FC2026 Day 23 Sandrivier to Montagu

 FC2026 Day 23 Sandrivier to Montagu

It was going to be long day, so we decided to get going at 04:00. We rolled out of Sandrivier at 04:08. Once onto the district road, we quickly got to the top of "Horlosie Krans", a 15 km downhill! What a way to start a day and on a road with a surface which was just about perfect! I took it gently, but Tilla was like a "bat out of hell"! We only regrouped at the Rouxpos turnoff, 17 km down the road. We now had 7 km which was mostly uphill. This was followed by a downhill to Rouxpos, the old Support Station run by the Roux family, but they have retired and moved to Lainsburg. Not sure what happened to the farm. Probably rented out or sold. 

3.5 km past the farm, we turned left to Driefontein. We now had 20 km on farm jeep tracks, through some, normally dry river beds onto the Ladismith/Lainsburg road going past the Anysberg turnoff. The road to Driefontein is reasonable and the first river was about anckle deep. Once past the farm buildings, the road became a real "jeep track" but was mostly on the level and ridable. Our first river crossing was at 38 km and what used to be a dry stream was now a fast following river, about thigh deep and 50 meters wide. Crossing had to be "gentle" as the riverbed was filled with large rocks and the stream was strong. The next 4 km was next to the river up to the last crossing where the river was following down the "road". Not too deep but one or two places where the current was strong. This "river/road" continued for about 250 meters and then we started to gain some ground. Once again mostly ridable, but fairly rocky. We reached the district road after we had been going for 5:32. 

Now it was easy riding right into Montagu, but first we had a lunch stop at one of the chalets in Anysberg. Mark Barnes was manning it and had prepared some macaroni with bolognaise meat for us. The weather looked threatening and we put on our rain gear, just for "in case". After a 35 minute stop, we were on our way again. The road out of Anysberg is pretty good, but there is a lot of steady climbing, so our pace was not that good. In the meantime a NW wind started picking up, which further impacted our pace. We reached the Hoek van die Berg junction after 11:33. Now we had to "negotiate" a couple of "knobs" know as "Koppie se Nek" and "Tolletjie se Poort" followed by the downhill of the Ou Berg Pass. Once we hit the valley road, it was mostly steady riding into Montagu. I had some problems keeping up with Tilla due to not being able to use my smallest gear (the chain touched the frame if I tried using it) and I was not willing to "push" too hard on the flatter sections not to put too much strain on my "doggy" BB, which was "squealling" merrily. She waited for me as we approached Montagu and we arrived at De Bos at 18:40. After a quick shower, we were off to bed. Tomorrow would be long day again as we aim to push through to Trouthaven so that we can finish in 24.5 days.

Data for the daytime 14:32:47; distance 152.79 km; climbing 1,765 meters.