Thursday, 19 May 2011

To Grünau and sleeping under the stars.

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!!

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.

Luna resting in the shade, taking a break from the uphill slog.

Another serendipitous sticker!!

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.

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!

A spectacular full  moon to guide the way.

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! :-)

Waking to a glorious sunrise!

Firing up the stove ...

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!

Tent pitched!!

And a comfortable bed for the night.

Giving Luna some tender loving attention.

Delight after a warm shower.

Boil one part of rice and one part of soya mince...


Add one part of left over bully beef and one part of sweetcorn...

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!!


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:

Unknown said...

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.

Unknown said...

Your pics and descriptions made me smile Jo! Nice to be able to share some of your journey in that way!

shayne said...

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.

SPARGS PALMS said...

Loving reading your stories/journey - keep using those African sunsets to fire up your soul - they keep you going.. Enjoy