BB2BB2 Day 25

 

The weather gods seems determined to make this an adventure of endurance, but more about that later! 

Last night I had supper and arranged for a bacon and egg sandwich, which I left in the fridge and had for breakfast. It rained quite a bit again during the night. 

I got up at 05:15 and stated at 06:06. It was wet outside but did not rain. I did put on a termal top under my rain jacket and my warm gloves. The first 8 km is on the tar road to Lady Grey and was easy riding. On top of a hill I took the turn-off to Dordrecht. This is gravel up to 5 km before Drodrecht. The futher I rode the wetter it got. When I left Barkley East the temperature was 13.5. It slowly moved down to 10 and then 9 and then 8.5! I looked, hopefully for some clear air to the west, but to no avail. Whenever I thought that the rain is letting up, it was only for a few minutes and then back to a light rain. Not a serious downpour but a persistent, relentless rain. I stated praying for a "good samaritan" who is on his way to Dordrecht and would offer me a lift, but to no avail.  I was riding well and was confident that I can continue as long as the road do not get too soggy. My hands and feet were wet through, but as long as I kept peddaling the body heat generated, kept me reasonably warm.  I saw an abandonded farmhouse and looked for a way in so that I could put on some more warm cloths, but the gate was locked and there was a fence around the place. 

At 25 km I saw another farmhouse. At this point progress was slow and difficult because the road was getting soggy, which resulted in extra effort needed to keep moving. At this rate it was going to be very difficult to make Dordrecht on my own steam. This farm was Morgenzon and according to the namebord  the owners were Cecil and Carien van der Merwe. I decided to pull in here. The first knock on the door did not result in any response. There was a SUV parked in front of the house, so there must be people. I knocked again and this time a  little harder. A lady appear, still in her pajams. She opened and immediately invited me in and offered me some coffee. A little later her husband also appeared. We started chatting and they suggested I have a shower and put on dry cloths. I had a nice shower and put on my "day attire". Once back with the family, I asked Cecil if he would take me to Drodrecht and offered to pay him to do it. He thought about it and agreed that his son, Cronje, who is off the America to work on a farm, can take me! They enquired about my ride and it transpired that Carien's dad is a cousin of the husband of my cousin Ina Botha, with whom I plan to stay in three days! How awesome is that! Her dad is the neighbour of James Reeders of Rhodes who came to my rescue two days ago! 

So after some more coffee and a ham and cheese toasted bread, we were off to Dordrecht. The rain was still falling and the road was very wet up to Rossouw. From here it got beter and as we approached Dordrecht, the son popped out. We got to Drodrecht at 10:40. I agreed to put 50 liters of diesel into the Landcruiser at my cost as payment for the lift. I booked in, paid for the diesel and Cronje was on his way back to Morgenzon. 

The son, which graced my arrival in Dordrecht, has mow disappeard again, but it is not raining. The road to Molteno is tar, which should make the first 60 km tomorrow ridable even if it rains. Then it is another 20 km to Romansfontein and Will and Stephanie Terblache, where I plan to stay over tomorrow night. So I should be able to get that done. Then we will have to see what the weather is doing on Tuesday. Currently it is raining again!