December 5, 2025
To Victoria West
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Ronald is the night receptionist at the Transkaroo Lodge in Britstown, who guaranteed that my bike would be safe in the courtyard, locked to an orange tree. He was a pleasant young man, and was very interested in knowing the details of my journey and my bike. He wanted to see me ride it fully loaded, so I promised him I would show him in the morning as I was planning to leave when he would still be on duty. Sure enough, bright and early, Ronald was waiting for me to appear. He shook my hand, wished me well, and we said goodbye. "We might meet again sir", he said with a gleaming smile. As I rode off, I turned to look back after about 100m, and Ronald was still watching me.
The Karoo is beautiful. It is vast, unforgiving and monotonous, yet there is a certain charm in its omnipresence. Yesterday, after a long day , I was feeling a little dejected about the prospect of long mileage in this desolate landscape. Today, after a good night's sleep and energy rich porridge, fresh fruit and coffee for breakfast, I was feeling charged up and actually excited about yet another long day in this special part of the world. This change of mindset affects me often: negative thoughts accompany fatigue, hunger, thirst and heat exhaustion while positivity is attributed to a rested well fed and hydrated body and the gratitude that I am where I am, doing what I am doing on my bicycle. The positivity lesson never sticks though, and negative thoughts will always return, from time to time.
So, with renewed vigour I set off at 7am this morning, hoping to beat the afternoon heat that was forecast. Today's ride was a 105km gradual climb with a head wind all day. I was feeling the effects of the two previous long days, more because of the heat than anything else, so was conscious to take it steady under the clear blue skies forecast for today. The sunlight this far South at this time of the year is intense. Weather data indicated uv index of 13 and classified it "extremely unhealthy". I was sure to put on enough of my factor 50 sun block (that I had purchased in Nukus, Uzbekistan) to protect myself. The cloudless sky, although exceptionally beautiful, does little to protect me from the radiation from our closest star.
I spotted another running Ostrich, which always looks hilarious. He/she was running parallel to the road so I tried to catch up with it. I was pushing hard against the wind and managed 20km/h but still could not line up with this giant bird that I estimated was running at 25km/h and slowly gaining distance on me. I got my phone out and snapped a photo (included here), in which the athletic beast can just about be spotted!
The windmills of the Karoo have grown on me. Their rear fins enure that they turn to face the wind, and they spin to pump precious water from the boreholes nearby. What a sensible and efficient use of natural energy. The windmills dot the barren landscape, and bring it to life somehow.
The day was made to feel longer by the relentless headwind. By the time I spotted a large Kopje with "Victoria West" written in bold white letters on its side, I was happy to call it a day, the wind and sun having gradually drained me over the last 5 hours. Victoria West is a small town situated in the Northern Cape province at 1300m altitude, and close to the boundary with the Western Cape Province into which I will be heading. An impressive cemetery is located on the outskirts of town, which I cycled past before finding my accommodation for the night at the very comfortable Victoria Oaks Guest House.
Today's ride: 105 km (65 miles)
Total: 2,001 km (1,243 miles)
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