 27 November

Starting point:  Cape Town

Destination: Springbok (Namaqualand)

Distance traveled: 590 km

 

This morning I left Cape Town later as planned. I first went to Bloubergstrand for the well-known view of Table Mountain. The wind was howling and I asked a young man to take a photograph of me and my bike.

 

I couldn't  wait to get back on the N7 direction north. Only after passing Piketberg I had the feeling that there were less people and cars on the road. The inner peace that I temporarily lost in Cape Town returned quickly after Piketberg.

 

It was a beautiful road with green orange plantations, the clear Olifants River, and the majestic Sederberg mountain range on the one side.

 

The second photograph I took close to Clanwilliam. The Clanwilliam dam is full, which is a lovely sight. Clanwilliam is well-known for the "vellies" (leather shoes) which are manufactured here. A South African singer, David Kramer, always wore red "vellies". Today, for the first time in 5 years, I managed to buy of red ones. I tied it onto my luggage at the back of the bike. It looks good! (on the bike :-)

 

I filled up in Vanrhynsdorp, where the most embarrassing incident took place. In Cape Town I bought a riders trousers, which should protect me in case of an accident. It is meant for sitting on a bike, not walking around. Walking around is a wrong description, One waddles like a duck. In any case, I filled up the bike. An elderly gent, Mercedes driver, took interest in my bike and luggage and strolled over. I tried to get onto the bike. No success. With the trousers I could not get my leg over the bike! I kicked the tank a number of times, the saddle, the luggage, but I couldn't get it over the saddle. It was so embarrassing! I had to push the bike to a pavement to get onto it.

 

The road circled around and through granite hills and mountains for most of the latter part of the trip. Beautiful! I wish I had more time on hand to go and discover some of the many beautiful tracks that disappeared into the mountains. Next year I will make sure that nothing or nobody is going to rush me to keep to a schedule. I don;t want that. I am going to do the trip to be free.

 

So, tonight I am in Springbok, an interesting little town about 120 km south of the Namibian border. It doesn't happen often that I feel in my own country like a foreigner. That is how I felt on arriving in Springbok. Even the sun set in the wrong place.

 

Tomorrow is going to be another long day.

 

Internet access may be problematic from tomorrow on. I will update again as soon as it is possible.

 

PS  Please excuse any language errors. I want to go to bed and my concentration is not up to scratch.