Day eight of Ray Chaplin’s solo walk to Beit Bridge.

Posted on 16 November 2009

Sunday didn’t kick off with church bells, but instead an interview with the local paper in De Doorns, a paper that is published every Friday.

I set off from there, up to the railway line and out of town past another squatter camp, which seems to use the tunnel as a toilet because the first 50 m was, well, littered with deposits. A messy and smelly business!

After making the choice of new (currently used) or old (no longer used) line, I headed along the new line and found myself with a tail, so picked up the pace & soon lost him.

Now unable to see De Doorns, I was truly in the middle of nowhere although I could still hear the N1 traffic from time to time. Morne from CAPESTORM got in touch and said he was on his way back from JHB by car and would be passing soon so I decided to give the next tunnel a skip and head over the top. An awesome climb that was rewarded with stunning views, and then a message to hurry as Morne was nearing with food.

I legged it down, cut through a farm and presto – there was Morne on the side of the road. After some good chow and a chat, Morne headed off to get back home while I tackled the rail ahead. The next tunnel I knew wasn’t too long, so waited until a train came through and then darted in. As I came out the other side a Rovos Rail train was approaching – close call!

Starting to take a little strain, I slowed and moved onto the service road next to the line where possible… as it’s a little easier underfoot & one can switch off for a little instead of having to concentrate on your every step.

And then, another tunnel. When we looked on Google Earth the other day we couldn’t find the other side so had no idea what I was in for. And this is where my day went south…

About 1 km into the tunnel there was a shiny fire exit sign on the wall with two arrows: the arrow back showing just over a kilometre, then other showing more than twelve kilometres! A 13 km tunnel? Damn!

I decided to turn up the beam on the Energizer headlamp I’m using on this stage and go for it, knowing that I’d be in there for a few hours at least. Fortunately there are little side thingys where I can stand should a train come through, and they’re exactly 60 paces apart so not too much panic.

Until I felt a rush of air from behind and everything started shaking – EEK! TRAIN! So I rushed ahead to the next thingy on the side and found a whole lot of space – enough to fit a smal family sized home. Cool! Safe camping spot if needed.

The train (Shosholoza Meyl) passed and I snapped some shots and got video, and then pushed forth until all the signal lights turned green and another rush of air came from behind – eish, another Shosholoza Meyl train.

It was incredible to walk the tunnel, but enough was enough and bar the two trains there was no fresh air and I was getting seriously tired. All I wanted to do was sit and have some more to eat, but I couldn’t get stuck in the tunnel so pushed on.

Bad move I reckon, as I pushed my body was past where it was prepared to go and soon found myself feeling nauseous. Luckily only a few kilometres to go.

I got out of the tunnel and parked on the side, that was it. I was done. If I slept under the stars, so be it… I didn’t care which animal picked at my eyes, I just had to lie down. But, feeling as sick as I did I couldn’t stomach anything and soon threw up. I saw some ruins ahead and thought they’d make a nice home for the night and walked the few hundred metres.

After a little scouting I threw up some more, and this continued right through setting up camp until about 1am this morning – every time I moved I got sick. I soon realised that I’d been drinking water that I got from a river, and although filtered & tabbed it may well have had a little something extra in the mix.

I’ve re-filtered the water and dropped in another round of tablets and it seems to be OK this morning. I haven’t been sick, but am exceptionally weak & can’t even look at food! Not a good sign when I only have 500 ml water left. I HAVE to make it to the dam about 2 km ahead today to re-supply… further than that I am not concerned.

I’m in my tent at the moment and got the shivers, so going to climb back into the sleeping bag for a while and try to warm up.






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