Day 18: Road Camp to Steinkopf to Springbok.

We had decided the night before to get up early so that we could get to Steinkopf quickly, so that is what we did. And within 90mins we were in Steinkopf at 9am. Turns out we had slept 30kms away from the place.

See you in Steinkopf bru!

Makes you wanna ride hey?

We stopped at the one shop where as we were buying our chow, we were met by the owner who had ridden past us yesterday. He invited us to sit down and he offered us a meal on the house. Flippen ney! Plus we threw back a couple cups of tea. We had good old chin wag with him and his friends. Turns out he also runs a shop at the Vioolsdrif border so that was where he was going yesterday when he drove past us and said hello. Can’t remember his name unfortunately, but I think he was Portuguese also and was a big soccer supporter. Very friendly chap. So we thanked him and headed off. As we were leaving, a guy stopped next to me in his bakkie and asked where we were headed to. I told him about our cycle mission and that today we were headed to Springbok for today. His name was George and he offered us a place to stay when we got to Springbok. Sweet, I thought. I took down his number in order to get hold of him when we arrived. I told Wataru what had just happened. Day was turning out pretty well. A free brunch and now accommodation sorted! Wataru thought I was a good luck charm.

(Little obvious note. All pictures for this day except the last one are from Wataru, seeing as my camera died the day before.)

 Brunching in Steinkopf.

So we headed off to Springbok which was about 50kms away. We smashed that distance pretty quickly in about 3 hours I think, arriving at a about 2pm thanks to some flat sections and some decent downhills. We arrived in Springbok and waited for George to arrive so we could follow him home. While we waited we had a fun chat with some of the workers from the one tyre business. Well the one guy did lots of talking and was quite a character. George arrived and he led us to his house which was pretty much around the corner like I suspected as he had given me the name of his street but for some reason not the number.

Crushing it to Springbok.

Wish I could have reached these speeds sometimes.

Must update status.

Chewing the fat with some friendly locals.

Our home for the night.

We were given the whole bottom section of his house to spend the night in, as him and his wife stayed in the top part. Almost like a duplex. The bottom was unfurnished which we didn’t care about. And had a working shower and stove which we did care about. Flippen hell, the shower was awesome. I think Wataru showered for like 30mins. Haha. Must have been proper filthy? Plus we also did a spot of laundry, all hand washed in the kitchen sink before hanging it over the wall to dry out. It was now almost 4 and we had decided to head out to buy some proper food and to go to the bike shop. Our first stop was the bike shop where I had my bike cleaned, checked and had a new back tyre put on. I kept the old one to use as a spare in case something major happened.  Plus I also got a bottle of chain lube to help with all the friction. I think Wataru was looking for a clip that would help hold his side view mirror to his handlebars as his was bust. The service was very friendly and professional from this new shop, which had just opened up like 2 weeks or 2 months ago.

Getting deep into the bowels of Springbok.

Getting deep into the bowls of my bike.

Then we headed off to Checkers or OK or whatever store we went to, to get some proper food for tonight and for tomorrow when we leave. I was so sick of eating Oats so I decided to get some Future Life instead. I don’t think I had ever had it before, but it looked like a good choice with all the stuff it has in it. Plus I wanted something for breakfast where I didn’t have to boil any water for anything other than coffee to be honest. I could just use plain old water. It was a good choice as that stuff is flippen lekker.

And finally, getting deep into the bowels of my bag.

So we headed back and cooked up a fat chow. I think I had rice with a can of veggies and a can of pilchards. A heck of a lot of food but you gotta eat loads when riding every day. Wataru, who worked as a chefs assistant before deciding to be mad and cycle around the world cooked himself up a feast. No spaghetti for him tonight. Instead he cooked up a shitload of rice, and I mean shitload, along with some diced meat and vegetables. I couldn’t believe he put it all away. He told me he was so happy to have eaten rice. I totally saw that in him. We fell back on our respective mattresses which we were lucky to have, thanks to George letting us use them as they were just staying in the garage. Awesome, we had a soft comfy place to stay. Man this day turned out sweet. And it got sweeter. George then popped in and invited us upstairs as his wife Sone had organized some scones and mini milktarts. All with jam and cream!!! Dessert!!! I regretted stuffing myself earlier as there wasn’t enough space now to put away all this sugary deliciousness!! But we tried our best as this was all fuel for the road, and it’s not like we get this stuff every day. We then talked about where I was headed and George and Sone provided some info on some of the places I was looking to ride through. I had a potential place to stay with his folks later but by then I had changed my route so didn’t end up meeting them.

Jam and scones with cream and mini melktertjies. We got stuffed!!! Thank you Sone and George.

We said thanks and goodnight and hit the soft mattresses that were waiting for us downstairs. I thought I would sleep like a baby seeing as I was clean, my belly was full and I had a soft bed to sleep on. Sadly I was wrong.

Distance: 85kms