December 10, 2025
To Oudtshoorn
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Today was a day divided into four distinct stages, some more enjoyable than others.
The first stage, and most important, was waking up and registering that today was Alk's birthday! Her 60th to be precise. I had prepared a video message which I sent to her via WhatsApp so she would see it as soon as she woke. I know the girls had taken time off work to be with her today, and were taking her to lunch at Dishoom in London. I had planned a surprise West End musical for the three of them in the evening, the details, of which I had sent the girls. It was setup to be a fun day, and a prelude to the family celebration that we had planned for when we meet up in Kenya in just over 14 days time.
The second stage was the ride off the Great Karoo. The winds from last night continued through the night and showed no signs of abating this morning. The winds brought over cloudy and distinctly cooler weather. The morning temperature was a chilly 18 degrees! As I set off from Silwerkaroo Farm, the wind seemed to pick up. I anticipated the head winds today, but had not anticipated having to pedal even while riding downhill because of them! The winds were both relentless and gusty, and made for unpleasant cycling for 80km,of today's ride. The wind chill made it more unpleasant and at one point I even contemplated putting on a base layer and skull cap, and would have done so had the sun not appeared to raise the "feels like" temperature by a few degrees. The scenery was nice and very Karoo-like and I could see distant hills looming, safe in the knowledge that I would not be climbing over them but rather meandering my way amongst them. I was descending off the Great Karoo today, and losing about a thousand metres in altitude in doing so, and transitioning onto the Klein Karoo (little Karoo). The transition between Karoos began with some sweeping downhills, with me still pedalling into the wind, and welcome changes in scenery. These downhills were effectively a descent of the Great Escarpment, leading to the hills that loomed in the distance. The small rural settlement of Klaarstroom marked the entry into a very scenic new world.
The third stage of today's ride involved the Cape Fold Mountains. One well known gateway between the Great and Klein Karoos, is the 25 km Meiringspoort pass road, which weaves its way between the steep-walled sandstone layers of the amazing Cape Fold mountains. The Meiringspoort pass road meanders seemingly forever along its 25km stretch, and crosses the Groot river, whose path it follows, 25 times. Sadly, the Groot river was completely dry, so all I witnessed were the numbered bridges marking each crossing, counting them down from 25 to 1. The Cape Fold mountains were formed by a tectonic plate collision between plates carrying Africa, Antarctica and Argentina, millions of years ago. They are absolutely mind blowing. I was amazed at the rock formations, all clearly showing layers of different coloured sandstone being pushed up, rolled and folded by the force of that ancient tectonic collision. I stopped many times to take photos that simply did not do the scenery justice. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride through Meiringspoort, which was a very welcome change in scenery from the vastness of the Great Karoo. This section was the sort of ride that bike touring dreams are made of.
The fourth and final stage of today's ride, involved emerging from the towering rocky landscape of Meiringspoort and onto the plateau of the Klein Karoo. The first settlement I encountered was a charming town called De Rust. I was very hungry, having been drained by the head winds and earlier cold weather. I stopped at Ray's coffee shop at the edge of town, and had a large Americano with a ham, cheese and tomato toastie with chips. The nourishment gave me renewed vigour to push on for the last 37km to Oudtshoorn. On the way, I stopped to join a family video call with family in London and Kenya to wish Alks a happy birthday. She seemed to be enjoying her special day, and deservedly so. The outskirts of Oudtshoorn were mainly covered with sprawling government affordable housing projects, where poorer families lived. Friendly faces smiled and waved and called at me as I rode past. Large Ostrich farms, for which Oudtshoorn is well known, full of curious birds lined the road leading into the "Captial of the Klein Karoo". Some of the ostriches even ran along with me as I drifted passed their pens - This was a hilarious sight. I was soon in the centre of town looking for the guest house I had pre-booked on advice from a local who said peak season (now) could mean less availability. I found a lovely home at the "88 Baron Van Reede" Guest House, just outside the bustling heart of town.
Today's ride: 118 km (73 miles)
Total: 2,324 km (1,443 miles)
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