Distance: 100.3 km
Ride time: 6:37:21
Average: 15.2 km/h
Max speed: 29.9 km/h
Total: 43965 km
As I said my farewells to the friendly guest house owners where I had stayed, they gave a final warning “Be careful out there, every black man wants a bicycle”. Hmm, I’m not really sure what they wanted to accomplish with such a comment. In fact, a much bigger risk is being out in the traffic where the white South Africans like to drive very fast in their big cars…
Speaking of traffic, today would be the day where I was going to try my new Specialized bike on a dirt track next to the railway. I remembered that the last time I was riding a dirt road was in southern Peru – now it felt good to be back on a road where only a few cars would pass me every hour.
I was happy that my new bike seemed to work great on the track. There will be plenty very remote dirt roads to ride in Namibia in a few weeks. For now I was still following the coast towards the little surfing town of Eland’s Bay. I loved the view over the mountains in the evening sunset light!
In town there was a hotel, but after asking around I learned that there was also a backpacker’s place mostly used by surfers. I got a bed in a small hut where I could hear the waves as I was falling asleep.
It certainly feels great to be back on two wheels in Africa. Bring on the next part of this bicycle adventure 🙂
Somehow, I think you’ll always be on the road. I just couldn’t see you going back to a regular job, after all of this. 🙂
Good luck with Africa, Thomas. I totally recall that feeling of ‘nervous’ excitement/tenseness when arriving in a foreign continent/territory. As you know, it quickly wears off, and is replaced by pure bike happiness.
It’ll be interesting following your journey northwards…
Nicolai
Yes, very true Nicolai… and speaking of bike happiness – I just made it to Namibia, and this must be cycling heaven 🙂 Good luck with your own projects!! Thomas