South Africa
Day 119 – May 11 – Stage 85
A group of us decided to take a "Seniors Ditch Day". In other words we decided to take our own day off from cycling. We were just too fatigued to spend the day cycling and climbing over 1'900m in elevation on poor dirt roads through the Cederberg. Peter, Deborah, Murray, Judith and I racked our bikes and climbed into the Main Truck "Dog Box" armed with a cooler box of champagne, orange juice, crackers, pâté, cheese, wine, glasses and serviettes - all of which we had purchased yesterday at the Clanwilliam Spar!
Before we reached the lunch position we indulged in the champagne & orange juice, then after leaving the lunch position had our cheese and wine party while the rest of the other riders battled the cold, misty weather and the mountains.
We arrived at the Camp site in Dorp op die Berg relatively early, pitched our tents and congregated at the “Boma” (an enclosed fire pit area) where we continued the day’s festivities, until our supplies ran out later in the afternoon.
We became a little anxious at sunset, when we realised Mike vd Berg had not arrived at Camp yet, it was very uncharacteristic of him to come in so late. It turned out, he had not seen the flagging tape and so hadn’t taken a turn (his Garmin and cell phone had died) and subsequently he cycled an extra 40km, before arriving at the finish in near darkness. This earned him the “Columbus Award" for discovering far and distant places!!
Not a bad camping site, at least there was an open fire "donkey" which supplied the riders with hot water for the showers and the opportunity to light a large camp fire in the Boma to keep the early winter chill away.
Our penultimate day would arrive tomorrow, and all of us who took the day off feel we are once again energised and will be back on our bikes with two more riding days to go before we reaching Cape Town, and our last night of camping scheduled for Malmesbury.
Cheers,
Mike T
We became a little anxious at sunset, when we realised Mike vd Berg had not arrived at Camp yet, it was very uncharacteristic of him to come in so late. It turned out, he had not seen the flagging tape and so hadn’t taken a turn (his Garmin and cell phone had died) and subsequently he cycled an extra 40km, before arriving at the finish in near darkness. This earned him the “Columbus Award" for discovering far and distant places!!
Not a bad camping site, at least there was an open fire "donkey" which supplied the riders with hot water for the showers and the opportunity to light a large camp fire in the Boma to keep the early winter chill away.
Our penultimate day would arrive tomorrow, and all of us who took the day off feel we are once again energised and will be back on our bikes with two more riding days to go before we reaching Cape Town, and our last night of camping scheduled for Malmesbury.
Cheers,
Mike T
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| A great spread for our cheese and wine |
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| Cheers on our day in the "Dog Box" |
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| The Main Truck and the infamous " Dog Box" |
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| Lunch Truck position in a wet and cold Cederberg |
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| Charles' Parents Colleen and Tony join him at the Boma |
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Sunset in the Boma around the fire
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| Briefing - Dorp op die Berg to Malmesbury |
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| Camp at Dorp op die Berg |
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| Supper time at Dorp op die Berg |
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| Todays sunset as we wait for Mike vd Berg's arrival... |
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| Liz is joined by Husband Tim and friends from Cape Town |
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Murray and Mike vd Berg build a Mother of all fires to keep out the Winter chill |
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