Great African Divide RideDay 15 : Monday 10th October

We had a much later departure from Johannesburg than initially intended. We never planned to ride out of Joburg – the traffic and hijack risk are just too great. So, we drove until Hendrina, hoping the N11 wouldn’t be too busy. Apart from the coal trucks, there wasn’t too much traffic, but those monster trucks barrelling down the highway, where there is often no yellow line, make for quite a scary ride. For those who don’t know what a yellow line is, many of the major roads in SA have a shoulder one to two metres wide, and for cycling, this is generally a safe place. Where there is no yellow line, you have two choices – stay on the tar and hope the vehicle coming up behind leaves you a bit of space or leave the tar and ride on the gravel next to it. Sometimes this is easily done, but in many cases, leaving the tar is risky as there is a “pot cliff.” This is my brother Laurie’s term for the sharp drop off the tar onto the gravel. In some cases, the pot cliffs can be a drop of over 30cms (more than a foot for the un-metricated).

Anyway, riding on the N11 with no yellow line, or a very narrow one, and coal trucks trundling past is NOT the best way to spend time in the saddle. We rode through the town of Breyten, which is literally on the watershed. Rainwater in some storm drains will flow into the Oliphants River, which flows into the Limpopo and thence into the Indian Ocean. In contrast, other storm drains will flow into the Vaal, which flows into the Orange and thence into the Atlantic. Being on top of a ridge that is a watershed means that there is an uphill to get there. From one of the photos, you’ll see Patch and me struggling up the narrow yellow-line road into Breyten.

Outside of the town, we rode down the gravel road to a small bridge close to the source of the Vaal. There wasn’t too much water, and the thick, black squishy mud in a reed bed didn’t make swimming seem too attractive. But, I knew that if Eric De Jong had been with us he would have insisted on a skinny dip, so I had no option, did I? It was late afternoon, and there was a cheeky breeze, but I did strip off. Thank you, Eric – it made my day …. Not.

In two days we had seen the source of three major rivers – Limpopo (Crocodile), Oliphants and now the Vaal. Then we headed off to Chrissiesmeer, a village near one of those many lakes in the area with no exit. Our campsite was on the water’s edge a few km out of town. Lovely spot, but there was quite a wind. So, we really had to secure the tents. Why do I make a point of this? Well, the law of unintended consequences hit with a bang. In the dark, Patch did not see a large tent peg securing one of the tents, tripped, and fell very hard on her arm. I have known Patch for many years and have been on quite a few adventures with her. She has a high pain threshold – so when she started crying in pain, I knew it was a big problem. We opened up the OLT medical aid kit that Linda Selby had lent us, found a sling, and secured Patch’s arm. I’m not sure what painkillers she took, but they were followed up with a couple of stiff gin and tonics.