Section 8 Diamond  Coast   669 miles (1077 kms)

DATE	FROM-TO	MILES	KMS	Notes
30 APR	Windhoek- farm camp	90	145
1	Farm camp- unsure
2	Not sure- Sesriem
3	Rest day at Sossusvleii
4	Sesriem- Betta	137	220
5	Betta- Konkiep Lapa	153	246	Mando
6	Konkiep- Seeheim	124	200
7	Seeheim- Hobas	110	177
8	Hobas- Felix Unite	174	280	Mando
9	Rest day at felix Unite
10	Felix Unite- Springbok	84	135
11	Springbok- Garies	75	121
12	Garies- Vanrhympsdorp	50	80
13	Elands Bay- not sure
14	Not sure- Yzerfontaine
15 MAY	Yzerfontaine-Cape Town	56	90

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 29th  Rest day in Windhoek

When I got back from the mall, the sky was darkening. I got the tyres changed, ripping one inner tube in the process, and got the essentials like the chain complete. I almost forgot my laundry, but got it inside just as the first drops started falling, at 5.45.  Within a few minutes, we were back to the usual caper- thunder, lightning and very heavy rain.

But I am sat on my cot, a towel across my lap and I have a bag of bread, cheese, fruit, both dried and fresh, nuts and cake! So what do I care if it pours down outside!

April 30th. Off to Weissenfeld camp.

Eric Defour was in his tent right next to me. I heard him up in the night trying to divert the water getting in.

By morning, you would not have known it had rained. After packing up, I started to fold my tent up. A pole snapped. So did my patience; I got ready to throw it. Eric Defour persuaded me not to and I managed to fold it up into its bag.

 After breakfast, we had our rider meeting, when we were introduced to Henry Gold, the founder and owner of TDA. He will be accompanying us to Cape Town.

Then it was time to get going. I had my bike ready; I just felt the tyres out of habit; the front was flat. After changing it, I was the last to leave. Heading in the direction of Walvis Bay, the first 10 kms. were on tarmac, taking us up higher into the hills- or, rather, mountains, as we climbed from Windhoek at 1700m to a pass at over 2000. Baboons ignored my passing, perhaps mistaking me for a big snail.

The terrain surprised us. We had expected it to be flat. Furthermore, there was plenty of green still, as the rainy season is only just finishing. Another surprise was how hot it was.

The dirt track was generally good, but where there was loose sand and gravel, it brought back memories of darker days.

Our camp site really is in the middle of nowhere. The owners run a small stud farm and a guest house. The feeling of the place is of homeliness, self-sufficiency and not rushing. We are camped round the back.

Talk around the campsite now turns much more towards Cape Town, discussing our plans, and comparing our feelings. Have we, or our attitudes, changed; what will we do after this and so on.

I opened up my tent, and, even with the broken pole, it has taken its normal shape. It has just had a stiff test, as, once again, we have been hit by a thunderstorm and the rain was savage. With only two weeks to go, I know I can manage no matter what happens now.

Distance: 115 kms. Av.speed: 17.8 kph  Time cycling: 6hrs.30mins.

May 1st. To Solitaire.

Hail, headwinds, corrugation and wet sand, we have had it all today….but for me, this has been possibly the best day of the Tour so far. I feel more alive than I have done for months.

I was one of the first to leave this morning. The turbulent skies marauded above the desolate rolling bush. Our direction was heading for some mountains. They could have been covered with heather, in greens and purples, such was their beauty. The sky had every shade of blue, but over this mountain range, the dark clouds appeared contorted in anger, like a huge oyster shell. Further westwards, the light reminded me of paintings of the Ascension of Our Lord, an ephemeral light from the heavens down to earth. Lightning was flashing over the mountain, as if warning us to keep away. Well before we reached there, water was running down the track and ponding. The sand was mostly saturated, making it a little difficult to push through. But the setting was intriguing and bewitching.

 

By the time we reached this mountain, the storm had moved on. We weaved our way up through the range to where our lunch truck was waiting for us, at about 60 kms. Everyone was cold and a new storm was brewing. So how welcome was the sight of a hot drink, the first time on the Tour at lunch; the first time we have needed it!

As riders began cycling away, the now dark skies chose to soak us again. We had some climbing to take us to the top of the pass. I cannot say just why, but I was loving it. Perhaps it was the sense of freedom the landscape gave me, the strength I felt, I don’t know. There was some hail both before and after the top of the pass, but once at the top, the view was breathtaking. The road before us dropped 500m. within 4 kms. into a wide valley, green, turning to yellow savannah further out. At the far side of this valley, I could see a line of white, with one solitary mountain completely white. I now believe this is due to the sand.

