The trials and tribulations of a lonely cyclist! I made a booking for Vyeboom Country Lodge via Lekkeslaap last night and made the payment, but it did not seem to go through, so when I got to the gate they refused to open until they received proof of payment. I made the payment again and have now been waiting for 30 minutes to get in and am still waiting as I am writing!
To go back to yesterday, when a padestrian next to thev oad tell you that yor tyre is flat, then you should know that it is flat! Well that happened to me yesterday just before Gawie phoned me and asked for a photo of the tyre. After I sent the photo I proceeded to pump the tyre, but for that I need a pump! I did pump the tyre the night before and proceeded to retrieve the pump from my backpack. I unpacked my stuff and found no pump! I must have left it at the place I slept. I contemplated cycling down this hill which have just taken 2 houts to cycle up to go and get my pump, because I can not continue without a pump! I proceeded to unpack my backpack again and lo and behold, there it was right at the bottom! These things are sent to try us!
Back to today. It started raining heavely last night and carried on for quite a while through the night. I was getting worried about having to navigate muddy roads. When I left at 05:50, it was overcast but no rain. The first 16 km was mostly downhill to Ngodwana and what a downhill! I hit 62 kph a couple of times and was in Ngodwana in 45 minutes. I did have my original route to Bsaplaas on my watch, but was not happy about navigating through the bush with that, so I plotted an alternative route on Komoot. When I got to the point where I had to turnoff the N4 as per Komoot, the gaurd stopped me and told me I am lost. I said "no" and showed him my route. He looked ar me the way you look at somebody who is insane but let me through. 500 meter along the road there was a gate where I was supposed to go through, but it was locked and to high to climb over. I went back to the gaurd. He informed me that that road goes to the shooting range. I looked at Komoot again and cross checked with Track4Africa (T4A) and saw that the two actually meet about 500 meters futher along the N4. I cycled there and found a good gravel road. There were no signs indicating where this road was leading to, but it corresponded with what Komoot and T4A indicated as the road going to Badplaas.
I proceeded along this road, which my new Garmin indicated was leading to Celdis Pass. The road was in a good condition and obviously was in regular use. There were Sappi signs all over the place so this must be a Sappi forestery road. After 5 km the climb of Celdis Pass began. It did go up to 12% but generally was around 8-9%. It took me just over an hour to cover the 5 km to the top. Once over it was ears behind the head and racing downhill. This was followed by a number of undulations through mostly commercial plantations and on to, according to the Komoot profile, the cllmb of the day. This did not have a name and was not as steep as Celdis Pass but 5 km longer. I meandered along, enjoying the amasing scenery. Very similar to Lady Grey/Rhodes area with many more planations and the harvesting of trees. Thr weather turned out perfect with some clouds and temperature in low thirties. No rain.
Once over the top of the last big hill it was mad dogs and englishmen down the hill again with a number sharp turns and on to Badplaas. The drag up the road from the tar road to the lodge was about 7 km and sandy. I arrived at the gate at 13:42 but only got in at 15:02!
So that was jyst about a perfect day and the weather currently looks fine and I trust it will be similar tomorrow.
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