8 February 2019, Koffiefontein to Luckhoff, 47.7km
Paradise Awaits R400

A litany of issues delayed our entry into “paradise” by almost two hours. We arose at 04:30 this morning, departed Koffiefontein at 05:30, and were in Luckhoff outside Paradise Awaits by around 10:30. No-one was home, but the front gate was unlocked so we let ourselves into the shaded garden and sat at a plastic table on comfortable (hallelujah) chairs.
Numbers for the guest house are displayed on both the garden and driveway gates, but both our cell phone batteries were dead: Charl’s because his Samsung has essentially given up the ghost and his battery lasts only a short while; and mine because I had forgotten to charge it last night. Time to test for the first time our cache battery charged by my hub dynamo. Easy to do, but turns out neither of us had airtime! So Charl had to cycle back into tiny central Luckhoff to remedy this ridiculous state of affairs. When he returned we dialled the number on the garden gate to get a man in Graaff-Reinet who explained that the number was wrong and he received weekly calls from people seeking access. He asked us to ask the owners to remedy this ridiculous state of affairs…
Luckily the number on the driveway gate reached Sharon, who had to walk up from the “location” to let us in, the owner being (permanently?) in Johannesburg.
We are ensconced almost all alone in a large and over-nicknacked house that sleeps 12. I say “almost”… our companions being a small arthritic Jack Russel and a meowing cat - both obviously lonely for company.
We were blessed with cloudy skies today and a cool breeze. Such a relief after yesterday’s heat. Last night we shifted our beds to capture whatever breeze might enter the open bathroom window and to share equally the marginally cooling effect of our ceiling fan, but it was a hot, hot night. So it was a relief to hit the road, and although we were both “done” by around the 30km mark, in truth the ride was a good one, despite one or two aggressive drivers, including someone in a 4x4 who clearly thinks cyclists have no right at all to be on the road. The only way I can cope emotionally with traffic on a narrow road is to assume no one actually wants to kill me. So I exercise caution when approaching traffic makes it hard for someone coming up behind me to overtake; and otherwise hope for the best.

For today's route see below photos
For overview route, click on ROUTE tab above…