Our last rest day is on the Orange River at Felix Unite. South Africa is right across the river. What an amazing week we had: two mando days, beautiful landscapes, and the start of the count down to Cape Town.
Stage 84 - Sossusvlei was an interesting place to visit. The Namib desert was very beautiful in the early morning. The desert was formed over millions of years. The rivers in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa flow into the Atlantic ocean. The cold current carries the sand northward. Over the next few million years, the sand dunes will reach Angola. I climbed the "Big Mama" sand dune. It was the second highest sand dune in the desert. Sossusvlei is a pan, with permanent water so plants can survive. The word Namib in the local language means desert.
Today's ride was really tough: sand, corrugation, head wind, and climbing. There were traffic signs that warned about wind and sand. The morning was especially tough. It took me over four and half hours to reach lunch. Some riders took over seven hours to lunch. The landscape was very stunning again. I'm already thinking about another trip in Namibia.
Stage 85 - This was a mando day, but it felt a little bit easier than yesterday. The sky was clear last night. I just love looking at the stars and galaxies. The ride was hard in the morning with the typical deep sand, corrugation, and a lot of climbing. We climbed to over 1600 meters, from 1100 meters above sea level. We rode around the mountains all morning. After lunch, the packed dirt road improved to nearly tarmac like smooth.
Stage 86 - It rained heavily all night last night. We had 30 km on dirt in the morning and the rest on tarmac. Oh boy, were we lucky! The rain storm from last night continued in the morning. It was hard to pack up the tent in the rain. More than half of the riders decided to take the truck. The dirt road was very muddy. It was nearly impossible to find a good path. The satrated gound was very soft, so it was hard to go fast. I was going no more than 9 kmph, or about 5 mph. The rain was cold and heavy, adding the muddy road, it just made it a very difficult morning. Everytime I look for a silver lining in the clouds, all I saw was more dark rain clouds in the horizon. It took about three hours to reach the tarmac. At the end of the dirt road and the start of the tarmac, there was a little water stream by the side of the road. I dropped my bike in the stream to get the mud off. I was covered in mud and sand from head to toe. I washed my legs and feet in the water and cleaned off the socks and shoes.
The little town where the tarmac started is called Bethanie. People were very friendly. I stopped by the general store to get some water and struck up a conversation with some locals. They were amazed that we biked all the way from Cairo. The ride to lunch and camp was much faster on paved road. Rain also stopped just before lunch.
Stage 87 - Another epic day! The stars finally came out last night. The road we were taking had a big sign that said "road closed." There was a good reason for it, the road was flooded. We had to cross streams, in addition to the typical corrugation, mud and deep sand. About 20 km into the ride, we saw our lunch truck. Just about 100 meters in front of the truck, a river divided the road. We had to take a detour on the train tracks to cross the river. The afternoon ride was much faster as the wet dirt road dried. Mando day tomorrow!
Stage 88 - Wow what a day! This was probably the most picturesque day on the entire trip. It's also our last mando day. We started the morning cycling around the canyons. There was a group of Springboks that ran across the road right in front of me in the early morning. The jumps of Springboks are majestic, it's like they fly through the air. After some rolling climbs around small mountains, we descended into the desert. The soft sand made for difficult cycling on the dirt road. Finally, on we reached the Orange River, the border of South Africa and Namibia. The 172 km day on dirt and some tarmac with strong head wind was really tough. After nearly 9 hours on the bike, I finally arrived at the camp.
