After a fairly decent sleep last night, the going was slow this morning as I struggled to get out of my sleeping bag – as it was fairly chilly and I was way more comfy tucked in. But, as the sun peaked through the trees I eventually got up and took some pics.
The flood damage is unbelievable! One can see the line on trees where the water rose to, debris is caught up in jungle gyms, lamp poles washed over, buildings gutted by water, and the list goes on. In many cases I couldn’t even get close enough to take detailed photos because the mud is soooo thick in places.
Breakfast went down well and I headed off, going to the Riverton Resort. Destruction of immense proportion there too… with water marks clearly visible on everything from the super-tube to the chalets, 100 m from the current banks.
I spoke to some local residents who are staying in the few chalets not affected by the flood, and they’re absolutely outraged by what happened. And, to make matters worse, insurance companies are not playing ball, some are still waiting for the assessors to come out and see the damage so that repair work can begin. If you work for Metropolitan this is a big dig at you especially!
Saying farewells, I was going to the low water bridge which only re-opened on Tuesday apparently, although some still believe it should be closed. Upon arriving, the descent to the bridge is ankle deep mud… but fortunately a few 4×4’s have been through and have left tyres tracks for us pedestrians to follow. Tootsie took strain but pulled through – good girl.
I took plenty pics and some video before pushing on, as I was now hearing that Windsorton was even further than I’d initially thought. I’d worked on 25 km, but was now hearing 35 km… and I still had another 10 km to the N12!
The heat was unbearable and were it not for a Red Bull I really think I would’ve fallen over around noon. But the Red Bull break and some improvised shade helped a lot, and I then chatted with the guys at SportsTrack to sort out the software upgrade on the unit. Basically, the unit now stores up to 20 hours of GPS points, even if out of GPRS range. It will then upload as soon as it has a GPRS connection again. Wicked! So you can still see my route when I disappear off the main drag, just a little delayed.
Something told me to prep for rain so I put the rain cover over the pack and got my Dry Lite jacket out… and about 10 min later I saw the rain coming down the road. It was like a wall that was moving towards me faster than I was towards it. I dropped my pack on Tootsie, got the jacket on and next thing that wall hit me – hard!
Pack back on and moving forward, I closed up tight and got the camera rolling. Thunder, lightning, rain, wind, mud, flooded roads, video snippets, loads of pics and some idiot driving right past me so I got another wall of water [mixed with A-grade mud]. While the storm wasn’t quite as hectic as last sunday near Magersfontein, it wasn’t far off. However, this time I was dry! Yay! Rain gear that works… I am so happy.
The rain storm lasted for quite some time and I just slowly plodded along, with Tootsie sinking deeper and deeper as the rain fell and the road worsened.
I was in mining country again and every now and then I’d see a fleet of giant trucks and diggers doing their thing, ripping up the landscape for those precious diamonds.
But one of the miners stopped and chatted, and has invited to stay with him when I hit Warrenton (Friday night if all goes well). Cool! He also gave me an ice cold drink – cooler!
I am camped a few kilometres short of Windsorton… as it is even further than people said. Grrrr! But it’s ok, the sunset was stunning and dinner (lamb fettucine) was brilliant, so now I can get an early night and rest my body for a 42 km marathon tomorrow.
