Day 7: Garies to Hondeklipbaai

I got up before sunrise so that I had ample time to tackle the road ahead of me. I spoke to the owner of the place I stayed at about my plans for the day and she said just see what it’s like once you arrive at the dirt road. That made sense. I hadn’t seen the road so what was there to be worried about. So off I headed after buying some last minute supplies at the garage. I think it was extra water as I needed and extra bottle. The road exiting Garies was pure uphill and about 7kms and took me an entire hour to get to the dirt road turn off to Hondeklipbaai. I paused for a minute before deciding to take the dirt road. Something about it made it look alright. And man it was more than alright. I klapped the first 30kms easily before resting.

Take that first 30kms!

The general slope was descending as I was headed towards to the coast, with many awesome and manageable hills. I had nothing to worry about. I smashed the next 30kms almost as easily but by now the sun was blazing fully in the sky. So much so that I had to pull out my tent cover to throw over the barb wire fence just so that I could have a little bit of shade to lie in for a while. The only minor worry was my bike rack. I was going over many road ripples as I shall call them causing me to bounce quite a bit at a fast speed at times. I hoped that my rack would hold especially the screws holding it to my bike which was bearing a large portion of the pressure from all the luggage. I’m happy to say they did.

To hot and dry for anything funny.

Same.

The last 23kms was much slower as the road was now flat pretty much and I could feel a feint head wind blowing into me. It was coming from the ocean and it was refreshing somewhat but made me work a little extra when riding.

The final stretch begins.

I finally arrived in the small fishing town of Hondeklipbaai. I was told about staying at this one place but I never did. I scouted around looking for a place to camp. I tried what looked like a camp site or caravan park seeing as it had some form of ablutions but it looked like it hadn’t been used in a while. I decided to give it a skip. I rode through town a bit more looking for a shop to buy some food. I eventually found one of two that was still open for the day and bought some stuff. I also rented a room right next door from the owners. As with the previous night, once I unpacked everything and lay down, that terrible feeling somewhat overcame me. Again, I didn’t like it all. I decided I couldn’t just lie here will I fell asleep so up I got and went for a walk to see this little town. Turns out that was the right idea.

Lil boat launching site.

Boats at the lil boat launching site.

A boat having been launched from the lil boat launching site.

I met two guys who were brothers from Pofadder. They were interesting to talk to, as they were all about ‘making your own fun’. In a small town like this, I totally believed them. So what was this fun they made? Well they were into blowing things up with gunpowder, swimming to the levy in the shit cold Atlantic ocean just for fun, klapping golfballs I think plus other things I have forgotten.  I think the one was a mine surveyor so he told me about getting his hands on some dynamite. I learnt a thing or two about dynamite which I have unfortunately forgotten. Something about how it kills fish when thrown in the water and how sensitive it is regarding the manufacture process. Something about it being always being made out of direct sunlight, preferably in a room where there is no sunlight at all.

'Make your own fun'. Very spiritual when you think about it.

Then they headed off and I carried on walking some more.

Sniff sniff.

I eventually headed back but I saw some friendly dogs plus a lady sitting outside her house in a lovely little outside sitting area just outside her front door. Her name was Jennifer and we got to talking and I also met her husband. Rudi. They had retired here from Namibia and are both wonderful people. I ended up staying with them for supper which was a delicious yet spicey vegetable soup plus plenty of snoek which was delicious. I also tasted the local Namibian beer Tafel which is quite decent. They had just moved there recently so there was plenty to be organized around the house but as a travelling guest, I didn’t mind at all. I mean why should I? Plus I must say their house was pretty cool so I can only imagine how much cooler it must be now that things are all packed away. I wasn also interested in their vast collection of books. Rudi had worked for the parksboard in Namibia so it was interesting to hear first hand about the country. I made mental notes about whatever may be of use to me when I visited soon. I was also told that he had studied to be an accountant but he decided to follow his heart and changed careers to working in the wild. This struck with me as something very admirable to hear especially from someone who had actually done it. I said goodnight with the promise that I would see them again tomorrow morning for a cup of coffee before I left.

Rudi, myself and Jennifer.

Distance: 90kms