BB2BB2 Dag 12

Ek het 'n heerlike aand saam met Piet en Karen Nieuwenhuizen deur gebring met 'n heerlike lasagne en dlaai vir aand ete. Al my wasgoed is ook gedoen. 

Vanoggend het ek net voor 06:00 aan die gang gekom. Die weer was aanvanklik uitstekend vir fiets ry. Die pad tot net voor Luneburg is 'n ou teerpad waarvan die slaggate aanvanklik reggemaak is, maar hoe verder ek gery het hoe meer was die slaggate en daar was duidelike tekens dat onderhoud nie meer gedoen word nie. 

So 'n paar kilometer voor Luneburg verander die teerpad in 'n grondpad. Kort daarna begin dit reën. Aanvanklik net liggie, maar toe al harder. Dit is toe "toevallig" op die punt waar ek die roete op my Garmin moet verander. Ek vind gelukkig 'n boom waar onder ek kon skuil en laai ook die regte roete. Dit is nog net 20 km en om onder 'n boom te staan en wag vir die reën om te bedaar maak nie eintlik sin nie, dus ry ek aan. Die paaie is modderig maar gelukkig klou die modder nie aan die wiele nie. Op een stadium kom daar 'n Land Cruiser bakkie teen 'n dolle vaart 'n bult af en ek trek maar, veiligheids gewyse. links en laat hom sy gang gaan. Die reën bedaar na so 'n half uur en die son wil net deurbreek. Ek stop gereeld om seker te maak dat die roete per my Garmin en die een wat ek vorige aand op Komoot gelaai het, oor eenstem. 

Ek is by 'n kruis en Garmin wys regs en Komoot links! Regs gaan na 'n plaas, so ek gaan links. Na 'n entjie stem Garmin saam dat dit die tegte pad is. Onder in 'n vallei ryvek by 'n teken wat sê "Thiele Estates". Die dame met wie ek dié verblyf gereël het se van is Thiele, so ek neem aan dit is deel van hulle grond. Bo-oo die bult kyk ek weer na die "pin" wat Deidre Thiel 'n paar dae gelede vir my gestuur het. Ek sien dat dit is waar ek sopas by Thiele Estates verby gery het. Ek draai om en ry daarheen. Op die werf loop ek vir Carl Thiele raak. Hy sê Basongoma is langs aan, maar hy sal my daarheen neem. Ons drink eers koffie, dan stel hy my aan van die familie voor, wys my deel van die varkboedery en dan ry ons Basongona toe. Toe ek nou na haar boodskap kyk is dit duidelik dat ons mekaar mis verstaan het. Ek was gretig om op die familie plaas te bly, maar sy dink toe ek bedoel Basongoma. So gaan ons deur die met gereelde misverstande, maar meesal werk dit darem goed uit, soos in hierdie geval. Haar Tante, wat baie betrokke by kanker kennisname is, kom kuier nou spesiaal vannaand vir my om oor my betrokkenheid by CANSA te gesels.

Nou sit ek lekker hier op die stoep en ontspan op 'n wildsplaas. Hier is onder andere renosters, buffels, kameelperde en baie bokke. Die reën het ook heeltemal opgehou en alhoewel dit nog bewolk is, is die redelik warm. Ek het ook môre se rit gehalveer en bly by Indwe Farm Stall oor. Woensdag se verblyf is ook bevestig. 

Ontvangs is swak hier, so ek weet nie wanneer hierdie verslag op die blog dal verskyn nie. 

Deidre Thiele se skoonma het kom kuier en die netto resultaat is dat ek opgepak en saam met hulle na die familie plaas is en vannaand daar eet en slaap. Watter wonderlike gas vryheid! Oppad familieplaas toe sien ek 'n renoster en die mooiste reënboog.

BB2BB2 Day 11

Another very interesting day! It started with the after effects of all the "oil" I consumed during my last two suppers. My stomach was a bit "loose" after Ararat's dose, but it really got bad after last night's  Fish and chips. I had to get up a munber of times during the night and reverted to taking the diarrhea pills Mike Smit gave me. Fortunately it did not really affect my sleep as I had a good rest. I ate the sandwich I bought with the fish and chips for breakfast, had a coffe and another dose of pills. As I am writting this, I can report that the pills seems to have worked!

