One Week to go

Monday April 28 to Saturday May 3 - Windhoek Namibia south to the border with the Republic of South Africa - second last week of the journey to Cape Town.

Departing Windhoek on Monday, just outside town, we pass near "Heroes Acre", a memorial to those who gave their lives in the struggle for independence. I wish I'd taken the time to detour to the memorial although when you ride near the back of the pack like I do, you run the risk of getting detached from the organized group unless the sweep rider knows what you're doing, and we have 155 km to ride today.



We continue south, after lunch crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. The Kenyan political situation robbed us of the chance for photos crossing the equator, so this is the next best thing.


Despite now no longer being in the tropics, the sky remains clear and the day hot. Another colourful sunset, then we eat in the dark and crawl into our tents and are asleep by 8 p.m.


Tuesday night sees us camped by the Gibeon railway station after a 175-km day. The train still runs and it even stops there, but the station is now abandoned.



Across the tracks is a cemetary, a section of which is a well-kept Commonwealth War Graves section from a 1916 battle.



German soldiers who died in the same battle are buried right beside them, but sadly this section seems not to be maintained.


Wednesday is another 150 km to just north of Keetmanshoop to a very pretty campsite with the distinctive Quiver trees...



...and another glorious sunset...



...and equally rich early morning hues just after dawn.



Thursday was 'only' 120 km. When it's that short, it's because you're on rough dirt roads or have steep climbs. Today was both. I was 7 hours and 58 minutes in the saddle - and that doesn't count stops for lunch or picture taking. That's a long shadow and still 20 minutes from camp.



Sun set just before I got in.


Friday was even shorter - 85 km - it was mostly dirt road, few hills, the toughest thing being a headwind for the last 40 km. Along the way was this enormous nest belonging to 'sociable weaver birds'.



Mid-morning we were treated to dark skies and thunder and lightning but no more than a few drops of rain on us as a front went by.




The reason for the short day was to allow us to overnight near the Fish River Canyon.

They bussed us down to a lookout over the canyon and brought part of our mobile kitchen with them and fed us dinner there.





Saturday we paid for the short day on Friday - 180 km to the camp on the Orange River near Noordoewer on the Namibian side of the border with South Africa. We started with a fairly steep climb out of the camp and away from the canyon.

Then through some lovely desert scenery on dirt roads.

Ursula once again was strong and rode the entire distance. Rae rode the lunch truck from lunch at 60 km to a refreshment stop at 120 km. Not a wise choice. The last 40 km was paved road but against a strong headwind. Eventually we descended into the Orange River Valley, passing this school on the way...

...and eventually reaching the Felix Unite campsite where we got one of these nice cabanas for our two nights and rest day. The Orange River and South Africa are in the background.

This is the last rest day of the journey. Next week we ride six days, arriving in Cape Town on Saturday.