December 7, 2020
Ouch !
Ko ka Tsara to Rosedene
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We got away a little bit later than hoped for this morning and our progress was impeded by a herd of giraffe in the road. They quickly moved away and we cycled back down the track to the R381 to continue the long climb up over the Molteno Pass.
We were soon down to our lowest gears and Leigh ended up walking her bike for much of the way. Despite the hard work we were treated to some lovely views.
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The tarmac soon ran out and we carried on up slowly along the good quality gravel road. As we climbed higher the forty kilometer hour wind that was predicted for today spilt over the mountains and made the going even more challenging. At the top of the pass the road unexpectedly became tarmac once again. It had taken us three hours of hard work to get there. However, the climbing wasn't over and we worked our way slowly into the wind to the last big climb at the thirty kilometer mark. By now the wind was making very difficult and we were running low on water.
We had hoped to spend the next two nights at the Riverine Rabbit Retreat which is on Dunedin Farm, just over fifty kilometers from Ko Ka Tsara. We had tried, without success, to contact the farm owners so thought we might just wing it and hope we could find accommodation there.
With about ten kilometers to go to Dunedin Farm we came upon Rosedene Farm, just off the R381. I hoped we could get some water there and have a bit of a rest but in conversation with the owners we found out that the owners of Dunedin were away and that there was no hope of getting accommodation there. We were pretty knackered at this point and it must have been quite obvious that we were. To cut a long story short, we are spending the night here at Rosedene as guests of the Graham and Esme Koster and their family.
Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 498 km (309 miles)
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