The wheels started rolling at 05:45. It rained during the night, so I put on my rain jacket. After a couple of kilometers of tar on the R32, I turned right on a reasonable gravel road. I managed to download today's track onto my Garmin last night. First problem: while my watch was "on track", the Garmin was not happy! It showed the track about 50 meters left of where I was, but there was only bush! After a while I stopped the track on the Garmin. 

Riding was good and I went down more often than up. I did also plot a route to Piet Retief on Komoot as backup and checked back a couple of time to ensure I am on track. I came to a T- junction and checked on Komoot. That said left, while the watch showed right. I decided to follow Komoot. After a while I checked on Komoot again to see if I am right and then noticed that the Komoot track is taking me to the R32 12 km before Amsterdam, while a right would have kept me on gravel untill 5 km for Amsterdam. As the current track was taking me where I wanted to go, I continued.

I arrived in Amsterdam after 2:45 of cycling covering 42 km. The temperature was around 12 with heavy clouds and occational rain. I tried to get some coffee but had no success. Only KFC was open and I was not hungry. I did use their outside tables, which was covered and kept me out of the drissle. I retrieved a warm jacket and warm gloves and proceeded to put that on. Jacket - no problem; gloves - big problem. It is very difficult to get wet hands into tight fitting warm gloves. I gave up on my preferred pair when I could not get my right hand in. Now the second pair. Right went on, with a struggle and the left was a bigger struggle. Eventually I got that just about on. At least my fingers were in, but I still had to pull the back part onto my wrist. I put my rucksack on and off I went. While I was cycling, I pulled the back part of the left glove into place with my teeth. That was a bad idea. I managed to break a tooth! All in a day's cycling!

As the weather was looking very gloomy, I decided to stick to the tar road from Amsterdam to Piet Retief rather than my planned gravel road as this was 15 km shorter and in this weather the shortest route is the best. I always ride on the righthand side of the road as I can then go off the tar when a car approaches. I had quite a number of scares with cars and trucks passing other vehicle and getting real close to me! I also was appalled when on at number of occations cars and trucks overtook other vehicles on solid white lines. Seeing this, it is no surprise that our road deathtoll is so high!

At one point it rained so hard that I contemplated stopping if I saw cover, but there was none so I just continued. The Specialized rain jacket I bought from Cycles Direct/ Specialized West Coast really passed this rain with flying colours! In the meantime the temperature rose to about 18-21 degrees. Just before Piet Retief the rain abated and the son threatened to show itself, but to no avale. As I entered Piet Retief, it started to rain again. The only coffee shop was closed, but Mugg & Bean, which is across the road, was open. So now I am sitting here doing my blog while I wait for my hosts to arrive.

As promised, I will address Dana Murray's questions about nutrition and washing. I used to ride on Energade, but when I cycled with Hennie de Clrecq in Italy in 2017, that was not an option, so I went over to plain water and have been doing that ever since. Johann de Bruyn says I am a camal, because I drink so little. Yesterday one 750 ml bottle of water was all I used. I do carry a full spare bottle of water with me and do have the same amount of water as backup in the bladder of my rucksack. During hot days I do consume more and plan to replenish whenever I can. On day 2 and 5 I went through at least 2,500 ml of water. I do have some energy bars with me, but to date have only eaten three. I also do have some gels as backup, but have not used any yet. I wash my day's riding gear when I shower. As the air here is farly dry and cycling gear tend to dry easily, most stuff is dry in the morning. This tend to be a problem with cycling shorts and socks and that is why I have three of those. I also, sometimes, get my hosts to do my washing and tumble dry if necessary. 

So that is day 11 done and dusted. Tomorrow it is 73 km to Basanagoma Game farm. My hosts arrived at 14:30 and offered to take me to their place in their bakkie. How lucky can one be!

BB2BB2 Day 10

Ek het gesê elke tweede dag is Engels, maar dag 4, 5 en 6 was Afrikaans so om die balans te herstel is dag 10 nou in Engles.

Let start with last night's supper at Ararat. That is the name of the bar/restaurant at Vyeboomdam. It is constructed from zink and looks "ruff". I had supper there and felt like an oil can afterwards! 4 chicken wings, 4 chicken strips, a russian, pieces of spare ribs and chips washed down with sparkling water and an alcohol free Savannah. 

