Cape 2 Cairo 2 Cape Blog

• Had a spectacular 540km ride down south to Cape Town … beautiful part of the world … Clanwilliam, Citrusdal.
• Breakfast at Vanrynsdorp and Jacques (our topless waitress).
• Andre du Plessis rode from Stellenbosch on his Triumph to meet us (KTM at home?) at Vanrynsdorp. Andre did the up trip and decided to pop in for a few 100kms to join us for the last leg. Thanks Andre – good to see you again.
• Arrived at Cape Town 14h30 … to family and friends who eagerly awaited our arrival, and to interested fans who came to have a look and share our experiences with us!

So many people to thank and acknowledge for their contributions to this trip…

• Every person who supported us on the blog – the comments that spurred us on and the special words that kept us close to our loved ones.
• The fantastic people we met on this 16 750 km trip:

                -         People who assisted us with all our paperwork, documentation, border crossings

                -         People who accommodated us in every possible way (restaurants, accommodation, “immigration & customs”, local mechanics, and the list goes on)

                -         The generosity found in Africa

                -         People who went out of their way to ensure that we had the best comfort, the best plate of food, the best advice and the best service.

• To ISRI who sponsored the seats in the bus. We rode, sat and slept in absolute comfort … through the treacherous Marsabit road … we could flop down in a chair equivalent in comfort to out Lazy Boys at home. Thank you

• To the riders:

               -         You were all that C2C was about … you were the purpose of the trip! Well done on your amazing accomplishment and cherish these memories and lessons learnt and take it to wherever you decide to go next

               -         Your team spirit and the group dynamics … made for great family spirit.

• To the crew:

• Ray:

Lasting images and reflections:

• The 100s of kids who waved at us along the way
• The few vagabonds throwing rocks at us while passing through on our motorcycles
• The Cairo to Aswan night ride
• Brian’s busy orifices at the camp out on the Marsabit Road
• Jacques’ special touch of capuccino and rose petals in the middle of the bush and desert
• Our first bush camp night, all sitting around a fire and under the stars, telling our stories and responding to Ray’s spur of the moment topics
• Kenny’s marriage proposal to Marlene the morning before hitting the tar road on the Marsabit
• Arriving at the tar road on Marsabit and the guys kissing the road
• Riding the windy roads in Ethiopia – green vegetation … black sky
• Rwanda in all its beauty and glory..a stunning country with amazing vegetation and incredible gorillas
• Beggar who only had a palm and no fingers
• Brian vomiting out the bus in Alex
• Alta’s toilet experience in Alex
• Sandstorm tyre change in Sudan
• Baby gorilla swinging upside down metres from us as he impressed his mom
• Young gorilla bonding with Jessica; tugging at her jeans and camera string and resting his arm on her thigh
• Arch in the headlights on the mud road at Jinja with three bikes in the mud
• K lying on the road between Lusaka and Jinja … in the rain and the traffic rumbling past him..finally arriving at the hotel covered in mud (from head to toe)
• Sakkie slipping on the diesel and getting back on his motorcycle like a champion
• The poverty of our continent
• The rich diversity of environments, cultures and people found in Africa..WOW

On a personal note…

Riding into Cape Town was emotional for me, when we saw Table Mountain 60kms outside of Cape Town … the tears started…

16 750 kms together for 47 days … and it was coming to an end. Our days had strict routine and a plan … and that was to become a thing of the past!

We had got so close to each other – we knew the foibles, the idiosyncrasies of each individual … we had developed our own vernacular … “GGGHello, GGGwhat do we do today?” “Wow” “Horrific”. We checked up on each other’s health status … we knew who was grumpy – who was manic…

We got to Cape Town and the 10 months of planning and the 2 months of major environmental input and information had come to an end.

In Church Street, we shook hands and hugged – it was all over … beer in hand and the great South African accent babbled in the background.

I feared making contact with friends and family … because by so doing, I would be stepping out of this bubble I had lived in for 50 days … and once I am out of that bubble … it will close behind me and it will all be over.

Tears of joy, exhausted and triumphant … I sign off …
36 000 words to describe what we have done and only … two words…

Thank you:

• The crew for your support and behind the scenes work: a clean bus everyday; the rose; the petals; the cappuccino; “I am dreaming of a white Christmas”; Seal’s “Crazy”
• Cytech … for making sure this happened without a glitch
• The riders … the laughter, the jokes, the kilometres
• Ray … thank you for encouraging me to do this … you made it sound so simple … and you have given me a memory that even in with the onset of Alzheimer’s … I will remember ALL.

Have a good rest Ray … take care of your health …this is your time to rest and spend with family.

