Day 8, Mon 22 June – hard days in the saddle

Today we left Slaapkrantz at 6:45 to have some light to do the

portage. It was a 24km technical portage, but because it had been

raining all night it was very muddy. We couldn't push our bikes

because the mud stuck to the wheels and they wouldn't turn. We had to

scrape them clean an carry the bikes on our backs. This took us 5

hours to complete. After this we were on farm roads and ran into 2

thunderstorms with hail.

I stopped at Moordenaarspoort for some coffee and to try and warm up.

Three of is then left for Vaalbank 40km away and arrived at 22:15. The

last part of the ride this evening was the best riding of the day - no

rain.

Fiona has a 2hour time penalty tomorrow so we can only leave at 9:00

which will change our plans slightly.

Note from Aileen – I spoke to Doug this morning – there is a 60km wind blowing with a 1 degree max temperature expected.  It is likely to be a slow day and they may not get as far as their plan.