15-24 February 2019, De Aar
Karoo Fountain Luxury Guesthouse R390

We came unstuck and have been (voluntarily) stuck in De Aar since arriving here February 14. On Monday, February 25, we are due in Cape Town - a self-imposed deadline, but one we want to meet - so we are boarding the February 25 01:35 train in De Aar, ETA Cape Town 15:30.
When we took an extra rest day in Orania and spent some time studying our planned route and distances, we knew we had been overly optimistic about our ability to get fit enough to cycle 100km in a day after almost four years off the bikes - not an easy ask for fatties in their sixties! So we knew then, already, that we would not reach Paarl and our reserved transport to Hout Bay where we will be staying with friends before departing for Casablanca.
We had thought that when we reached De Aar, we would try to re-route ourselves to include shorter days (50-60km max) and then find another way to get ourselves and the bikes to Hout Bay.
But Charl was not well - his self-diagnosis: heat exhaustion. Whatever the actual problem, his symptoms included a fever (some nights he was sweating through three shirts) and light-headedness. So we delayed leaving until there was no point in doing so…
We begin for Casablanca in Cape Town on March 1. Why not visit our blog then and join us for the ride…

Total distance cycled on this leg: 700,7km