This place is lovely. It looks like it belongs in Lord of the Rings and you almost expect to see Frodo coming around the corner. As with the Val Hotel, Gerrit pays attention to detail.
This is Ruffles. What a beaut.
I'm late in getting away. Broke my new chain whilst trying to fit it and had to re-fit the old one. The last few days the weather was ideal for riding. Overcast and cool, but man, the sun has fried me. My plan was to do 130km today, but I don't think that is going to be happening
Onwards to Dannhauser.
A Tavern in Dannhauser.
I had to go down a shady looking alleyway to get here. These fine gents were a little suspicious at first, but they settled and let me be.
Only place open and the locals are having a beer and a bit of fun.
Its hot and I'm bothered.
I know I'm in trouble cause my arse is hurting so bad that I have been cycling standing up, I've got 3rd degree sunburn and my legs don't really want to co-operate. I know that Ladysmith is not going to happen. So I decide that tonight would be an ideal night to camp out, wherever that may be. The weather also looks less threatening than it has the past few days. So I leave the tavern, head across the road to a convenience store to buy supper for my camp out.
I meet these ou's, ekse. Roy is the owner sitting behind the till doing all the work, his daughter is on the cellphone and the two gangsters, Nevin and Veejay are keeping an eye on the place, helping out.
What good people. Roy offers me his lunch, which by the way, was delicious, the other ou's help me with "buns" and pilchards in tomato, with just a hint of chilli. Delightful.
Tonight I will feast. This shop is open 7 days a week. Roy works hard for his bucks. The other 2 ou's have big business ideas.
This thing in Veejays hand is used to dry the sweet basil. Pictured here one can see the dried sweet basil.
Here Nevin demonstrates how one dries the sweet basil. Very simple. I was also allowed to try, but the general consensus was that I'm a beginner.
I must say, I like it.
We were to avoid the police at all costs, because this batch was to be a surprise Christmas gift for the Station Commander.
What thoughtful people!
Not sure whether Woollies will stock this, but here's hoping.
A few pictures along the way. Really pretty country we live in.
This is my accommodation for the evening. You can see my hammock strung between two trees and my bike is hidden in a water drain. There are literally hundreds of these things, scattered along the route, allowing water to move from the high side to the low side of the tracks. A nice breeze flows through it and the air is further cooled down by the evaporating water in the shaft. I was also hoping that the breeze would drive the mozzies away.
This is my trial run and I must say, very comfortable. I got to bed shortly after sunset, but battled to sleep. All that nature is loud!
Crickets, frogs, birds and the passing trains all made a confounding racket.
A swallow darted past me to get to its nest inside the shaft and at 01h00, a herd of cattle passed by me on their way to feed. It started raining ever so slightly, but I used my bivy to cover. It worked well and I managed to stay dry.
63km's in 8 hours 40min
Good night sweetie.
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