Day 4: Wildlife and Roadkill

We were quite sad to be moving on from Calvinia today (which is the wool capital of the Northern Cape) as the people there had been so friendly and had really blessed us. We had gone for pizza the night before (to carbo-load and have a break from cooking our meals) and met Marius De Wet travelling down from Gaberone to Cape Town. As we walked into the restaurant, he asked us whether we were the cyclists travelling on tandem from CPT to JHB. Marius had read about our story on www.thehub-sa.co.za (a popular cycling forum) and made a mental note to look out for us on the road as he knew he would be driving the same way. What a small world! He kindly paid of our meal and also offered us a footpump as he was carrying his mtb with him – the last time we had pumped up our tires was day 1 (and since I’m sitting on the back wheel, I can feel everything on a ‘papwiel’!).


The lady running the 250 Myl Restaurant where we were eating, also gave us a financial donation and then again when we were leaving our guesthouse this morning at 5am, another couple travelling to Upington gave some more money towards the Lize-Mari Trust! Just amazing at how friendly these dorpie people are! Thank you everyone!

All night long we heard the wind howling outside and prayed that when we got up it would miraculously be still and calm……but not today. My father in law called it character building, and he was definitely right. We hit the road a bit later than usual when the sun was already lighting up the horizon and headed out on the flat straight road which disappeared into the distance.


Unfortunately, in this part of the country there is not much vegetation or anything to keep the mind occupied so we kept ourselves busy by counting the number of roadkill we pass on the road.(we’ll spare you the details but my father in law did stop and take photo’s of everyone as proof!). We came across the following roadkill: an aardvark, a bokkie, a badger, a sheep, a jackal, a wild cat and a skunk. Luckily there were stunning live animals too as we came across herds of Gemsbok and Springbok. And we are happy to report that there are few cars on the road too as only 60 cars passed us on both sides of the road. We really had to keep our motivation up as the road seemed endless and the food and water breaks on the side of the road every now and then were something that we looked forward to.


The wind did not die down throughout the morning and we ended up with 3 layers of clothing on as well as newspaper against our chests to keep the cold out. Such different conditions from the Western Cape where we were battling with the heat. We were very glad to see Williston appearing as we came over the rise and discovered that the town only has 1 four-way stop and one main road.


After resting, eating and sleeping for 2 hours we went out to explore the small town and discovered a very cute tea garden with everything but the kitchen sink hanging up on the walls (hub caps, number plates, empty bottles, mattress springs, tin boxes and marmite jars. We enjoyed some well deserved cheesecake and milkshakes to get our energy levels up.


We have decided to push through tomorrow to Carnarvon instead of having a rest day as it is only just over 100kms. Right bed is calling and its only 8pm! Early start again tomorrow.


Today’s Stats:

Total time including stops: 6hrs6mins
Total Distance: 110.2kms
Average Speed: 23.2kms/h
Maximum Speed: 47.1kms/h
Average Heart Rate: Jaco’s Heart Rate Monitor went a bit wonky today, 129 (Christie)
Average Temperature: 20 degrees (and I thought we were going to fry in the heat... It was below 14C for the first 2 hrs of the ride!)
Maximum Temperature: 33 degrees
Climbing: 500 meters
KCalories Burned: Heart Rate Monitor did not pick up Jaco’s but I’m sure it was way less than the KCalories I burned (!), 2785 (Christie)
Number of Bottles of Energy Drink Consumed: 5
Number of wee stops: 5

Christie’s highlight:
Eating Cheesecake and drinking a strawberry milkshake (I deserved it!)

Christie’s lowlight:
Spitting some phlegm into the wrong direction and because of the strong crosswind, it landing straight back on my shoulder again!

Jaco’s highlight:
Braaivleis for dinner!!
Jaco’s lowlight:
Cycling into a strong headwind (so much so that we had to shout at each other to be heard. When you see the video clips you will hear the wind!)