Ray Chaplin’s solo walk from Cape Town to Beit Bridge

Posted on 8 January 2010

Taking the advice of my generous hosts, I decided to set the alarm for a little later, but it didn’t work as I was woken by an ostrich, knocking on the window of the cottage. That was certainly a first for me.

After a good brekkie and a fairly rushed pack of Tootsie, I headed down to the manor house to say my thanks and farewells. Certainly not good-bye as I reckon I’ll head back there at some point, probably winter when it’s covered in snow! Fortunately Chuck was locked up this time, so I didn’t lose anymore flesh from my behind.

I crept slowly up the last climb before a VERY long descent, but not long after starting to head down nature called – in fact, it was screaming! So I parked Tootsie, hopped over the railing and did my business. However, a Free State car slowed down and pulled up right next to Tootsie. Oh crap, now what? Well, the ENTIRE family jumped out and began to video & photograph Tootsie… and then me, still in my squatting position and far from done. LOVELY!! And then, to make things worse, the mother starting chatting and asking questions… DAMN WOMAN! Couldn’t you see I was on the throne?

The rest of the day seemed pretty dull compared to the invasion of privacy, as I was on a steady descent and passed countless farms until I reachd the deciding junction. Straight was 180km of absolutely nothing but direct to Sutherland, or right was 40km to Touwsrivier and the detour route to Sutherland.

Based on the advice from the locals, I turned right to take the longer route. The road was busy and it made progress tough as I kept pulling over to let trucks and busses pass… but one car stopped to chat. In fact, it was one of the guys [together with his daughter] who had stopped the previous day.

Further along a mini bus passed me, then did a U-turn ahead and came back to chat. Out climbed John, the driver, and he offered me some cold water and then chatted a little. He’s a tour guide on his own holiday, enjoying the areas he loves best without having to worry about tourists in the vehicle.

I was passing sign after sign that said ‘Property of the SANDF’ and still nobody can tell me what the land is used for… but there is a massive dam on the one side and it’s named “Verkeerdevlei”. Any ideas?

I rested at the main gate for the property and saw a truck parked on the other side of the road a little further ahead… so when I started walking again I went across to say Hi and offer my help, if I could in any way. Cellphone reception was his biggest problem, as there was none and he couldn’t call for help. He’d stopped two trucks and asked them to call when they got signal again, but whether they actually would was another story altogether.

David, the driver and I chatted for a while and had some ice water together (my flask is wicked!)… and next thing you know it was getting dark. Damn, how times flies. Not overly keen to walk further on the dark narrow road with all the trucks and taxis flying along, I was relieved when he said I should just stay the night in the cab. So, David provided the shelter and I made us dinner… bargain!

But it was short lived as only 45min after we turned the lights off the mechanic arrived. Well, David was ready to go before long and, now at 1am with taxis on the road, I set off to complete the 17km to Touwsrivier. OUCH! Hardly any sleep, a long hot day and I was at it again.

I was glad to reach the N1 as I had a wide yellow line to walk in, and my mp3 player had died. Arriving at the BP garage (where I slept for two nights on my first attempt after being so sick) shortly after 4am as it started getting light, I headed for the corner under a tree and climbed into my bivi bag, and got two good hours of sleep, and about an hour of snoozing.






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