Gael back in Africa.

Ha ha! I thought Farleys may come up. Rusks here, are like serial bars in UK. They have a history from the Boer War. The Boers would visit farmhouses at night to resupply, where Biltong(dried meat) and Rusks(hard dried cake) the main foods recieved. Both can last some time and fit neatly in a saddlebag. Still true today for bikers in southern Africa.

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The Other PaulG said:
Nice one Jim. 430kms in a day on a 250 is no mean feat. Respect to you!
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Thanks Paul, was a good test. The big run here is the 600+km run between Maun and Kasane in Botswana, through the national park. There's petrol at 300km, so need to be sure I can make that. Oh, and there's the elephants! I did that on the 125 last time, so the 250 should be fine. One ride I'm looking forward to.

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Do you have a nice island of Ireland sticker on the bike like you had on your previous African bike? Safe riding, i am enjoying the Ride Report.
 
Not a big travelling day today but some admin tasks to be done. First was to meet the guy who will store my bike when I leave. He runs a farm and storage facility, just beside the airport. Really beside the airport, because this family sold off some of their land to the government to build the airport. The road to his house runs along the perimeter fence.

The road to the house is gravel but has a lot of sand. Those who've read my trips before will know that I like sand less than gravel, and I hate gravel. Well I was negotiating the sand carefully, sometimes picking up pieces on the edge that looked solid, then I spotted what looked like a solid piece on the other side. I moved over to find it was not solid but loose and the bike reacted badly, thinking about throwing me off. Then the bike had second thoughts and felt leaving the road was best, and soon we were riding through a thorn bush.

We rejoined the road, still upright, and wearing a fair bit of the thorn bush. I parked and extracted the thorn branches from the bike and hoped none had pierced the tyres. Happily I was travelling on my own and no photographs were taken to record the incident. So on I went more carefully to meet the guy. He advised against riding on the edge and recommended following the tyre tracks which should have compacted the sand. I got a good tour of the place which seems great and I think the bike will be quite happy there when I leave. He will also prepare the bike before you arrive to collect it, so its ready to be ridden away. He is also a biker and enduro racer.

The road to the farm.B0120079.jpg

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I returned to Windhoek without further incident. My helmet camera has not been operating well and I tried it a few times on the return journey, to show the road, surroundings and lack of clouds.B0170154.jpgPH000155.jpg

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In Windhoek I recieved a message that the final paperwork was completed and the bike is now registered in my name. I met up with the guy and now have the papers to confirm ownership. I next spent some time trying to track down a sheepskin but the only ones on offer were full sheepshins, referred here as medical sheepskins, as they are used to avoid bed sores. I did get another name and called them and they suggested they may have something suitable.

The supplier was a leather factory, to the north of the city. I jumped on the bike and turned up. The skins in question were Karakul(also known as Astrakhan) and about the right size, they even had one in black. Apparently George V had a coat with an Astrakhan collar. It's fitted loosely on the bike and I'll try it out tomorrow.20220125_171055.jpg20220125_171105.jpg20220125_171129.jpg

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The Other PaulG said:
Hats off to you. I jumped into the sea at Luderitz, south of Walvis. Holy cow, it was unbelievably cold. It only makes sense when you realise that the south Atlantic current comes up from the Antarctic.

Anyway, only did it once!
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Spent my first Christmas in Africa at Luderitz, back when Namibia was still South West Africa…. Nice memories prompted, it was bloody cold!
 
Drumacoon Lad. said:
Ha ha! I thought Farleys may come up. Rusks here, are like serial bars in UK. They have a history from the Boer War. The Boers would visit farmhouses at night to resupply, where Biltong(dried meat) and Rusks(hard dried cake) the main foods recieved. Both can last some time and fit neatly in a saddlebag. Still true today for bikers in southern Africa.

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Click to expand...

They call it Pad Kos - translates as road food (food for the road). Biltong, rusks and fruit leather is the standard, along with some beer!
 
de crowe said:
Do you have a nice island of Ireland sticker on the bike like you had on your previous African bike? Safe riding, i am enjoying the Ride Report.
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Sadly no Irish Sticker this time. I took the one of the Suzuki in Tanzania and had plans to bring it down for this bike but it never happened. Hopefully there'll be another chance.