As I was expecting an esay day, I decided to only start at 07:00. Slept well and got going at 06:55. When I woke up during the night, I heard rain falling again, so when I got up and peeked outside, I was pleased to see that the rain seems to be over. There were some clouds, but no rain. 

I had to replace the batteries on my tracker, so stoped at Total Energies to attend to that. Then into town for some breakfast. That I got at Forever Resorts, which offered a buffet breakfast for R185. I got away from there at 09:00. 

The drag out of Badplaas is a 30 kilometer climb during which the ascent is from 1,031 to 1,798 meters. This took me 3:45! The climb is not so strenious, but it is relentless. Fortunately there were a number of "downs" to give the leggs a rest. The scenery was exquisite on all sides, but I was really relieved when it ended. 

I did plot today's route last night on Komoot and got that transferred to my Garmin. Now Komoot has gotten me into "trouble" a number of times because it takes you on routes which are not always accessible by the public. Now part of today's route towards the looked "doggy". This started just after I had to turn off the R532. Fortunately all went fine up to the N17. After crossing the N17 I once again had to go onto a gravel road, which was similar to the previous one, so I felt confidant all should be OK! After a couple of kilometers I came to locked gate! Now my cycling friends know that one of my failings in life is to honour the purpose of locked gates! As far as I am concerned, if you can get your bike and yourself over the gate, just continue! So this is what I did. I must also mention that this gate had a "no entry" sign, but to turn back would have added 20-30 km to my ride. The road was in and excellent condition and the fields were green with soya plants. With about 5 km left I passed very close to a house with beautiful lawns and a open garage with a vehicle parked in it. Now my moto is to ride untill somebody stops me and as I did not notice any "life" and nobody called me, I continued. With 3 km to go I heard the ominous sound of a motor cycle aprpoaching from behind me. A young man pulled up alongside me and asked me where I was going. I stopped and we started talking. He was not impressed by the fact that I ignored a "no entry" sign and climbed over a locked gate. We had quite a cordial conversation about the "do's and dont's" in situations like this and that I should turn around and go back. In the end "sanity" prevailed and Isak Roux gave the "old man" permission to continue. As a matter of fsct, he rode with me the the gate to the main gravel road to make sure it was open. It also turn out that Isak is a passionate Christian and he therefore confronted me with the million dollar question "what happens if I suddenly die". It was with a greatful heart that I could confirm my faith in Jesus Christ and asure him that I will join my wife in heaven. We greated with a "love hug" at the gate and went our separate ways. What a wonderful encounter!

The rest of the trip went find and I got to my accommodation at 16:00. After a shower I went to "town" and found a "Take Away" where I got some more oily fish and chips for supper and a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, which I will keep for breakfast. 

Dana Murray posed some interesting guestions about what I eat and drink on the road and what I do about washing. As this is all ready a long report back, I will address those points during sunsiquent blogs. 

BB2BB2 Day 9

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. 

BB2BB2 Dag 8

 

Wat 'n dag. Aan die begin het ek gesê 2016 se toer was "blood, guts and determination" en dat hierdie een "avontuur, herrinneringe en introspeksie" is. Vandag was weereens 'n avontuur 1,000! Hy

Ek stel die wekker vir 04:30 sodat ek 05:30 in die pad kan val. Ek kom so 'n rukkie voor 05:30 weg. Probleem nommer een: my Garmin wil nie aangaan nie! Wat nou? Gelukkig is die pad via Renosterhoek en Alkmaar na die N4 maklik om te kry en ek "plot" dit op Komoot, wat ook vir my wys waar ek ry.

Terwyl ek van Mt Andersen na Longtompas ry, maak ek planne! Egbert Robertson, wat op Hoekspruit bly en heelwat mense in die omtrek van Nelspruit ken, het gister gesê dat van hulle my vandag sal "aan cheer" wanneer ek die N4 kruis. Probleem nommer twee: ek het 'n "slow puncture" op my agterwiel! Hy lek nie te vinnig nie, maar ek sal 'n plan moet maak. Dit gaan nie werk tot in die Kaap nie!

