BB2BB Day 8

When we got home after supper last night, there was nobody around to make arrangements for breakfast or to settle the bill. We therefore decided to get up st 05:30 and hoped that there would be someone around by 06:00. When got downstairs just after 06:00 we did find "life" but a cooked breakfast would only be available at 07:00. We helped ourselves and managed to get going at 06:40

We were going to follow one of Steve Thomas' tracks again and after yesterday agreed to stick to it! That flew out of the window when we could not find the first turn off. We did see that the track we took  did link up with the correct track within the first 5 km and ours was more scenic. Once we linked up with the track we were taken through some plantations and along the top of a cliff, through some more plantations to the edge of a spur. We then started descending down the mountain what must have been a well used road many years ago. It was breath taking stuff. I did managed a couple of video clips and look forward to see what they look like. In some places the grass was a meter high!  In other places there were two meter high pine trees in the middle of the road. The scenes from above were breath taking. The effort which went into making the pass boggles the mind! Once we reached the end of the pass, we had to further negotiate our way down a disused and eroded track until we reached a derelict farm house. The road did improve after that but not much.

After 4 hours during which we travelled only 29 km, we reached a good district road. We now were in the bottom of a valley, which we had to get out off and the only way was up again. For the next hour and a half we pushed and cycled and pushed until we finally crested the last hill. This again provided us with an unbelievable sight over the next valley to the hills far beyond. During this time we covered only 11 km!

First we had a wonderful ride down the hill into the next valley. The road was in pristine condition and only our tired bodies kept us from making better time. We covered the next 22 km in one and a half hour. All that was left was the 14 km to Badplaas, which took us 57 minutes.
After 7:55 and 75 km we booked in at the Badplaas Adventura. Another eventful day, but definitely easier that the previous two days. Tomorrow should be an easy 60 km to Chrissiemeer.

I have now covered 736 km in 8 days.