Staying with Corlia and Heinzi, 5 km before Kombat
Distance 65 + 10734 = 10799
Average 15.9
Time 4 h 7 m
Total from Amsterdam 16199
Location S19.712759, E17.740323

Packed up in chilly weather, ate our oats and said goodbye to Nicolas knowing we’d see him come whizzing past in a few days time. He hasn’t taken a break since Maun, Botswana and looking at him, he and his cycle pants look like they could do with a good scrubbing. He’s been wild camping most nights so clean clothing isn’t top of his list of priorities ????. We were pedalling by 07h22 and are thrilled that the wind, for now, has reverted back to mostly easterly … direction from 7 pm. We rode all of 2 km to reach Grootfontein and bought tuna, mayonnaise and rolls for lunch as well as a peppermint Aero, no fancy Côte d’Or chocolate available here as well as a chocolate eclair for Peter and some kind of a nutty pastry for me, the first decent pastries seen since ‘pa fell off the bus’. Cruising along until Peter’s tummy began rumbling so stopped for cheese (wedges) and tomato rolls and ate a tub of 500 ml yoghurt … I need a ‘piddle bakkie’ until we arrive in Swakopmund where my old faithful is being couriered to. I had left it in the ladies ablutions at Ngandu Safari Lodge. The landscape has changed from flat and dry bush to flat with a few hills and still very dry. After a few little hills which was welcome after seriously flat cycling in Namibia to date, we arrived at the town of Kombat and looked for a bottle store to buy a bottle of wine for Corlia and Heinzi but the selection was ‘el cheepo’ at the shabeen bottle store. I went into a small fabric shop, neat as a pin and chatted to Brenda and Agnes who have a selection of modern sewing machines and were busy doing alterations.

Back pedalling when Peter called out that we’d missed the turning … 5 km back. We had both seen and rode past the ‘Nehlen Farming’ sign and had commented on how successful the farm looked, never realizing this is where we would be staying. Corlia and Heinzi are fourth generation farmers here, the original farmhouse bult in 1905 with outside walls possibly 60 cm thick. They have just completed a renovation to the kitchen and the bathroom we are using, both of which look amazing. We were met by Corlia and sat chatting in the kitchen, Heinzi joining us shortly thereafter. Later there was lots of bustling in the kitchen getting Corlia’s brother’s three children ready for the new school term starting tomorrow. They attend a boarding school in Grootfontein so it was uniforms, bedding, snack boxes and sandwiches. I managed to repair the zip on the one boy’s bag for his skateboard. We had a lovely roast chicken dinner with vegetables and salad prepared by Peter. Time for bed as Heinzi has an early start to the day tomorrow.  Night all ????

– Peter carbo loading outside the Spar on a chocolate eclair

– A truckload of rose wood, destination … China

– A bit of game viewing on today’s ride

– I just liked this scenery

– Corlia and Heinzi von Biljon