So it was with much apprehension and nervous excitement, that Judith and I left Prince Albert by car in the early hours of Wednesday morning, for Cape Town International Airport. Judith would be dropping me off at the airport, with my two bags and my boxed mountain bike, to catch the mid-morning flight to Windhoek, in Namibia.
We had a relatively uneventful trip into Cape Town, although the road was extremely busy with heavy duty trucks, both on their way into and out of Cape Town. It seems that the early hours of the morning, are dedicated to the truckers.
After booking in my luggage (paying extra for having two and not the stipulated one piece of luggage) and booking the boxed bike in, we had a light breakfast, before I said my goodbye, and went through Immigration, then boarded the Air Link Flight. Judith picked up a returning passenger, Simon who had flown in from Europe, and he needed a lift back to Prince Albert.
On landing at the Hosea Kutako International Airport, outside of Windhoek, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my bike had followed me to Windhoek, I had heard some bad reports, of Air Link not forwarding sports equipment on the same flight as their owners. So all was well, and I could relax. Took a taxi to Urban Camp, where I would be staying for three nights, meeting up with the TDA 2022 Tour, who would be having a rest day in Windhoek, before continuing on towards Cape Town.
I would be the only rider joining them in Windhoek, while four other riders would be leaving the tour, having completed the first Section from Victoria Falls to Windhoek.
Thursday morning was spent at the local bike shop doing some last minute shopping for bike accessories and bike spare parts, as well as purchasing a Namibian sim card for my cell phone. In the afternoon the TDA Riders arrived at Urban Camp accompanied by the three Tour Vehicles.
Late afternoon, I took my now assembled bike (assembled without adult supervision) to the Tour Bike Mechanic, for him to check if I had done it correctly, and it was passed as being correctly assembled.
In the evening I accompanied the other two South Africans and three other riders, to the world famous Joe's Beer House, a Windhoek institution, where we were not disappointed at all. One cannot visit Windhoek, without eating at Joe's.
Late afternoon I had my induction meeting with Tallis, the Tour Leader, and was instructed in the in's and out's of this years tour.
Let the games begin !
Cheers, Mike T
PS. After battling my new technology (new Phone, new Chrome Note Book) as well as the general lack of dependable WiFi throughout Namibia, I have finally managed to post my first blog, others to follow.
