Soapbox to Gumtoos

Day two of the Great Baviaanskloof Adventure was the second leg of the journey down to the gateway to the Baviaanskloof, the Gamtoos Valley.

What should have been a quick five hour trip turned out to be the whole day affair. Last night I made the mistake of taking my medicine with the local water at Gariep. This mistake cause me to have a weak stomach from the get go and by end of the day in Gamtoos hopefully I can keep my supper down. Anyway the main delay in the start of the second leg was that this morning at !Gariep they held a soapbox derby down a hill into town. We couldn’t resist staying to take some photos.

Other than my weak stomach the rest of the journey was uneventful. No wait halfway there was a stop at the Daggaboer’s se Padstal which broke the dull flat scrubland. Here is Tinus and Marlene going in to see the dagga farmer. The scenery only improved once we drove into the Gamtoos Valley at the end of this leg. Now was time to mount our bikes and ride the winding roads into the valley.

By late afternoon we rode our bikes into the small town of Patensie and booked into the Ripple Hill Hotel. Although we are all very tired so far from the travelling down, the adventure only really starts tomorrow morning when we ride into the Baviaanskloof.