Wild Encounters in South Africa vA 161
(Garies, South Africa) - Morning, my friends, from Garies in South Africa. Let's go! Let's go! So today, we're going to Bitterfontein, 65 km from here and with about 700 m of elevation gain during the day. Well, of climbing. So I'm gonna have to do some battery saving. Let's go, guys. Hello! - Hi! - Hello! - Yes! Let's go, brother. - Hello! Lekker, lekker!
The most important word to know in Afrikaans: lekker. Lekker! Kaapstad straight ahead. Hello! - Shap-shap. - Shap-shap. Garies. To Bitterfontein. Hello! And we're arriving in the Western Cape! Awesome. Our last region in South Africa!
So we leave the Northern Cape, to arrive in the region of Cape Town. Cape Namibia Route. A lot of cactuses there. Hello! - Hello.
- Let's stop for lunch, guys. So I've got some droewors, some salami, sardines, something wonderful, caramel and sesame peanuts, and some fruits, some pears, energy bars, cashew nuts, mandarins. The man found a car. Good. It was very weird to watch him wait for a car. A poor old man. I'm glad he found a car.
He looked very skinny. And he didn't ask for anything. I like the dignity in poverty. I admire the people who are poor and keep their dignity. Let's try the peanuts, caramel, sesame peanuts. Oh, f***. This is fantastic!
26 km left and 300 m to climb. Let's go! Hello! - Hello! - Hello! Straight ahead is the last hill for today for me! Ooh, it was a long day. A lot of climbing, a lot of headwind as well.
And we are just 5 km from Bitterfontein now. Yeah! Cape Town, 390. Yeah, we're getting there. And I think that straight ahead, we can see Bitterfontein already. So I think here is the turn. Hello! Petrol station.
Look at all these flowers, guys! Still, a flower season here. Look at that! And the beautiful valley of Bitterfontein. So I see a sign for the Art House. This is where I expect to go. It's here. Let's see if there is some space. Wow! Interesting. Hello! Nice elephant.
Hello! Okay, the phone number is written everywhere. So I guess I'll have to try to call. The braai. Very interesting place. Look at this house. I'll go back to my bike and try to make a phone call because the phone number is written everywhere. Hello! Do you have a room for tonight? One person. - Is it...?
Are you with a bicycle? - Yes, it's me with a bicycle. I am at your place actually. - Ah, you're already there. All right. - Yeah. - Just... - Okay, I'll go to the hotel then. Bye-bye.
Okay, so I need to go to the hotel. This place is booked. But the hotel is cheap here. Let's go. So this is the small supermarket of the town. Where is the hotel?
It's funny. There are rails here. But it seems that it's an unused or abandoned train station. Interesting. Big dead trees. Hello! - Hello! Can… - Yeah. - ...you come in? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Where are you going to? - Ah? - You — to here, to here? - Yeah, I come here. Yeah. Hello! - Wow! - Wow! Yes. Bitterfontein Hotel. - Hello. Good? - Hello! How are you?
- I'm good. Thanks! - Good, good, good. - Thank you very much. - Ah? - To... Just give me... Give me 20 Rand. - Okay. I'm going to the hotel. - I'll wait for you. - You'll wait for me? - Yeah. - Okay. - For that. - For that?
- Yeah. - Okay. You are? - I'm all right. - You're all right? - Yeah. - Okay. Good. - So, you understand me. - Ah? - I'll wait for your car. - You'll wait for my car? Okay. - So you must give me. I drink. - Drink? - Namaqua Daisy. - It's not good to drink. - Namaqua Daisy, you know? - Not good, not good to drink.
- Thank you very much! Okay. - Okay. - I'll look after this. - Ah? - I'll look after your car. - You'll look after my car. Okay. - I've been drinking Namaqua Daisy. - Ah? - Namaqua Daisy. - I don't understand. It's... I'm going to the hotel. - Bye-bye! Thank you very much! - You're welcome. - Hello! - Hello! Do you work here? - Yes. - Yes. Do you have rooms? - Yes. - Yes. How much is it? - Is it only for you? - Only for me. Yeah. And I have a bicycle.
Yeah. - Do you want something cheap or...? 350. - 350? - Yes. - Okay. And there is a... Can I see the room? - Yes, you can see the room. - And can I put my bike inside somehow? - Yes. - Okay.
- Nice company. - Yes. - Nice! - She's taking care of my bike. Yeah. - Yeah. You can put your bicycle there. - I can put it here. - Yes. - Okay. Great. - I'll lock it from inside. - Great. - There's only a bath, but there's a shower just... - Oh, but there is a shower. - Yes. - Oh, there, but... - Yes.
