After a long day yesterday and a late night last night chatting with Bianca at Bergkroon, I was kind enough to myself to ignore my alarm and sleep late… and only ended up leaving a few minutes before 9am. WAY later than my planned assault on Bains Kloof Pass, but my body clearly needed a slow start to the day.
I turned right and headed up what looked like a stiff climb… and boy was it a stiff climb. But the kilometres went by fairly quickly and I ust went one turn at a time – trying, but not managing, to keep the heart-rate low. For some reason my body just doesn’t feel comfortable walking slower than 5km/h… even when up a big hill. A little annoying, but at the same time cool.
The view became increasingly breathtaking, and I pulled over at the sound of water to fill up my bottles with some of the best mountain water I’ve ever tasted. And it was cold too.
I pressed on, now about two thirds of the way up, and a family called me over to the view point to chat – and offered me some watermelon, as they were busy slicing. After getting all sticky and a long chat with them, the next couple arrived and I chatted briefly before pushing on… as I had distance to cover.
Finally I made the top – and what a reward to see a place with cold drinks!!! I popped my head in but nobody was there, so walked around and met Henry – owner of Bains Trading Post. After a brief chat, it turns out he’d seen me lower on the pass, he bought me a coke and we chatted some more.
Main topic was the Anglo-Boer war, and he was pretty knowledgeable on the topic!! He gave me details for some friends of his outside Modderrivier, and said I could look them up if in the area.
Sadly I had to move, but Tweede Tol was my destination so no complaining really. My left foot took a real pounding heading down the pass, and I was VERY glad to see the entrance gate so that I could break and rest my now aching foot. Eish!! Any more downhill and I would have rather hopped.
The staff chatted with me for a while, sharing stories about other travellers who’ve come through – including other walkers. One chap regularly walks from Cape Town to Sutherland apparently!
The river was amazing and I loved just floating away the time – but, again, distance had to be covered.
I hit Calabash, a well talked about pub and accommodation venue and decided to enjoy a pizza & beer as a reward to getting over the pass.
What was going to be a one hour break turned into me staying here for the night. A table of three invited me to join them, and we chatted for ages – as though I’d been friends with them for years.
And, based on distances and security issues before Mitchells Pass… and nature issues on the pass… I decided best to stay here for the night and hit the pass earlyish tomorrow morning.
So, with only 22.97km behind me for the day, my tent is pitched in the howling wind… but I have power, a swimming pool, showers, a full bathroom with flushing toilet, fridges, and grass… all things I will not be seeing for quite some time.
Oh, for those wondering about the GPS tracking map and why it hardly showed anything today. Well, the unit requires GPRS signal to upload the data to the website… so when I don’t have cellphone reception I can’t upload my position for you. Hence there being very little map today.
