Day 12: Cambria to Willowmore

165km/14.5hours. Left early again, wasn't sure how long it would take to get over the big climbs in the Baviaanskloof with the singlespeed. It took long, had to walk them, no power to pedal over. Kloof was cold, dark and eerie and wet feet from river crossings made it worse. After sunrise things warmed up and body started waking up. Got to Dam se Drif for brunch (unfortunately no 'death by chocolate' this time) and put a new chain on too. Put some music on and tackled the last 90km to Willowmore. Legs felt better and ended up having a great ride, even managing to pedal up the whole of Nuwe Kloof pass, my small victory for the day. A candlelit dinner of lamb stew went down well. Rumours of another front on the way, so tomorrow may be a surprise!

Day 11: Bucklands to Cambria

80km/15hours. A frustrating day that started out with a pre-dawn attempt at the Perdeberg portage which didn't work out and left me thrashing through the bush trying to find the right way down the mountain in the dark. My navigational blunder cost me at least 5 hours and the chance of getting to Dam se Drif tonight. So I ended up doing a single stage and got to do some riding with the group of Gawie, Scott and Ray. Today's stage took us through some dramatic mountain ranges and from one highpoint, we could see the ocean down south, close to Jeffrey's Bay. Descending the rough Osseberg jeep track was quite a chore without any suspension but the views made up for it. Once down in the valley, the track crosses the same river 11 times as it winds its way along the valley floor to Cambria. Tomorrow we head west through the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area. There's no tricky navigation so I'll start early and try to make up some lost ground.