Llise Dobbs arrived at Allemanskraal just after me. We had a nice time with the Featherstones, which included a good supper.
On Monday morning we hit the road at 06:20. It is 46 km to Graaff-Reinet and the road is fairly flat with only one hill just before Adendorp. There is again a lot of corrigations but not as bad as the previous day. It took us just under 4 hours to cover the 46 km. We stopped at Coldstream for refreshments then tackled the road to Nieu Bethesda.
The first 22 km is on the R63 to Murraysburg. After 14 km we hit Ouberg Pass. 6 km long with a steady climb. After 4 km I stopped for a break and we push to the top where the road to Nieu Bethesda turns off. Here we commenced cycling again. We still have to do about 30 km before we get to Nieu Bethesda. It once again is a good quality gravel road going up and down over the hills.
We stared running low on water and I saw a farm house about 300 meters from the road. We decided to see if we can find water there. Before we went through the gate, I look at my map and notice that we missed the Nieu Bethesda turn off about 2 km back! We proceed to the farm house and found a locked gate. We walk around the back of the house and the dogs began to bark. At last Hendrik appears. He was taking an afternoon nap to miss the heat. He fills our water bottles and confirm that we must go back. If we did not miss the turn off, we would not have found water because the house can not be seen from the point where we had to turn off! Our first "luck" for the day.
We got back and started on a beautiful road past a river over some hills and down to another river. Here the road deadended into a farm. I got back to my map and saw that we once again missed the turn off. In our defence I must mention that there are no road signage on these roads. The temperature hovered between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius. There was a period when we had some cloud cover and it dropped to 26, but that was only for about half an hour. We were again taken over a number steep hills. The last is a bit of a "never ender" as each we think we have reached the top, there is more! When we finally do get to the top, we are rewarded with the most gorious down hill into Nieu Bethesda. We find some prople on a stoep and they provide us with ice and water.
It is now past 15:30 and we still have 60 km to go with two monster hills! Onwards we go. We cycle most of the first hill, but do revert to some pushing every now and then. The section in between passes quickly and then we start the last hill. It really is a monster and once again involves a fair amount of pushing. By the time we crest this hill, it is 18:15 and we stll have 20 km to go, of which the last 9 km is a gentle drag upwards! While we were on these two hills I though by myself that if a bakkie had to pass us from the back, I would try to hitch a ride! That luck did not come our way today!
The down hill on the others was from a next level. It really was a joy after all the suffering of the previous hours concurring those hills.
Just as the road started to flatten out, a bakkie aproached us. As he neared us he flashed his lights and I stopped next to him. The driver got out and introduced himself as Jaco Loots, our host for the evening. What an angel!!! He was watching my tracker and saw that we are not going to get to his place before dark, so he decided to come and fetch us! That was our secong "luck" for the day! We put the bikes on the back and enjoyed the ride home with him, where we arrived at 19:00. What a day!
Data for the day: distance 145 km; time 12:33; meters climbed 1,868
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