When they said it was uphill from the border town, Noordoewer, to Grünau they weren't kidding!!
I had a late start yesterday due to, yet another, flat tyre. Front wheel again, of course! Enough to drive one insane!! Lol!!
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| Proudly South African Pannier!! |
I met a girl named Su, from Vietnam, on the road. Hitching a ride to the Fish River Canyon. Unfortunately I won't get to see it this time round! And unfortunately I couldn’t give Su a lift!!
The first 30km took me a good 4 hours to cover! It is a LONG slog uphill! Thereafter I was given a bit of a break with, a much needed, 10km slight downhill.
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| Luna resting in the shade, taking a break from the uphill slog. |
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| Another serendipitous sticker!! |
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| A reminder at the foot of the downhill of how far I still need to go. |
Stood at the side of the road and had my first
live radio interview in Namibia on
5 FM! This delayed me by an hour and a half, by the time I got going again I only had about half an hour of daylight left.
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| Being interviewed by 5 FM at the roadside!! |
Here's the fun part!! I couldn't bare to think about not making it at least halfway (70km) to Grünau. So I took advantage of the spectacular full moon and cycled well into the night!
A man pulled up next to me in a car and handed me an ice cold energade energy drink! (Probably figured I needed it!!)
I eventually called it a day around 21h15, and started scouting for a place to sleep. Found a nice deep ditch next to the road and lay down my sleeping bag. (By then I was way too tired to pitch my tent). I had a bat for company all night!
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| A spectacular full moon to guide the way. |
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| A ditch to sleep in! |
Rose at dawn this morning, made myself breakfast (oats with honey) and a cup of coffee before hitting the road again. The second half to Grünau went a bit faster today. Nothing as hectic as the first 30km from yesterday! Still a long, seemingly endless road. But plenty of friendly truckers, greeting me with loud horns as they pass me by! :-)
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| Waking to a glorious sunrise! |
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| Firing up the stove ... |
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| Yum!!! Oats with honey! |
I made it to Grünau just after 15h00 and pitched my tent at the camping grounds next to the garage. And even had a warm shower! Woohoo!
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| Tent pitched!! |
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| And a comfortable bed for the night. |
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| Giving Luna some tender loving attention. |
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Delight after a warm shower. |
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Boil one part of rice and one part of soya mince... |
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Add one part of left over bully beef and one part of sweetcorn... |
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Mix well, season, serve and garnish with SPORK!! Yum!! |
And then, a gesture of friendship and goodwill that I will never forget. A friend in Windhoek (although we haven't met, I call him my friend), Raymond Spall, sent me a little gift. A woman came round the corner with a cup and a note in hand. The note read: "from Raymond Spall". He had organised me a cup of hot milo, all the way from out Windhoek! That small gesture just about had me in tears!!
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| The most generous, touching gesture from Raymond Spall!! |
Tomorrow night I will sleep next to the road again. Then Friday night, hopefully, in Keetmanshoop! With a rest day on Saturday!!
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4 comments:
Green with envy does not start to describe how I feel. Especiaaly as I was slogging away with Election Broadcasts. Many times I was wishing I was rather out there on my bicycle.
Your pics and descriptions made me smile Jo! Nice to be able to share some of your journey in that way!
Jo, I am with Antoinette on this one, I am soooo green at the moment I could be a soccer pitch :)
I am so happy for you, all that time we spent having coffee and talking about this and now you are out there doing it!
I am soooooooo proud of you.
Keep it and and Dream with you Heart :)
Shayne.
Loving reading your stories/journey - keep using those African sunsets to fire up your soul - they keep you going.. Enjoy
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