Williston to Fraserburg

Sunday 29 July 2007

The down was just too soft and warm, the morning too cold. I woke an hour late, and decided that I wasn't going to beat myself up about it, because hey, it was Sunday, a day of rest!

It was absolutely freezing when I left at 06h00, with an icy wind blowing the low clouds along a moonlit sky. I made good progress along the 30km section of tar, and hit the dirt road just as the sun lightened the eastern sky. No sunrise today, as the low grey cloud scurried to blanket the landscape from my prying eyes.

With my senses reduced to seeing only the road ahead, hearing the wind flowing past my helmet, my feelings numbed by the cold, I decided it was a good time to treat myself to some music therapy. Out came the earplugs and up went the volume as I drifted into the words and worlds of Eric Clapton, Jewel, Jimmy Hendrix and James Taylor. At one point I almost jumped out of my lycra as a car came whizzing past me, without me having even being vaguely aware of him! I realised that this was the first vehicle I had seen on the road for the past three days! I thought the roads were all mine. I made a point of taking regular peeps behind me after that, but I needn't have bothered, he was the traffic till Fraserburg.

The road rose and fell consistently now, with some good climbs and even a downhill where my speedometer reached the 50km/h mark -- beyond first class! My stops were few and brief as the biting cold spurred me on to Fraserburg. It wasn't long before I met up with the tar road and followed it into the town, straight to the B&B I had pre-booked.

No sooner had I arrived than the rain began falling, so I unpacked, and climbed straight into bed, where I stayed for most of what was left of the day. I spent some time servicing my bike, washing clothes and generally reorganising my kit.

Had a wonderful supper, eating with a group of visitors from Cape Town. After excusing myself from their company, I climbed under the blankets and watched TV while eating a bar of chocolate. Oh, the trials and tribulations of the long distance cyclist!

Day 6: Williston to Fraserburg
Distance: 95.93km
Hours: 4hrs 55mins (06:05 – 11:00)
Ave riding speed: 21.2km/h