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A quiet ride south today and not too far. I was late leaving Windhoek, partly because I was setting up my Garmin InReach satelite tracker. It's a bit over the top for this kind of trip but you never know. The SOS function is reassuring to have. You pay by the 30 days so by starting now it should cover me back to Windhoek. It also produces the map image below, live as you're travelling, with updates every 10 mins.Screenshot_20220126-200706_Firefox.jpg

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I was riding along, mind in standby, when I came across this. Last time I rode this road I missed it, and only worked out later I must have passed it. It always feels significant to pass a Tropic sign and worth a stop and photo. I note they've put this one up high, presumably to stop tourists covering it with stickers.20220126_124347.jpg

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Further down I spotted these two lads with bicycles at a layby and pulled over. When you start this adventure travelling, you imagine your going to bump into lots of others doing the same thing but that's not my experience. So when you see someone on the road, you should stop and have a chat. These guys from Cape Town are cycling to Windhoek, but that is just the start. After that they fly to Japan, then somehow end up in New Zealand for the Ladies Rugby World Cup. They aim to return in September 2023. It puts my little jaunt into perspective.20220126_142302.jpg20220126_142958.jpg

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I had noticed that all the rivers I passed were dry, which is not too surprising in this part of Namibia. I stopped to have a look at this one and it was not just dry, the river bed was flat, and freshly made so. My theory is, that with the downpours, this river was recently in flood and then quickly dried up, leaving the surface flat.20220126_131203.jpg

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When I arrived at Mariental the B&B was in this mud/sand road still with some puddles from the rain. I've been caught out before, going for the middle of puddles, so opted for the edge where the mud seemed almost dry. How wrong I was, as the wheels buried in the mud and when I came out the other side, I had a dirty bike and boots.

Lastly, while writing this outside I noticed the sky after sunset.20220126_151549.jpg20220126_201101.jpg

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They don’t look fit or frightened enough …
 

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I pulled out of the B&B, missing the puddle and mud, and filled up. This was going to be a longish day in the saddle, around 400km. I headed south and almost immediately saw 3 animals running over the road at speed and off into the bushes. The two in front seemed to be small antelopes and the third a black dog. The dog seemed to match the speed of the antelopes but I don't know the result of the chase. I then noticed a guy purposefully following the trail and I assume he was the owner of the dog. This may be how the animals are killed, for the pelts I saw hanging up yesterday. This just reminded me, that I must be in Africa.

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I'd left early to beat the worst of the afternoon heat. I'm not sure how hot it got but here in Grunau, my destination it's still 36C at 17:30. I'd loaded lots of water and filled my 3L Camelback. I refuelled at the next town after 90km following the African rule, never pass an open service station. This was to prove useful as I was planning the next refuel at Tses in 150km, but my Garmin with T4A maps misled me and there was no fuel there. While searching for it, a police car stopped and they confirmed there was no fuel. They seemed concerned and checked with me that I'd make it to Keetmanshoop, which would be a 230km run. I assured them that with my spare fuel I should be OK. In fact I made 220km before the fuel light came on, so didn't need the spare fuel.

The land at the early part is quite barren a bit like a semi desert.
T0190007.jpg

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I rode along and saw a sign to a Commonwealth Grave site. I'd passed it in 2019 and was passing it again but something encouraged me to turn around and have a look. I remember then visiting Boer War cemeteryin SA and finding the graves of my countrymen, fighting on behalf of the Empire against the Boers. This time it was different, these were the graves of South African soldiers who had fought against the German soldiers stationed in German South-West Africa(now Namibia). As I post the picture of the war grave headstone, I'm struck with the fact, that early on in this write up, is a picture of a similar headstone, in Glasgow, that of my great uncle. He died in April 1915, on month before the soldier on the grave today. I'm not a overly interested in wars but they are a dramatic part of history and we all aught to be interested in history.20220127_093626.jpg20220127_093424.jpg

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Nice to pay respects and acknowledge what has gone on, I quite often wander round graveyards just to see a little history and learn some perspective. Nationality doesn't matter, life is life.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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