Abandoned route to Boatlaname

After a fretful sleep, first one on my Neoair this trip, I opened up the front door for my host as he returned from night shift at 6 am. The lounge floor a reasonable option, which was initially going to be a tent.
Getting an early start at 6.30 I got on the road to Boatlaname, 73 km via the minor roads. 22 km north was Kwengeng, and getting there was a bit of a slog as more of the road surface was covered in sand and corrugations. Around 10.30 I passed the cut road, similar to a firebreak or forestry road. It was plan b if as suggested the northern road was in poor condition. This was confirmed by a farm assistant in a decent sized Hilux at a stop at the big (small) shop in Kwengeng. This one at least had cold drinks. Rolling back 1km to the cut road I was in reasonable shape, legs ok and good supply of fluids. The expected 15km route back to a sealed road via 'the cut' I estimated at 90 minutes.
Noting the deep sandy nature I lodged onto the car tracks. Clearly not heavily used, these narrowed and deepened before the first km ended. By which time I was alternating the walking/pushing and riding The next km continued that theme and after 45 minutes I pulled the pin. It had become unrideable and was also quite tiring with the sand sucking forward momentum to a stop. Even with tyres at a very low pressure to generate float progress was just above glacial. I was also running out of energy with a light breakfast and as yet no lunch. I accepted this route wasn't going to work out and coaxed the bike back to the direction we came from. At 1 pm I started the trek back to Medie in search of food and a 2nd night at the same house. Covering the 22km a little faster it was just after 3 when I rolled into the outskirts. Tired, hungry and needing rest. It had been a big day already. Grabbing a shop meal of fried chicken, coleslaw, beetroot on macaroni I sat in the shade and demolished my late lunch.Baca selengkapnya