To Garies: we see the ocean fog, feeling its cooling effect

December 6, 2015

Kamiesaroon, where we camped last night, is near the Haas River which means the day starts with climbing up and away again in stairsteps until about 25kms, then a 4km downhill. It's been along time since we've been on roads with long downhills. All across Botswana, Rachel says she shifted gears about 3 times. So even though we also have hills, it's nice to not have to pedal all the time.

We still don't trust that the temperature will not be hot or the wind will not be our friend, so we get an early start, but not at the crack of dawn as in Zambia and Botswana. We can tell we are getting close to the ocean seeing fog in the distance. A few short hills and a 6km downhill into Garies gets us here before 10am.

At the guesthouse, there is only a housekeeper, no one to check us in. She points to the cell phone number to call, but we don't have a cellphone. We wait, then Rachel asks a woman checking out of the guesthouse if we could use her phone. She made the call for us, Patrick talks with the owner of the guesthouse and 10 mins later we are checked into a room. Turns out the housekeeper had locked her cell phone in one of the rooms. This requires someone to crawl in through the window to retrieve the phone, so Patrick helped out by being that someone.

Showers done, laundry done, electronic devices recharging, air conditioning, room with a kitchen....life is tough on the road.

Although we are still about 50km away from the ocean and are traveling parallel to the coast, we can see the ocean fog and feel its cooling effect.

Rachel likes these signs. The last kilometers today are mostly downhill. Tomorrow we will pay the price....

The ocean is quite cold and fog has filled the low lying valleys.

The rest areas that line the highway every 10km or so are not being maintained very well.

De Garies Guesthouse. Patrick read on other blogs that cyclists have stayed here. Nice room with bath and kitchen for about $35.

Today's ride: 49 km (30 miles)
Total: 10,235 km (6,356 miles)

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