Wild camping 95 km from Upington, South Africa
Distance 137 + 12600 = 12737
Average 15.2
Time 9 h 0 m
Total from Amsterdam 18137
Location S28.221714, E20.377511
Goodbye Namibia, Hello South Africa!
Total distance ridden in Namibia 2954 from 18 August.
We had a sky filled with twinkling stars last night having slept in our tent without the fly sheet. Our, one night, adopted cats and dog were waiting at the door for breakfast. I gave them the left over banana flavoured milk which they drank, then dry oats and finally half my breakfast. I have named puppy Jumping Jack Flash ‘cos he’s a live wire and for his size, jumps fairly high.
We said goodbye to Stefanus and wheeled our loaded bikes to the locked gate … Peter passed the panniers, bottles and bikes over the gate and once all were loaded again, finally got going on the B3 at 07h05. My bike computer was going haywire due to the cable being disconnected … the front wheel twisted right around which separated the wires. As easy as yesterday’s ride was, today’s was a battle until Peter checked the tyre pressure on my back wheel. There’s a problem with the tyre deflating a bit each day but Peter can’t find the problem, it’s not a train smash.
Once pumped hard again, I was literally flying. We reached the border town of Ariamsvlei … a blink and you’ll miss it. We bought ice suckers from the small shop at the Puma garage and took a breather while eating them before crossing the border into our home country, South Africa. Customs in both countries was a breeze. Peter filled our bottles from a tap and the policeman on duty promised it wasn’t from a borehole, yayy.
We made a silly mistake by not buying coke from a cafe cum restaurant near the border and tomorrow’s ride is 95 km to Upington. There is bound to be a roadside cafe or better still, a farm stall. If not we’ll flag a car or truck for water. We rode an extra 37 km in the dark which will shorten tomorrow’s ride. Peter saw a short road, possibly an entrance to a farm so we pitched our tent about 50 metres from the road.
A car (skedonk), has just turned off the highway onto a similar road opposite to where we’re camping but drove down fairly far. We both got a bit nervous but are sure there’s nothing to be concerned about. We’ve been seeing a lot of Namaqua Sand Grouse and when they fly away in fright, they twitter and it’s lovely hearing the barking geckos around our tent. There is more traffic and trucks than we thought there’d be but I’m fading fast and will be sleeping shortly. Night night xx
PS. Happy Birthday to my dear sister, Pam Lofthouse. We have been in constant contact since Peter and I started this crazy adventure in Amsterdam, 23 May 2017. Enjoy your time in Johannesburg with Tracy and Craig??
