Biedouw Valley

Nearly Heard The Music Today 🎵🎶😅

It was a very warm night. I had to keep a 🧽 at hand for the 🥵😰. I felt like I was melting. When I woke there was no need for a 🚿 as my tent was like a 🛁. No I am just kidding. I did 🚿. 

On the road. It is joe for almost the entire day. I know this already. 20kms sees me arriving at the river crossing I did about 3 months ago. Except guess what 🦧🤔 the river, she is gone. Once across the river of no river the incline is gradual and not too bad. Considering I am only about 30kms into the day I am very pleased. At the summit a few biscuits to reward myself. Boom off.

The plateau is gorgeous. I love this place. But there really is a lot of                 . Yes a lot of nothing. I crack on. Flat, down, flat, down, take a right turn ➡️. Past the house in the middle of nowhere 🏠 and shifting nicely ✅. Then as expected I reach the ®️3️⃣5️⃣5️⃣. Can you guess 🤷‍♂️❔ Yip. Make a left turn ⬅️. The speed is nothing spectacular. It's warm. It's very warm. I am going through my 🚰💧 h2zero at a rate. In fact I am getting worried about it. 

The 🚲 is performing spectacularly 🏆. The rider not so much 👎. I can feel myself dehydrating. I am drinking as little 💧 as I can. It needs to last. 

The views are impressive. The Tankwa is doing its usual and showing me why I keep returning. I am so grateful for this opportunity to ride through it again. 

The dehydration is starting to take its toll. My body is not working as it should ⚠️🦺. I check my devices. 40kms to go. 😳😲😶. I am down to one 🍼 full and a 2 liter full bottle. I reach Bloukrans pass. Unfortunately I am at the bottom of it. 😬🥴. I get going. Well I get something. Going would have been fun. Walk, ride. Stop. Walk, ride, stop. It goes on like this for a while. Then my last fill of my bottles. Eat some bread, have a rest then start my process of moving forward. I don't know how long it takes me ⏲⏳ but it feels like an eternity. I get to the 🔝. I cry, the bike cries, the road cries, I kick myself and we all laugh together. I think I shed a tear.... don't 😭 for me 🇦🇷. 

Tears and jokes over I still have about 🥈0️⃣ kilometers to go. It's sort of flat. Well at least it is not another bloody hill. I get to Calvinia. Check in at the 🏣. Special still on. I need this today. I am sore 🤕 all over. Mainly my 🦓 (that's supposed to be an ass). It was a grueling day. I underestimated the heat. I messed up badly. I could be writing to you from my ⚰. I don't say this often but all in today is a day I am really not happy about. It hurt. I hallucinated. I saw 🦄. It was rough. At one stage I thought I was actually 🍞. I might still be 🤪😅.

Tomorrow is a new day. Well obviously!!!!! Stupid saying. Thanks all for reading. I appreciate it. 

It is another big day tomorrow. 145kms. But all road. Let's 👀 how it goes. 

Have a good evening. Be good. Be safe. Most importantly drink 🚰. 

Chat soon.

G

Remember This 😅😅

Stunning

You Like?

☠🥵

An early start was in order. But was it 🤔. Not really. I awoke at 🕔 and went back to 🛏. Second time around was a 6.20 awakening. Felt better this time. Got up. 💩 🚿 🪒  and 🧴🧼🧽. Felt like a rand.

Food was 🍞. I went all out and spoilt myself. 

Then it was off. Today was going to be hard. The weather certainly added to that. 4️⃣0️⃣🌡 in the shade. With no ⌚ and no one to complain to I left. Short up. Bit of flat. Then down to my destination... 😅😅 this is a true life story not fiction. 

Long corrugated road. All joe. Today would see little tar. An enjoyable climb lead to the jeep track that would take me to Wupperthal. Now I am an adventurous person. Try anything once 🤭🤔😛. I see a road that may be a short cut. A gentleman at said road tells me it is not. I say watch me. He says, see you just now. I say no way Jose A. He says name is Jose B. I say later 🐊. He says shortly crocodile. I laugh, he laughs, the dog laughs, I kick the stupid 🐕. We both laugh. The dog buggers off.

