Springbok to Canyon Lodge, Fish River Canyon
Day 2 - 23rd January 2007
Woke early to meet for an excellent
breakfast at 7.00am. On the road for 8.00am to make the short, straight run to
Orange river and the border crossing into Namibia. Formalities took about an
hour. We hit the new experience of “dirt” roads almost immediately. The ruts and
sand caused most of us to wobble until we got used to the experience.
Breathtaking, open scenery. The roads eventually took their first casualties,
Rennie got a puncture in the support LandCruiser, and your humble scribe managed
to get a rear tyre puncture. Temperatures were 40 plus, and water was looking to
be a problem if we didn’t keep moving. The team managed to get split up at this
point, and it was agreed that the bikers less Mike would proceed the 100km or so
to Canyon Lodge. Glenn valiantly offering to ride my bike (more experience and
lighter - would you believe it?). Meanwhile Rennie and Mike managed to do a
wheel change on the LandCruiser. Eventually Mike & Rennie caught up with the
bikers who had somehow managed to find their way on the right roads. 1km short
of the Lodge, John ** managed the supreme sacrifice and to the relief of the
remaining 5 bikers managed to fall off first (in deep sand)! No major injury or
damage, and we were in the Lodge within 5 minutes. Once in the Lodge we
undertook repairs to bikes, tyres etc, and also decided to dispense with the
now, universally failing, chain guards. Lovely spot with excellent food & wines,
and fair sized chalets among the rocky scenery.
301 kms.
**John is now affectionately know as
“Crocbait” for his predisposition to leaving perfectly serviceable inflatables
in order to float aimlessly down Crocodile invested rivers.
|
|
|
|
Crocbait at Orange River
The Orange River marks the border between SA and Namibia (tip: it's not worth the trip, it's not Orange) |
|
|
|
The River
|
|
|
|
A Cross-Border photo-op
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Decision stop
At this point we had lost Rennie, Mike is just about to ride back to find him, we are 100kms away from anything and HS is just about to find out he has puncture (3rd from the back). |
|
|
|
HS selflessly sampling the beer quality for the rest of the group
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Team at Fish River Canyon
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