My brein skop in en ek skakel vir Egbert. "Kan die manne wat vir my gaan kom "cheer" my nie dalk Nelspruit toe neem sodat ek die probleme wat ek her, behoorlik kan adresseer nie?" Die antwoord is beter as dit! Die persoon wat my gaan kom help is Gawie Combrinck, een van ons land se voorste bergfiets ryers! Dit is dan ook die man van Specialized Nelspruit! Waarvoor beter kan ek nie verwag nie. Gawie skakel my en na heelwat heen en weer, asook tye waar ek nie selfoon ontvangs het nie, kry ons mekaar by die Renosterhoek/R37 aansluiting. Tydsberekening is perfek en Gawie daag enkele minute na my daar op. Die plan was om alles daar te doen, maar Gawie aanvaar my voorstel dat ons eder na hulle fietswinkel gaan en dit daar doen. 

Hy vervang my voor en agterband, sit ekstra "sealant" in en was ook my fiets! Wat meer kan mems vra? Hy probeer my ook help op my roetes op die Garmin 840 oor te dra. Ons kry dit egter nie reg nie. Ek sal maar by my blyplek moet kyk of ek kan reg kom. Gawie is ook bereid om my met sy bakkie Kaapschehoop toe te neem. Ons kom so 12:00 daar aan en die tweede gastehuis het vir my plek teen R600 met ontbytpakkie ingesluit! 

So eindig nog 'n baie avontuurvolle dag en ek kan nie genieg dankie sê vir Egbert en Gawie en wat hulle vir my gedoen het nie. Sout van die aarde! Mag julle ryklik geseën word! 

BB2BB2 Day 7

The started fine with a healthy breakfast in the company of my hosts, Anton and Toekie Doyer. Toekie also prepared a lunch pack for me. I got going 06:15.

The ride to the foot of Robbers Pass was hard work. I just could not get a propper rythm going, but grinded along to the foot of the pass. This was 9.67 km long and took me 1:54.

A couple of kilometers past the top I took the Mount Sheba turnoff. It was very misty and overcast and within a couple minutes it started raining. I pull off under a bush to get my rain jacket out, but before I could put it on, the rain stopped. The road first climbed a number smallish hills and then plunged down to the Restort. I followed the GPS and it took me through the resort and then down an obsure track, which I remembered from 2016. After a while I was confronted with the same old medieval gate from 2016. Last time we could push it open. This time it was securly lock with a chain and padlock. I definately was not going back to the resort to try and get somebody to open it for me. I did notice that if I pulled it back, there was enough space underneath to get my bike through if I took the front wheel off. The gap between the two gates was just big enough to get the pedal through. My backpak I managed to get over the gate and I could climb around the side through the electic fencing, which was not switched or just did not work! 

The scenery was out of this world. I felt as though I was cycling through some English countryside forests in the middle ages! I did notice that my Garmin "froze". I just could not get it to re-act to any input and after a while it went dead! I did notice recently that it did not seem to like to get wet. Fortunately I do have a Garmin fenix 6 as backup and I did download all my tracks for such an occation. I switced that to Navigation and went to the relevant map. At this point I also decided that is was a good time to have lunch. 

After lunch I got going and lo and behold, my Garmin came back to life. That was a relieve as it is difficult to navigate with a watch. My rout took me down the mountain and I remembered to route from 2016. I got to a point where I remembered that we turned right last time, but this time the GPS let me go left. I also noticed that I am loosing more hight than what I would have liked, but according to Garmin I was on the right track. After some more ups and downs, I suddenly came upon a tar road! I immediately realise that something is wrong. I started checking on my other maps and saw that I was on the road from Graskop to Sabie, very far from where I wanted to be! It was 15:15 and the only option was to go the Sabie and take stock once I get there.

It took me an hour and a half to cover the 18 km to Sabie, which had some wonderful down hills but also some nasty "kickers" going up. Sabie is fairly run down and had load schedding from 15:00-17:00 so generators were going everywhere. In the end I ended up at the golf club where I had a Coke and access to the internet. The nearest place to Longtom Pass, where I need to start tomorrow, was Mt Andersen and Lekkeslaap show 3 B&B's in that area. I cycled there. The first B&B did not re-act to any form of drawing attention and the number was on voicemail. The other two was nowhere to be found! A forth one had "For Sale" signs up! I was just about to give up hope when 4 youths came walking down the street. I asked then and they directed me to a place 100 meters futher on. Here I found "life" and a place to stay for the night. I even got a free plate of spaghetti bolognaise and salads!

So ended quite an eventful day. Oh, the reason why I "got lost" was because I loaded the wrong GPS map! Must be more careful in future.