Ray Chaplin solo walk from Cape Town to Beit Bridge

Posted on 30 January 2010

After a rough end to Thursday with a 60 km day, getting lost in Hopetown and only putting feet up after 11 pm, one would’ve thought I’d sleep late and make the most of being in a town. Well, at 5 am my internal alarm clock rang and I was alive… not so much kicking though…

With some brekkie in the system I slowly got my thing together and then chatted with my hosts at the Radnor Country Lodge. I sat around far longer than intended, but that was my way of ensuring my body could rest.

Needing a few things before heading off to Kimberley, I walked through town and decided to have lunch at Nectarine – it looked rather nice and quiet. And indeed it was! Great milkshake (something I’ve felt like having for a while) and awesome burger went down well and I then called a contact in Kimberley who happened to be passing through Hopetown. So he pulled in quickly to meet in person and chat ever so briefly.

I slowly made my way back to Tootsie at Radnor, passing via the grocer to get some sustainance for the road – including my treat yoghurt for the next brekkie on the road. I just LOVE yoghurt with my muesli – makes it enjoyable to eat!

Got back to Radnor and filled up with water, then set off… VERY slowly. Damn, felt like I was hardly moving. So, when I saw “Oranjerus” on a sign, I followed instructions and took some time out. Had a great chat with the family that runs the place – who, through the school, know Charl & Sunel. Amazing!

Moving north, I crossed the Brown River. I have renamed it that, as it certainly isn’t Orange! I was glad to see so much water in it and flowing well, and incredible to see the greenery on the banks. In the middle of brown country with the only greenery being small green bushes here and there and the odd bit of grass… here comes meadows and crop plantations and and and!

I took another break at 10 km, parking myself under a tree and enjoying some shade. My eyes are really taking strain without my sunglasses – can kick myself – so every moment of mass shade is welcome. And for the body to escape the baking sun.

The road has recently been resurfaced but there are no lines yet, making motorists even more useless than they usually are… so I had a few narrow misses. But fortunately Tootsie is an all–terrain vehicle and can be thrown off the road with ease!

After a few minutes of relaxing around sunset, I headed off once last time to make my 20 km target for the day… which would leave me in the psychological position of only having 100 km to go to Kimberley. Happy days – another milestone! Got to keep the mental milestones rolling otherwise the daily trudgery gets to you…

I saw the sign and knew I’d made my goal for the day – and turned off down the dirt road to find a spot, which I found about 100 m from the N12 itself. I decided to cook first before setting up camp, to give as much time as possible for the road to settle – thus reducing the potential problems I could pickup.

But, as I started eating dinner, as bakkie passed me… stop… turned… and came back… and out climbed a young guy. He told me they had a hotel a little further down the road, and that he’d come looking for me because the people at Orangerus had told them about me. Cool! But, I have no cash on me (for safety purposes) which was no problem, as his dad just wanted to meet me, shake my hand and offer his help.

Cool, so I headed to the hotel and met Jaco Snr and chatted and chatted and chatted… before climbing into the tent far later than originally planned. And that would be the reason why I’m writing the dispatch this morning.

I slept like the dead and woke this morning with a crow crying his cry right next to my tent – at 5 am! DAMN! Could he not see I was sleeping? Was he that desperate for company?

Anyways, I’ve had brekkie, a chat with Jaco, and am now going to shower, then head slowly north once more.






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