We left early for the drive down to the Fish River Canyon viewpoints. The only real nuisance was thick choking white dust from passing traffic temporarily whiting out the immediate road in front.
Awed by the view but mindful of how fast time slips away, we returned to the Roadhouse, grabbed a quick coffee and set off for Seeheim. Floods had closed a section of the C12 but again local advice had it that bikes could easily get through. There’s nothing like a challenge!
Skirting the road closed signs we found the 500 metre wide gully where a raging torrent had uprooted trees a few weeks prior. It seemed quiet enough, there were recent tracks across, and this was supposed to be an adventure after all. I made about 25 metres before becoming bogged down. It took both of us another hour before we had both bikes on the far bank, using up large quantities of our precious water supply in the process. No sooner had we completed this then another motorbike appeared on the far bank and crossed in 40 seconds, followed by another with a passenger, riding pillion. Our expressions were a picture!
In our defense, officer, our bikes are extremely heavily laden, but the skills of locals who have grown up riding off-road around here are truly awe-inspiring.
A most welcome tar stretch to Bethanie followed by excellent gravel road took us into velvet hills and silver valleys, which again bore testament to the recent rains. Keen not to repeat last night’s faux pas, I consulted Tracks 4 Africa on my GPS for the nearest campsite.
Helmeringhausen is a charming one-horse town with a fantastic hotel and a campsite with some of the greenest grass I have ever seen. Again we were made to feel most welcome despite looking a bit disheveled. A donkey fired boiler was soon pumping out hot water for the shower and as the light fades I’m toasting the adventure with an ice cold Windhoek.