- Okay. - I'll show you. - Okay. Okay, perfect. - Okay. - Great. Do you want me to pay now? Or do I bring my bike first and...? - No, settle. Then you can pay. - Ah?
- You can settle in and then you can pay. - Okay, okay. Where was my room? - Here. - It's here. - Here. - Okay. Okay. Perfect. So I'll bring my bags. Then I'll bring the bike. - Yes, you can put the bike here. I'll lock. Tonight I'll lock it from the inside. - Okay, great. Thank you!
- The shops close at five o'clock. - The shops close... Oh, okay. - Five o'clock. So there's one... - Okay. - ...then at the garage. - Okay. - I don't know if you have to get something to eat.
- Maybe yeah. You don't have food. You don't have breakfast or anything, no? - No. - Okay. - There's a shop just across the street. - Okay. - You'll see it... - I'll settle. And then I'll go buy some food. Perfect. - Just before five. - Okay, yeah.
Thank you for letting me know! - Okay. - So you come from? - Ah? - So you must come from? - From France. I... - Frankryk? - Frankryk. Yeah. I don't know. - So you must give me 10 rands for bread. - 10 rands for bread? - Yes. - Not for a drink? - Uh-uh. - Uh-uh?
- Uh-uh. - Uh-uh? - I'm going to this just for bread. - Just bread? - And 10 rands I must lekker. - There you go. For bread. No drink. - She's not gonna buy bread. - Ah? - She's gonna buy wine. - Yeah. But... - So you must come from... - I promise you. She's not gonna buy bread. - She's not gonna buy bread.
- No, she wants to get something to drink. - Okay, I'm... So, man, what is your name? So you must come from Namibia. - Yeah, I came from Namibia.
From Namibia to South Africa. - So you must "draai", "draai". So you don't smoke. - No, I don't smoke. No. Smoking is not good. - So you must "draai", "draai". - With that. - Em?
- You must "draai", "draai". - "Ratry"? - Yeah. "Draai". - "Draai". - Okay. - Okay. - Bye-bye! - Bye-bye! Have a good day. - Bye-bye. Rands to... There's... And 20 rands to... - No, no. It's okay, it's okay. You... - Okay. - I already gave you...
- Just rand. It's 20. - Just go buy bread. - Okay, bye. - Bye-bye! - Bye-bye! So you must... My... Next week. - Next week. Yes. Yes. You can keep it for one week. - Yeah. Bye-bye! - Bye-bye! - Bye-bye! - She drinks the bread. - Ah? - She drinks the bread. - Yeah. She drinks the bread. I can guess. Yeah. - You can see that. - Yeah. - Sorry.
So you must give me 10. Just for me 10 rands. I'd like something. I'll ride tomorrow to you. Ah, man. 10 rands. Oh, okay. Oh, good.
So you must give me 10 rands. - I have to give you 10 rands. - I'll wait. - No, no, no. No, no, no. Yeah. - Oh, oh, oh. - Leave it. Ah? - Good? - Bye-bye. Ah? - Will it go inside through the door? - Yeah, it should be... Yeah, this is wide enough. Yeah, it's okay. - It's wide enough. - I think this is wide enough. Yeah. - I hope so. - Yeah. - Bye-bye! I'm going to... - Bye- bye. - ...tomorrow to Namibia. I'm...
Crossing must be... - Ah, it's not wide. Uh-uh. I can open the door. Wait! - Yeah. - Maybe the other one is wider. I don't know. Bring it outside. No, it can't open. - Oh, it can't open. - No, the tile. Do you see the tile at the bottom? - Oh! - Tile. They can't pass the tile.
- Ah, yes. Okay, I see. - So I'm gonna open on that side, the bar one. Maybe that one... - Oh, it's bigger? - There's another one. I don't know. - Okay. - I don't... - It's just, just. - Just. - Yes. - It's just the...
No, man! - No, it's okay. - I have another door at the back. But then, you have to go... - No, but otherwise, it's... - At least, you can leave it on... - No, but... Going sideways, it's much narrower. So we'll just have to carry it a little bit. - Do you flip it? - But I go... - Can you flip it? - Yes, exactly. - Let me help you.
- Yeah, but then we go to this one because then there are two doors on this side. - Two doors. Okay. - Ah? Oh, she's still here. - Is it heavy? - It's a little bit heavy. For me alone, it's a bit heavy. - Can I take it here? - Yeah. - I see. - Good? - Perfect! Perfect. Okay. Great. Thank you very much! - It's okay. I don't wanna break it.
- That's okay. Perfect. - Awesome. - I have to do this many times. Yeah. Great! - Goodbye. - Bye-bye! Thank you very much! So here is my room. There are two nice beds.
Some bags here. Battery charging — very important. And here's my bicycle. Beautiful day today. See you tomorrow for the second part of the way to Lambert's Bay.