So off I go. Guess what... He was right. About 3 or 4 kilometers down the road I have to turn around. The road just fucking disappeared. Basically it just turned into bush and a cliff. I turn around. I get back to where the man was. He is laughing. I show him the bird 🖕 and press on. Not long after that the descent into Wupperthal. It is slow 🐢. Yip that slow. My bags are all over the shop. Brakes are breaking. It is very unpleasant. After longer than I wanted I reach the town. The shop has run out of cool drinks 😳🦧. Can you frickin adam and eve it. I swear in chinese at the owner 🎎🈯️🈲️🈳️. 

Now the climb out of here is what I was trying to avoid by my shortcut. It is long. 6️⃣kms. It is steep. Oh yes... it can be warm too 🎊🥳. I get to the job at hand. 👵 gear. This will be the gear used to get me to the top. It is slow going once again 🐌. I just do what I can and after about 3 hours nah just kidding. After about 50 minutes I crest the pass. It feels great. I actually did better than I thought. 

From here it is a nice gentle downhill to the right turn. This road, about 11 kms down it will see me for the nights stop. 80kms today. Over 5 hours of riding. No 🏆 I am afraid. But I am pleased to be here. Enjo nature farm. Been here 🅱️4️⃣. Lekka spot. Warm. But I am happy and still loving this trip. Only 🖐 days in but so far been very good. I can hear the 🌬 picking up. Hopefully it will stop before bed time. It only makes it hotter. 

So, happy and loving life. It is good. I hope you are too. Be safe. Be free. But most of all think of me. 

G 💙

Tuesday

Since my last post it seems I am doing a little better. Not much but enough to say things are good and the trip is going well. The downtime is the hardest. No 🖥. Not always 📶. So it can be hard times. Thoughts are plentiful and not always ones that you want. Dealing with these is not always easy. 

Last nights sleep was grand. I was pretty much just waiting for the sun to go down. Once it was I was asleep within the hour. Only waking once around 4am for a 🚽 break. Up at 5.30. I wanted to be shifting at 6. There was a fair decent climb ahead and it needed to be done before the 🌞 was too hot. I was in luck. The short downhills to the climb were outstandingly refreshing and the air was still fresh and 🆒️ from the night. My usual stop at Mount Cedar was abandoned to get to my destination. Success. 

The climb ⛰🚲 was slow. It was starting to warm up. I have done this climb. 4 times according to my records. Now... with every hill/climb, straight, in fact any section I ride I always try to improve on my fastest time. Today, well that is a fail. At one point I nearly fell off of my bike. I was doing what I could to get to the 🔝 as quickly as possible but the energy levels were running on 🆘️. I was simply struggling like a headless 🐔. It must have been a good laugh if anyone was 👀 me. 

So be it. It is only life. I missed my time by 1️⃣ and a half minutes. 🚼🚫⚠️ Finally reaching the summit I was just relieved the suffering was over. Down the other side. Fast. Like a kid. Awesome. Cool air. 

A small uphill sees me here at Oasis. Washed. Clothes washed. Feeling better. Happy. Tomorrow is a big day. Into Wupperthal. Out of Wupperthal. It is a massive climb. I will be doing it in the heat of the day. 🤔🤐. I expect to expire on that enormous elevation which will extend my experience to all ends of eternity. It will actually. Roughly 35 here today. Good news for tomorrow 4️⃣0️⃣. That's in the shade. In the pool 😳😳🥵🥵. I can't wait said no man ever.

So if you don't hear from me again you know why. My expectations were just a little too high. Off to have my regular 🧀 ➕ 🍅 🥪 ➕🍟. Sort of a last meal I guess.

I hope you are all well. Keeping happy. Keeping busy. Being you.

Chat soon 

G 💙