Tuesday 14th July: Rhodes to Graaf-Reinet via Barkly East, Rossouw, Indwe, Lady Frere, Queenstown & Cradock.

This routing is a continuation of yesterdays, courtesy of Tony Owens friend. We were due back in Somerset West today but that is no longer achievable so we’ll just take our time and re plan for Thursday. We still have 1250 kms to go. The time we lost in Mozambique after the accident has caught up with us and the scenic routing we are taking is also slowing our journey but what a great way to end this wonderful trip. We were on the road at 9am this morning. It was a frosty start to the day and after we left town we noticed that it had snowed higher up last night.

We travelled through it for some time but it was not a problem. We really enjoyed the scenery as the hills rolled by. Mile after mile, we just had the road entirely to ourselves and even when we got onto tarred roads occasionally, they too were almost empty. We stopped in Queenstown for lunch and made ourselves a sandwich with fresh bread bought from Spar. That way, we could continue our journey and aim to complete it by 6pm. We rolled into Graaf-Reinet at 6 pm, 9 hrs and 600 kms from our departure town of Rhodes. We immediately found Karoopark, a guesthouse in the town centre and checked in. It has a bar & restaurant so we’ll probably stay in for the evening as it’s very cold. We’ve had dinner, lovely Karoo Lamb so we’re fed and watered as well as being finally up to date on the blog. I will load pics really soon and thanks for your patience. We’ve not seen internet since the Kruger.

Karoo Park, Graaf Reinet