Askham to Swartstraat

Tuesday 24 July 2007

As would be the pattern for the entire trip, I woke at 4, did the domestic thing of breakfast, dressing, packing, etc and left at 5, the logic being to make the most of the daylight hours rather arriving at my destination in daylight.

I expected it to be really cold in the mornings, so dressed accordingly and set off under a canopy of stars so clear you could hear them squeaking as they jostled to maintain position in the charcoal sky.

As I started on the road I felt a stab of apprehension, as my wheels sank into soft powdery sand and I ground to a stop within a few meters. In the darkness, I searched for a patch of hard surface and found a thin ribbon of darkish soil which proved to be hard enough to ride. I picked up speed and was able to follow this for about 30m where it petered out, only to reappear on the opposite side, separated by a sea of loose corrugations. Using my momentum, I powered through the soft sand onto the hard ribbon which I followed till the next crossover, where I ground to a halt and promptly fell over. Distance left for the day 176km!

It always amazes me how quickly one adapts to a difficult situation, and it wasn’t long before I got a system going and adapted to the conditions. I found that by switching off my head torch, the moonlight was just enough to highlight the slightly darker, hard sections in the road, and I was able to follow this ribbon as it meandered, disappeared and reappeared in front of me. By maintaining momentum, I was able to make it through the soft corrugations, and was only brought to a complete stop on two occasions, having to push through one section of about 100m.

The road I was taking ran parallel to the dry Kuruman River and there was a fair amount of traffic (about 2 bakkies per hour) servicing the many game farms along this route. My next lesson was that vehicles can only travel at a speed of 160km/h, and adhere to a strict code enforced by the 'Kalahari-bakkies-kill-all-lone-cyclists-without-caution-society'. I think that it has something to do with the corrugations on the one hand and the theory of flight on the other, but either way, I got the message and got the hell off the road, seeking shelter in the thorn bush along the verge.

Soon, the sky started lightening in the East, and I experienced my first Kalahari sunrise along with Acacia thorn trees and Steenbok running into the fences.

This section of the route along the river was very beautiful, with lots of trees and shrubs lining the road. It was a beautiful morning and the sights and sounds of a new landscape and a new journey pulled me along the 70-odd km till the turn off to Tellerie Pan.

Just before the turn off however, disaster struck! I had just taken a photo and as I tried to put the camera back in the pouch, it slipped from my hand and 'disappeared' into the soft powder sand of the road. I blew it, wiped it, shook it, but to no avail. The camera was jammed solid and unusable….on Day One of the trip! I did take some photos with the cell phone, but I would have to wait till Upington before I could get a replacement.

On turning the corner, riding conditions improved considerably and I was able to maintain a reasonable speed. Soon, as I moved away from the river, the terrain started changing and I entered the Kalahari dune fields.

The road surface once again started deteriorating, with patches of very loose sand and long sections of serious corrugations. It was getting hotter and hotter, and I started rationing my water, drinking only very little sips from my water bladder, keeping my bike-mounted bottles for emergency. The few farms that I passed were for the most part unoccupied, and the reservoirs that I stopped at cracked and empty. The thought crossed my mind often, that this is not a route to do in the summer!

Finally, near the farm Soetwater, I found a reservoir on the side of the road that looked promising. Walking around the dam in frustration, I could hear the water running inside, but found no way of getting to it. Eventually I climbed up onto the roof and found an inspection hatch. The water was sweet and cool, and I drank till I started seeing double.

The land is almost without feature, broken now and then by the strange shape of social weaver nests clinging to the telephone lines like candy floss.

One of the day's highlights was riding over Tellerie Pan. Similar salt pans are found scattered over the area of the Kalahari above Upington and are the only feature amidst the vast dune field.

The few roads that exist inevitably run directly through the middle of them. Older locals speak of the huge concentrations of game on these pans during the summers of bygone years. All I saw on my trip through were Duiker and Steenbok sparsely splattered along the roadside as road kill and some trying to escape the confines of the road reserve.

I was pretty much at the end of myself when I finally arrived at 'Swartstraat' just as the sun set

and the light faded. I let myself in to Tienie's farmhouse, and settled in for the night, cleaning

my bike, cooking and making preparations for the next day.

Speaking to the farm foreman, Adam, I found out that many of the people in these areas have seen 'strange' things among the stars, and UFO sightings are not unusual or infrequent in these parts. (I saw only UFBs, Unidentified Flying Bakkies!)

I boiled a few pots of water on the gas stove and after a pot bath fell asleep.

Day one: Askham to Swartstraat
Distance: 177.65 kms
Hours: 12h 42mins (05:06 – 17:48)
Ave riding speed: 17.49