Freedom Challenge day 8

FCRASA day 8

The route out of Slaapkranz is quite difficult and our host had lots of stories about people getting lost and moving in circles. Our navigators were right on the ball and we got over the mountain without faking any detours, but it involved a lot of bike carrying up the steep mountainside, with no tracks and in the dark. The sun rose as we managed to reach a rough track running parralel to the ridgeline. This took us to the top of the neck. The track down the otherside was rough but ridable. Once we reached the district road, we looked for the first spot of sun do that we could have our morning snack.

We now had to tackle the Louterbron portage. This was on a very rough jeep track up a valley and then over another neck to some cultivated field on a little plateau. This was again followed by either following a rough jeeptrack or hiking your bike over a hilltop to another jeeptrack which took us to another saddle. Here the track ran on a contour just below the ridgeline. Once over the top, we took a very rough track down the mountainside. This was so steep that it was difficult just walking our bikes. We ended up at some cultivated fields st the bottom of the mountain. It had taken us 6 hours to cover the distance of 20 km from Slaapkranz to here!

The road from the fields to the local dustrict road good with a steady climb. Once on the main road we had a very pleasant ride on a good quality road with a fair number of undulations. Just before Rossouw we crested a hill with a beautiful downhill leading to Killian Pass. I was doing about 50 kph we the front wheel of my bike hit some loose gravel on a very smooth surface. I hit the deck with a bang! Bits and pieces were all over the road, but I was OK accept for a brazed knee and elbow. My distance meter and light both were beyond repair. I gathered everything together and continued down the road, at a much reduced pace! By dome miracle, my wireless odo, which stopped wirking on day 2, started working again. So I could at least navigate distances. At this point our group was spread over a fair distance with Johan R, Willem sn Hanko at the front, me in the middle and Johan L snd Sandy at the back, so nobody saw my accident. 

Through Rossouw I saw the front guys waiting at the Moordenaarpoort turn off. I just continued cycling aiming not to keep the group up, as I was slower. Halfway up the hill they came past again. I was managing a good pace and arrived at Moordenaarspoort about 10 minutes after them. Johan L and Sandy arrived 10 minutes later. We had a quick bite and I set off before the rest so as not to keep them up. 

It took Johan R about 12 km to catch up with me. Willem and Johan L came past a while later and them Harko joined me. We cycled along for a while, chatting about thus and that. We cought up with Willem and Johan L at the next junction. Harko stopped to enquired wether they should wait for Sandy or not. Shortly afterwards they came past me and disappeared down the road. With the aid of my working odo, I managed to find all the correct turns and reach Kranskop at 17:45, just as the sun was setting. 

 Thought I could a plan with my light, but the wire broke off and I now only had my headlight, which is only good enough for reading my narratives. Fortunately we do now have any difficult early morning navigations coming up, so I should be able to cope. 

Total riding time was 12:14:40 anf we covered about 98 km