• Jess … thank heavens you were there … we needed to balance out the testosterone … it was good to have a lady on the trip … toilet buddies … puncture back up, back up … and
• Ken … in a heartbeat you said we should do this … this is something I will never forget … and if this is a test of how good a team we are … well … we did it … Thanks Kennet … I am truly grateful to have shared this ‘Bucket List” adventure with you

Signing off

Marlene

10h30

17^th September 2011

 

Goodluck to Archie, Ig and Andre who are planning on leaving at 3am tomorrow morning (Saturday, 17 September) from Cape Town, with the IVECOs, back to Johannesburg. Safe journey and thank you for all your assistance and support

We were supposed to have a 6:30am rendez-vous at Wimpy for a coffee but there was a bit of confusion; most riders were there earlier and others were still getting ready for the anticipated time. I was standing outside my room in the freezing cold, looking around for the IVECO Headhunter to put my luggage in, but apparently it had already left for Wimpy (to organize us coffee ahead of time). The Silverback crew (Ig and Andre) came back to the hotel to drop off their room keys and in the same instance were told to pick up Marlene and her luggage. Thankfully, I took the opportunity to ride with since I wasn’t riding with Ullie this morning.

After a quick coffee at Wimpy, we left Mariental for our expected 534kms to Springbok. It was a very cold morning for the riders; starting at 9ºC and still lingering on at 18ºC. Even Ninja Turtle (Kenny) said he was the coldest he had ever been! All the bikers had one thing in mind: please let my motorcycle make it to Cape Town. Little by little, with wear and tear, some of the motorcycles are experiencing mishaps (Sakkie, Ande and Kenny’s motorcycles actually doing very well compared to the others)…whether it is the fuel pump and exhaust with the KTM, Brian’s 800 spracket, slow punctures or the speedometer messing with Ullie’s ABS.

The plan: Mariental (- Keetmanshoop) to Gunau (where we would have breakfast; almost 300kms in distance) – Noordoewer  and onto Springbok (534kms in total). We passed the Brukarros Mountains on our right hand side with the Karas at Keetmanshop as well as the Groot Karasberge on our left hand side and onto Grunau for a much anticipated breakfast (and last petrol till Noordoewer, the border post). James was ahead of all the motorcycles and had gone on ahead.

It was short, yellow savannah on either side with orange plateaus rising in the distance. It was quite a sight. My thought of Namibia was pure desert. As we closed in on the border post, colourful flowers became more prominent with black, rocky mounds in the distance.

At the border post, crossing the Orange River to the South African immigration & customs office (left side)At the border post, crossing the Orange River to the South African immigration & customs office (right side of bridge)

We started seeing scattered patches of white, yellow, orange, red and violet flowers (Garth, as he usually does, giving us full-on information about the where’s, how’s and what’s of the flowers); giving us a taste of what Namaqualand’s beauty and hype is all about. The border posts on either side did not give us any trouble at all. Of course, everyone (especially the crew and the peeps who did the up and down trip) became a lot more upbeat, feeling closer and closer to homestead. We happily reunited with James after getting through into South Africa.

I jumped on Ullie’s 1200 after the border post, happy as can be. Going through Namaqualand, K’s KTM’s exhaust fell off and was ridden over by a truck in the process. We had to upload K’s bike onto the trailer (but this time, having only his front tyre hanging on the strapped-on ladder and his rear tyre dragging behind) and K had to, once more, join the passengers on the bus. K was a trooper; although royally disappointed and sure that this was the end of his trip.

The valleys (with the scattered flowers) and windy roads through the mountains were absolutely incredible and we arrived at our accommodation, Kleinplasie Guesthouse, in the early afternoon, just before sun set. The accommodation overlooked the town of Springbok and mountains in the distance (apparently, the flowers were in full bloom and covered the entire mountainside just a week ago). Some went to do ATM rounds, others got petrol and Brian (as he usually does), went to get his chilli biltong.

While Ray, Archie, K and Ig worked on K’s KTM (stripping the broken down Cytech KTM of its rear exhaustion manifold and re-fitted it as needed onto K’s motorcycle), the rest chilled drinking the rest of last night’s beers, did their washing and showered for the night’s dinner plans.

We all went for dinner at a hot spot in Springbok (which I cannot remember the name for the life of me..forgive me) and were invited by K, who was a reborn rider again; having had fixed his bike ready to depart the next morning. We had a wonderful time, chit chit-chatting the early evening away and celebrating with a Springbok tot. Before returning back to the Guesthouse, we visited the Springbok Lodge and Restaurant museum (as recommended by Garth) across the street; which was incredible and well worth it (biggest stone collection I have ever seen; books; fossils; pictures; postcards; antiques; and a lot more).

All in all, the day ended with everyone well fed and in high spirits for the last leg of the race back to Cape Town.