19 June, Day 5
I awoke pretty early, quite a bit before sunrise, as I heard some chatter in the kitchen. Fried apparently woke up with the idea of riding his bike back to Cape Town to go and fetch Jo's Tuareg and a trailer for Brent's bike. The plan went through several revisions while I was lying in bed, but the obvious solution to me would be that somebody would ride Brent's bike down to Cape Town along with Fried and then the two could drive back, swapping drivers when needed and without pulling a trailer (leave Fried and Brent's bikes at Jo's place).
Knowing that I would inevitable by the one going with Fried, I was hesitant to pitch what would become the final version of the plan, but in light of logic and efficiency, I took one for the team. Fried was already almost geared up and would leave with 1st light. I had a quick coffee, geared up and followed not long after.
Theme song for the say... "Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset"
Riding while the sun was rising over these pristine gravel roads is really something I can recommend. We never left before sunrise, but it's something I'll consider doing on future trips.
I caught up with Fried while still on the gravel and we cruised together into the sunrise. The last 20km towards Garies is tar, but still very pretty.
The dash on the bike was busted, but the speedo and rev counter worked, but I had no idea how much fuel I had in or what the warning lights meant, so I filled up in Garies, just to be sure that the bike was full. Fried still had enough fuel and his bike/riding style was a bit slower, so we agreed to move on our own pace and we'd meet up in Melkbos. There's cell reception all along the N7, so we could communicate if the plan needed to change for any reason.
Aware of the long road ahead and eager not to waste any time, we didn't stop for many photos. The fuel light came on just before Clanwilliam, so I filled up there again before gunning it home. The fuel light just blinked as I turned into Jo's place. My 2 stop strategy worked perfectly. :biggrin:
I let the group know that I was in Melkbos (around 12h) and at exactly the same moment, Fried messaged that he was in Piketberg. This meant that I had about an hour to get everything ready for our return mission, which included fueling up, grabbing some supplies, getting subscription meds for Brent, packing the car and making a coffee for the way back.
As Fried rolled in, I handed him a travel mug and he literally just climbed over into the Tuareg and we were on our way back by 13h30 ish. A quick driver change at Clanwilliam (for no other reason than boredom) and a last change back after turning off at Garies, with the sun setting quickly on the horizon...
Looking back towards Garies.
We arrived with last light for the 2nd day in a row, just in time to watch the Proteas lose against the Black Caps. Luckily the crew had made some proper West Coast dinner plans to brighten our day. I'll let Jo tell us what they got up to...
PS. At least we had no punctures on days 4 or 5 either. :ricky:
