Whyteleafe, Surrey UK to Cape Town
Follow this story by emailA Travel Story by Ken Thomas
Surrey to South Africa Overland
A Travel Story by Ken Thomas
Surrey to South Africa Overland
I didn't get very far after leaving Chimoio. I had a recommendation to stay at Chicamba Lake, about halfway to the Zimbabwean border and only about one hour away.
From The Great Zimbabwe Monument.
I suppose that's an appropriate collective noun for so many photos.
So I'll try to keep the words short. Not always successful on this blog.
"The postings needn't be long, but it takes a long while to make them short."
These photos were taken over two days, the first dull, dark and cloudy, the second bright and sunny.
Phew........ where do I start??
It's been a roller coaster journey, nothing to do with going up and down hills, and here I am in Masvingo, Zimbabwe.
It's not difficult to see why Bulawayo became the favorite home town of many, if not most, of the British colonialists during Zimbabwe's time as Southern Rhodesia. It certainly is a very pleasant place.
Having the layout of a typical mid-west US town, wide streets and pavements in a simple grid formation, low rise buildings, parking for all the cars that might need it, a spacious City Hall, and room for everyone with public parks dotted all around (even a 50-metre swimming pool). It's easy to spend quite a while here. And there's plenty to see further afield as well.
No, not leaving Bulawayo just yet, but have completed some exhaustive research on where on earth to go next.
Another country, another change. After the verdant and colourful vegetation of Zimbabwe, Botswana is a bit bare by comparison.
Dry flat savannah traversed by straight flat roads, all fairly unremarkable. But cattle and goats still roam the highways.
No balancing boulders or whalebacks - they almost stop dead at the border.
After a few days in Maun it was off to Ghanzi. A little more colour in the scenery with the trees, but really, another long boring straight stretch. We crossed the Ngwanalekau Hills (why should I be the only one trying to pronounce these names?) and Tsau Hills, but as far as I could see, all was as flat as a pancake.
Which was not surprising as we were back in salt-pan country, one of them being called, according to my whimsical map, Peter Pan, just inside the Kalahari Game Reserve.
I'm reviewing the situation.
It'll be decision time again in Windhoek (Namibia), on which route to take thereafter.
Firstly, I stayed a few days longer in Ghanzi (Botswana). It's a cultural centre of the San bushman tribes. I read a little about their situation in the Ghanzi public library.
I haven't completed the north-to-south traverse of Africa yet, but I have done the east-to-west.
(Or should that be, an east-to-west. Hardly the widest part).
Windhoek was a bit time-consuming. It seemed to take forever to come out of the western side of the city and eventually reach the bypass, and the decision that had to be made.
There was also the Kalahari.
A tale of two days.
Let's start with the worst of times, part one.
Here I am in Keetmanshoop. Plans in disarray, trying to make sense of the options available.
From Keetmanshoop southwards the road was more of the same, like this:
This road, all the way from Windhoek, is called the B1, and that's about all it deserves to be called.
Any name more descriptive than that would be an overstatement.
Or maybe the Trans-Nowhere Highway.
Nothing to take note of, except it became colder and colder, needing a stop to put on the winter woollies. Hence the photo above.
Crossed into South Africa today, hopeful of twistier roads.
No luck.
And I now think Einstein got it wrong.
He claimed there's no such thing as a straight line. Because time and space are all curved (he said).
Well, look at the picture:
The camera never lies.
The new front tyre is all done and dusted, so I can go off the tarmac again. All being well, will depart tomorrow for Clanwlliam with the idea of heading for Lambert's Bay on the Atlantic, and thence by a mixture of tarmac and gravel all the way down the coast to Cape Town.
There are a few things to see on the way to Clanwilliam so that might take a couple of days.
After fitting the tyre I took the road towards Kleinsee, also on the coast. Along the way I got equipped with a phone line.......
Wandering around Lambert's Bay, I half expected to see Mack and the boys pop up somewhere, hatching some hare-brained scheme to earn a bob or two, or to do someone a good turn.
Anyone who's read John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, or seen the film with Nick Nolte (brilliant music from Big Joe Duskin and others) will now know what Lambert's Bay is like, I hope.
If you don't know Cannery Row, then this might give an idea of the place:
In the tourist information office, in the windows of various shops, and outside the museum, is the following notice:
There's an acronym commonly used by foreign travellers in Africa, that I've mentioned before somewhere: TIA.
"This Is Africa."
To pin on any situation that doesn't immediately fit any sort of western expectation.
Which is more-or-less everyday, and why most foreign visitors are here.
Well, here's another - TINA - "This Is Not Africa."
The day after visiting the cargo area:
"Hello, is that Bradley?"
"It's Ken here."
"I came in yesterday to have my TTR weighed and measured for London. 223kg."
"That's right. I've booked my ticket now, back to London. For 27th October."
"When do you want me to bring the bike in for crating?"
"OK. See you on the 26th. Bye."
Next stop, Antarctica.
Or for me and H.M. The Bike: Cape Town and London.
On the empty road from Caledon to L'Agulhas, and more so on the emptier stretch from Bredasdorp, a few people by the roadside give a knowing wave, or thumbs-up.
It seemed quite an occasion. I wonder how many bikes per week rumble down this road?
Phew! I took a bit of a rest there. Eight days or so at the "suidelike punt van die vasteland."
And a very nice place it was to spend some time in. The tiny village of L'Agulhas, the tinier hamlet of Suiderstrand (population less than a hundred), and the slightly larger village of Struisbaai (only one pub but a couple of restaurants).
The tarmac road ends at L'Agulhas, you can go no further on it, but a little gravel track continues past the lighthouse and marker cairn and then another four miles to the very end of the road at Suiderstrand. So it's nice and remote.
I'm on my way back north to Cape Town now, stopping here in Hermanus for a few days, then Cape Town a few days, then the airport to have the bike crated, and me installed on a flight to Heathrow.