I'm trying to go to Lambert's Bay in this video. I left the key in the door. - Are you going to stay in Lambert's Bay tonight? - No, no. Two days. It's too far. - Too far. - Too... - Where are you gonna stay? Lutzville? - Tonight Lutzville.
Morning, my friends, from Bitterfontein! Okay. So I can go right behind there, right? - Yes. - Okay. Thank you very much! Yeah. - Okay. - Bye-bye! Thank you! - Bye-bye! - Bye-bye! - Goodbye! - Thank you! Yeah. So today, we wanna go to Lambert's Bay, because it's been such a long time since I had seafood, and there is great seafood on the western coast here.
But Lambert's Bay is still 150 km. So it's still two days away from me. So today, we're going to Lutzville, 72 km away. And with a lot of gravel road on the way actually. So let's go to Lutzville, guys. Yallah- yallah! And bye-bye to Bitterfontein. Hello! And so today, 72 km and still 550 m of elevation gain during the day. So it's gonna be a hard day, and potential headwind for a big part of the day.
Hello! Morning, morning! - Hello! - Oh, man. You can't imagine. Each time I see Cape Town on the signs. How happy it makes me! Making the impossible happen, guys, as Napoleon would say. Impossible is not French. As you can see from the grass, I started the day with a very strong headwind. Freaking hell! And another freaking climb. F***ing hell. This morning is full of climbs. And I think this is Nieuwe Rust or Nuwerus.
And I think we're taking the road behind, the dirt road behind the village. Hello! - Hello! Ah? - Move? - Yeah, bicycle. And it's finally time for us to leave the N7, the main road linking Windhoek to South Africa, to go to the coast and to do a bit of dirt road. A few quiver trees.
Hello! Hello! I love this sign "End of the asphalt". It's been a while since I was on a gravel road. Let's go! Oh, it's hard, man.
What a landscape, guys! Wow. Ah, it's too soft for me. F***ing hell. Look at that. If I don't push, I'm gonna use all my battery, because when it's soft, you have wheel spin on the back wheel, and the battery doesn't know how to deal with it, so it goes crazy, and you drain it super fast. So I gotta push. Look at this landscape, guys.
Hello! - Hello. - How are you? - Fine. - Good. - Bye. - Oh, f***ing hell. Yeah, it's way better. Look at this wonderland! No! What the f*** is that? F***ing hell! (Restarting the motor) It's back on. So I had a weird E020 error, and the motor switched off. Come on. It's not the right time to... Well, it's never the right time.
But it's not the right time to lose my motor. Hello, hello, hello! I think I'm gonna lose my motor quite soon. How am I gonna do that? Still, 400 km to Cape Town. Hello! Maybe I should start to disinflate my tires. So at the moment, when I have the error, I can switch... I can restart the motor, and it restarts immediately.
But the problem is that the last time I had this kind of thing was in Bulgaria. And I think my motor lasted maybe one or two more days. That's all. And I have more than two days of cycling before reaching Cape Town. Ah, man. I think I understand. I think it's the sensor that measures the... That is fundamental for the motor, that measures the force I apply to the pedal to set the assistance level basically.
With the vibrations of the dirt road, well, it's not happy. Let's see. Maybe I'll need to change the motor as well when I reach... F***ing hell! When I reach Cape Town. That would be a big expense.
F***ing... I'm followed by a bunch of stinging flies. Very annoying. Putain!!! F***ing flies. Ah, look at the wind. Oh, the beautiful bird. It's a goose. Look at the wind in the weeds. Beautiful.
So I'm forced to go a little faster because when I go a bit faster, then the flies can't follow me. The flies or the bees. Oh, putain!!! F***ing idiot lizard. I think I did not kill it. Oh, putain!!! Hello! Those bees are a great motivation to go faster. As soon as I f***ing slow down, I get stung all the time. So then I don't slow down. Ah!!!
I don't know. My emotions are super high here. I don't know why. I'm overexcited today. Ah, putain!!! Ah, putain! F***ing hell! F***ing hell!! Ah, putain. That's mental. Every climb is a nightmare.
Ah, f***ing hell! Look at all the flies I have on my panniers. F***ing hell. It's a nightmare. F***ing hell! F***! And they'll hide on this side because the wind comes from the left.
So I have to shake my arms basically all the time in order to avoid that. Otherwise, as soon as my arms don't move, I just get stung. F***ing hell! I spent half of my energy chasing the freaking bees. Well, I think that's my last real climb for today. So hopefully, then I'll go fast enough to get f***ing rid of them.
Ah, this is exhausting. And I know I cannot stop to eat also cuz I'm gonna get devoured by those bees. F***ing hell!
2025-02-05 04:16
