Day 20: Die Hell to Rouxpos & Anysberg NR

We left Die Hell late @ around 06:00am and shortly after got to the foot of 'the ladder' after getting quite wet crossing a number of streams enroute. This is a seriously treacherous & precarious climb straight up the side of a damn steep, rock strewn mountain face.

The 'path' looks like an old tight narrow switchback watercourse but it isn't. It's about a 1km climb to the top & you have to carry your bike all the way up because it's so narrow & steep !
Hair raising stuff to be sure. Amazing to think that this was the alternative Donkey route into the valley on the good ol days when the locals were cut off by road ! I would have said impossible.

Anyway I waited almost an hour for the rest of the group to get up by which time Sean had gone on ahead. I rode steadily along a very rocky jeep track leaving the group behind & finally catching up with Sean.

We decided to press on ahead to Rouxpos farm & made it in by 14:00pm. I was most annoyed after reaching Rouxpos that the group didn't press on to there the previous day because we would easily have made it to the road by sunset & into Rouxpos a few hours later to gain another day stage. I was led to believe that it was a very difficult stage & that we wouldn't manage it in the same day ! Rouxpos however was a delight in many ways, not least of all Ronel & Gerhard's fantastic hospitality. Bobotie, rice, salad, fresh bread, cheese, preserves and a magnificant homemade waffel with ice cream !!!

Sean & I decided to press on for Anysberg Nature Reserve @ around 15:00pm & thought we might try for Montagu for a 230km day. Yeah right ! We entered the reserve in darkness after a much needed cup of coffee & a rusk or two with Mrs Fourie along the way. She's lived on her farm for more than 50 years and is a delightful kindhearted elderly lady.

We got to the 'support station' @ 11pm. Total darkness met us & we couldn't see or find anybody @ Cape Natures offices to let us know what was what. By midnight Sean & I decided to sleep in the shed where they kept the horses lucerne bails because without our boxes & maps we could go nowhere anyway.
We each grabbed 3 bails and laid them out into makeshift beds. We put on all the kit we could find and wrapped ourselves in our space blankets for added warmth. We fell asleep tired, dirty & hungry despite Gerhard & Ronels wonderful lunchpacks from Rouxpos farm.

So ended a 150 odd km double stage.

Day 17 & 18: Baviaanskloof & The Moordenaars Karoo

Typed 2 paragraphs last night & fell asleep & deleted the lot between snores !!! So here's round 2:

We left a very chilly Kudu Kaya in the heart of the Baviaanskloof @ around 05:30am & headed up the Baviaanskloof for around 50km before the road 'flattened out' a bit. We essentially did a 170km of the Trans-Baviaanskloof race route back up to Willomore.

Included was a 'fantastic' 15km uphill twisting & turning up around the kloofs mountains before dropping straight back down into the river valley below !!! And where there's a long downhill, there's almost always a bloody longer uphill.

Stunning scenery & geological landscape features greeted us all the way & even a buffalo or two not 5m off the road. The weather was perfect too.

We stopped briefly at Dam se Drift for a wonderful 'plaaskos' lunch which Estelle had prepared for us. Man oh man - Lamb & potato caserole, venison pie, creamed cauliflower, salad & death by chocolate with custard for dessert ! I nearly never left & had serious thoughts of taking up farming right there !

Nonetheless we continued on climbing up to Willomore and arrived @ 20:30pm after a very long & tiring 170km 2 stage day. The temporary BB fix held too.

Yesterday after a 05:30am start we did another 170km stage from Willomore to Prince Albert traversing the Moordenaars Karoo & skirting the snow capped Swartberg range the entire way.

We stopped at Rondawel farm for lunch - wonderful hospitality & great food - Vetkoek, soup, lasagne & coke. Wow - Thx Chris & Elna.

The day was extremely long, the road corrugated in places and quite undulating. We made it by 19:00pm.

Johan the Prince Albert bike expert waited for us along the way & would have offered us refreshment had we stopped. We didn't stop but caught up with him at our guest house lodging where Ria & Lindsay were fantastic hosts.

He helped me epoxy my BB in place & I hope it will last to the finish. Thank you to my mates David, Dawn & to Johan for being there for me on that major mechanical issue. After all this effort it would be heart breaking not to finish.

Day 19: The Swartberg & The Gamkaskloof

Today was one of those mountain days again - 60 km's or there abouts. After a good 4 hour nights sleep & a hearty breakfast we left Prince Albert & almost immediately started winding up the 4 odd km Swartberg Pass !

Once over the top an all too short decent brought us to the foot of the Gamkaskloof turn off & a 50km ride thru the mountain passes to the Cape Nature facility in the heart of the Gamkaskloof.

Steep long climbs & equally hair raising decents were the order of the day with the most dramatic being the plummet into Die Hell !!!

However before reaching 'heartbreak hill' the now well rested race winner Tim James, his wife Michelle & young son Murray passed us in their van going up the pass.

They wanted to catch Fiona & Doug before they dropped into 'Die Hell' proper with an offer of refreshmments & promised to return.

And return they did. What a gesture that was - Hot milo, biscuits, sweets, cokes & a ton of encouragement from the doyen of the Freedom Challenge, Tim himself. It made our day ! Thank you.

We had decided to make this stage a rest day so we took it easy and are staying in the Gamkaskloof valley with Cape Nature after arriving @ around 14:00pm.

We need the rest after only having 8-10 hours sleep in the last two days. Marionette & Piet who run the private kiosk/eatery down here gave us a fantastic lunch & sorted out our 2l boxes. They also brought us a great dinner & got the wood burning stove going for warmth. Thank you guys, we appreciate the effort. The pics attached should give an idea of where we have been today. You may be able to see the road winding away into the distance up the middle of the two ranges.

The Gamkaskloof is extremely dramatic & quite tiring to ride after having completed well over 1500km's of our race already. There's more to come however !

Also after a 'leave' of absence, some major bike problems & a time penalty Sean is back with the group again.