Ysterplaat

November 8, 2025

The climb today wasn't half as challenging as yesterday mostly because there was no wind with which to contend. In other circumstances we wouldn't have had to break the climb in two but it was just the sensible thing to do this time.

The worst road surface was at the start of the ride, quite sandy and corrugated, but it improved as we got higher.

Looking down into the Kouebokkeveld on the other side of the summit.

We have a tiny but well appointed prefabricated mountain hut on a working farm for the night. It's isolated from the campsite on the farm that is fully booked for tonight and occupied by a bunch of MTB cyclists that we met as we crested the summit. We would have been camping there if they weren't.

With a whole day to spend on a mountainside I spent some time enjoying the birds. This is a Bokmakierie (Telophorus zeylonus), part of the bushshrike family. Their distinctive calls have been with us for the past few weeks.

The mountains have been covered with various Protea species. This is a female Cape Sugarbird (Promerops cafer) one of the major pollinator of Proteas. I think the Protea on qhich it is sitting here is a Protea neriifolia.

While sugarbirds physically resemble and share nectar-feeding habits with sunbirds (family Nectariniidae) and Australian honeyeaters (family Meliphagidae), these similarities are a result of convergent evolution, and they are not closely related to either of those families.

An early start tomorrow because we have eighty kilometers to get to Prince Alfred's Hamlet. We have an apartment booked there for two nights and will be meeting up with my brother and his wife who are passing through there on Monday.

Today's ride: 17 km (11 miles)
Total: 1,048 km (651 miles)

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