I went to bed last night struggling to cool down, so I lay in my underwear and just pulled the silk sleeping bag liner over me and closed me eyes, hoping I’d cool down sooner or later. Well, as my luck would have it, I woke with icy toes and legs that were unhappy with life. Yip, all the heat had been chased away and the little I had was in my core looking after the vitals – not that that was particularly warm either.
Slowly I emerged from within the liner and grabbed my polyprop long sleeve, and then my fleece… slowly warming with it zipped up all the way. Long pants on, and then finally a little better with socks on – the thickest I have with me!
Brekkie went down and my body started processing food, helping to warm me up, and then the sun hit me, adding to the wamrth. I packed up, got changed into walking gear and hit the road, just a few kilometres of tar left until Christiana before hitting the dirt road towards Bloemhof.
The mileage came quickly and soon I was in town, and I hit the first superette I saw to get the essentials – bread, drink mix and something cold )and a chocolate treat). As I stood outside and packed a few asked the usual questions and then offered advice on my route onwards. One lady arrived, did her shopping and left…
But soon she returned and entered the store while I continued to chat. As I sat finishing my drink she re-emerged and presented me with a packet of goodies… saying she”d heard about my journey and thought she’d get me some nice stuff. Inside the packet was a 2 l Coke, 2 pies and a packet of eclairs. I chatted a little with Ina and it turns out she is actually from Somerset West, and is married to a local farmer, whom she met whilst in the Flying Squad in Kimberley.
As we said good-byes, Ina started to cry and gave me a hug, hence today is “Ina’s day”.
I smashed one pie right then and there, before setting off through the rest of town – which is way bigger than I thought it was. I found myself sitting in the shade outside the big stone church and smashed the other pie along with some Coke, while re-filling with water ahead of the long stretch to Bloemhof.
Crossing the Vaal River again, I entered the Free State which is now my fourth province. The bridge is only a single lane, so I clearly caused a few problems as I plodded acros.
I turned east and didn’t have a good feeling about the gravel road, which was looking a little rough. Anyways I pressed forth and distance came pretty swiftly – which was nice! Some periodic cloud cover and high winds helped keep the temperature in check.
Sadly those came to an end at about the time my feet starting tiring, so I took a big knock and struggled to make progress. I parked off in the shade for a little while, drinking more Coke and it picked me up… to keep walking. Awesome!
30 km was great – but I wanted 40km to average out the 30 km I did on Sunday, as I want to keep things at 35 km/day until the end.
By now, not only my feet were taking strain – Tootsie was unhappy with life. Bouncing around like a mosquito on speed, she quickly buckled two spokes and next thing I saw the one quick-release had released. Quickly tightening that, I wasn’t still for long… then my worst nightmare. That horrible ‘click click click’ from the hub. No!
I knew that noise and it was not a good thing. My axle was broken. Not cracked, not bent… broken! While the pressure from the quick-release and Tootsie will keep it in the hub and continue turning, it will continue to destroy bearings and the skewer until it eventually wears through one.
Based on my experience with Thomas, it should last about 300 km on tar roads – but nowhere near that long on terrain like today. Shucks! And this is already my spare!
I walked on, being eaten alive by mosquitos, flies and even a damn tick (removing it hurt!) and was then stopped by a guy in a 4×4. We chatted for a while, and he then invited me onto his farm (one my dad, or ‘base camp manager’ as he is now known as, told me about).
His wife had prepared an awesome dinner (I ate plenty!), we chatted a while and then he showed me pics of my worst nightmare… even worse than breaking an axle! Snakes! They’d had a few on the farm, including a 3m python!
I also got a quick tour of the stables (Lesley, he has AMAZING horses!) and his hanger. Yip, he’s got a Giro. I may be able to organise a flip in the morning…….
His folks live in Bloemhof, so I may be able to stay with them on Tuesday evening, which will allow me to spend some time in the town and assess the full extent of the flood damage.
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