The Ride: a 2000-kilometre horseback challenge comes to an end

Posted on 20 January 2012

Another reason to love South Africa.

After 69 days and over 2000 kilometres, The Ride team celebrated their arrival in Cape Town on Saturday, 14th January 2012 at Oude Molen.

Two of my crazy friends, Leanne and Natalie, formed the back-up crew of this horseback adventure from KZN to CT and I was delighted to be part of the many ‘horse-lovers’, friends, family and fans to welcome these two spirited guys – Barry Armitage and Joe Dawson home. Especially since, as they said it was ‘Part fund raiser, part road show, part social experiment…

Not only did they take on the 2000km horseback challenge but they also ‘trusted in the spirit of goodwill of their fellow South Africans’ and of course the South Africans delivered superb hospitality, Barry boasted: “We set out on our grand social experiment Into the Unknown, inspired by the hospitality of the Mongolian nomads we had experienced during our participation in the Mongol Derby, to see if South Africans would take strangers into their homes and take care of us as readily as the Mongolians had. We arrived in Cape Town after almost 10 weeks on the road, our hearts busting with pride at the warmth and generosity of our fellow South Africans. We had been accommodated and fed for all but one of the 69 days of our journey!”

Welcome home guys and well done. To the South African nation – you rock!

You’ll find Barry’s journal here – http://www.barryarmitage.com/journal/, for some background on the trip.

A secure donation by credit card or bank transfer can be made via the website – www.theride.co.za – by clicking on the charity of your choice on the “sponsor our ride” banner on the home page.

Click here to read more about the trip.

 

 

 






yoast-primary -
tcat - Activities
tcat_slug - activities
tcat2 -
tcat2_slug -
tcat_final - adventures