 

Halfway through the valley, five of us stopped at Gecko Lodge, a simple place, where it was pleasant to take tea and biscuits and gather strength for the final 30 kms.

Rising gently out of this valley, you could again see the white expanses with hills rising up from it; I was reminded of lumps of Christmas pudding set in white custard.

 

Our campsite is by the gas station, a place called Solitaire Lodge. The setting is reminiscent of Arizona, according to one of the Americans. There is a Wild West feel to it. But ther4e are simple rooms for those that want them, a bar, cold showers and toilets, but wait for it…. a BAKERY! We had been told that this bakery makes the best apple crumble in Africa. So before showering, bike washing or any other menial duty, most of us traipsed over to the bakery for crumble and coffee. We will all testify to it’s magnificence, and that of all the other pastries and muffins that were flying off the shelf as they came out of the oven. Not as many people went for seconds at dinner tonight!

 

Distance 122 kms. Av.speed.:17.7 kph  Time cycling:6 hrs.56 mins.

May 2nd. Solitaire to Sossusvlei Camp. (80 kms.)

The track from Solitaire continues, the width of a dual carriageway, towards Sossusvlei. The surface is mostly very good indeed. Another storm in the night had cleared to give a beautiful day and we all enjoyed good speeds. Many of us saw oryx, springbok and giraffe early on.

On a particularly fast stretch, where I was doing about 40 kph., I suddenly hit deep, loose sand. The bike took a wobble; I thought I had it under control., but then lost it again. As I came down, the handlebars smacked me in the ribs. This was the only real damage, but it hurt. I carried on slowly to the lunch truck at 50 kms. Bill, the surgeon, checked me over and said nothing was broken. I tried to ride after lunch, but it was too uncomfortable. For the last 25 kms., I rode in the truck.

The scenery continues to fascinate. The colours and contours of the hills and mountains are so varied; I cannot think of anywhere else I have seen it so. Approaching our campsite, the hill is actually red.

We are about 50 kms from Sossusvlei Dune, the largest in the world. It is said to be an astonishing sight. Some riders are taking a balloon ride over it on our rest day tomorrow, while others will go by road and, in some cases, walk to the top.

For myself, the ribcage is so sore tonight, despite taking a no. of painkillers, that I will stay around camp and read. I just hope Bill is right and that I will be able to ride again soon. There are five more days off-road, tough days, and I want to be able to do them.

It looks like, at best, there will be one more chance to use internet after here, before we reach Cape Town, and that will be in Springbok.  I want to thank you once again for all the wonderfully supportive comments. We have all had our ups and downs. Seeing your companions suffer is difficult in itself. Some riders have had to get up many times in the night with diarrhoea, night after night, others have been vomiting as they cycled. I remember Diane in Sudan, cycling behind her husband Jeff after a gruelling day; he was stooped over the handlebars, his head down, with only a km. to go.  She was shouting to him, “Jeff, don’t fall asleep. Keep going!” There was a coke stop with some shade, so they stopped and Jeff went straight to sleep for two hours .Franz was on his fourth course of antibiotics, in Tanzania I think it was. His cuts kept re-infecting, yet he had won every mando day till then. This day, he was feverish, his arm was swollen, but he raced. He won that day by two minutes, hoping to win every mando day of the Tour. But he lost his record on the next mando day when he went back to get help for Michael Prudden after his collision. I will always be grateful to Rick; when I was in a dazed stupor at the lunch stop in Dinder, he  quietly came over and whispered to me, “Don’t  kill yourself, Eric. There are too many people who love you”. Your comments have had the same effect, helping me through times that I admit have been very testing.

Some of the setbacks are humorous looking back, but were not so at the time. At one lunch break, I needed the toilet, and there were some buildings set back, including a toilet shed. Squatting over the hole, the flooring started crumbling where my feet were; only some quick manoeuvring saved me from going down. In a similar vein, I, like others, use a bottle in my tent at night to pee into. I lost my bottle the morning I overslept, but found another the next evening: I would suggest to anybody thinking of using this technique, to always check before using a bottle for the first time, that it is not cracked at the bottom!

May 3rd.  Sesriem
From 4.30 this morning, the first vehicles, carrying some of our riders, set off for the Dunes. The idea is to get there and climb to the top for sunrise.
We are just inside the gates of the Nature Reserve. Vehicles are lined up outside, waiting for the gates to open at sunrise.
There is a gas station, less than a kilometre from camp, that opens at 5.30. There are two computers that have seen heavy demand, so I have come down early so I can send this blog to Susan (ny webmaster) to post. The fresh footprints of springbok are clearly etched in the sand as I walk across. Jackals are a common sight here also, though mainly at night of course, canaries fly about camp. This might be desert, but the place is alive!

Best Wishes,

Eric