After a hearty breakfast and several references to DaveW’s new friend we were back on the road and heading for the border. This was to be one of the best days in terms of scenery that we would have. The countryside grew more mountainous as we entered another diamond mining area. Suddenly the road got tired of being straight and after a few hairy hairpins we were riding through the Orange River valley along the border. It was stunning. The team got split up as Gareth and Charlotte had to give way to a crowd of monkeys crossing the road. They watched the bikers from the cliffs along the roadside. The 2 Daves had apparently gone on ahead so the bakkie took off after them to get them to wait. Meanwhile the Daves had stopped and gone down to the riverbank a little way up the road as Gareth and Charlotte did a little offroading. So the bakkie was miles up the road, Gareth and Charlotte were making slow and steady progress along the road and the 2 Daves had gone backwards to see where everyone was (miles in the opposite direction). Eventually they turned round and caught Gareth and Charlotte before speeding off to tell Pierre what was happening.
The valley changed from mining to wining (if such a word exists) as the sand and gravel was broken up by large vineyards. One of the vineyards had a small settlement which looked like it consisted entirely of stick huts (presumably for the workers and presumably with something a little more substantial hidden behind the sticks).
Eventually the team got back together near the border and we were back in South Africa in no time. The next stop was Springbok and we arrived just as we saw our first clouds in a couple of weeks. This was not a good sign. We had dinner in El Dago – the only open restaurant in town. And we were the only customers. And the waiter seemed to be a “friend” of Boris. Amazingly the place filled up and the team amused themselves with the other patrons and a little game I like to call “Who can eat the sauce that smells like feet?”.
We got back to camp as the rain started so the tents were hastily put up and it was another early night.
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