Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness - Mark Twain

4 March 2019, Moorreesburg to Piketberg, 32,4km
Kerkstraat 31 R350

If you are in a glass-half-empty frame of mind, you might complain that every downhill is paid for with a climb; in a glass-half-full mood, you will celebrate every downhill run as a reward for the climb that precedes it. Today was a hilly one, but stunning, making a half-full mood easy to maintain. Heavy cloud cover held the heat at bay; those hills we could not cycle, we walked in a cooling breeze; and our planned distance was short enough to allow us to take a pancake-and-coffee break at the Desert Rose.
Outside Moorreesburg, we turned north onto the N7, the main arterial linking Cape Town and the Namibian border; the road we will travel until we depart South Africa. Busier by far than we like, it sports a wide shoulder and is in good nick, making for a fright-free ride.
The Desert Rose is a charming roadside shop and restaurant, pretty enough to lure us off our bikes even though we had recently snacked on “droëwors” (dry sausage). As we entered the premises, we encountered a couple just leaving with whom Charl exchanged some lighthearted banter. As we were seating ourselves, Koos and Linda Kiek returned to ask if the bikes parked outside were ours and to chat about our plans. Koos was an airforce pilot; now retired, he fights fires from the air.
Hungry again by the time we entered Piketberg, we shopped for “slap” chips at a take-away-supermarket, the pavement outside reeking of urine. We wanted to sit to eat, so joined a group chatting on a long cement bench outside the Spar. I took a photo of Charl sitting with them, and they were delighted with the digital image I showed them.
Our room at Kerkstraat 31 has wifi, and sports a kitchenette with a stove, so we shopped for lamb chops and mushrooms and salad and cooked a tasty meal…
A really good day.

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