Zuurberg Inn

May 3, 2021

We were both rather nervous about today's route. When we traveled it in the opposite direction two month's ago it was hard work despite being less than thirty kilometers. I was most concerned about the first five kilometers that would take us to the top of the Zuurberg because my memory of the road surface was that it was shocking. In the end it wasn't too bad and despite leaving at about a quarter past nine, at least half an hour later than I had hoped for, we arrived at the Zuurberg Inn at three thirty. Once again Leigh walked for much of the way. This meant I was able to spend quite a bit of time in the veld enjoying the plant life. We encountered two vehicles on the road today - one just as we were leaving Ann's Villa and the other a parked ambulance outside a farm workers house at the Krom River turnoff. So we effectively had the road to ourselves all day.

The road surface was as bad I had remembered it had been.

A heavily cropped shot of the mountains to the north, the Winterberg in the middle is more than twice the height of the Zuurberg.

A lot of the farms in the area have given up on traditional agriculture and now rely on game farming and hunting for their income. This is a spent .243 cartridge, a popular caliber for small game hunting in South Africa due to its high exit velocity and accuracy.

Once we crested the Zuurberg we had lovely views southwards and could clearly see the ocean in Algoa Bay.

Heavily cropped but we could even see our final destination of Ann's Villa.

On the southern side the road twists and turns as it descends to the turnoff to Krom River.

First business on our arrival at the Zuurberg was to see off an ice cold beer. The beers came accompanied by a platter of cheese and biscuits which was just as well because dinner is only served from seven in the evening.

Tomorrow we head for Colchester from where we started this trip almost two months ago. Here we will be collected later in the afternoon by our friend and business partner Carel. It is only a bit more than fifty kilometers away so we can have a lie in tomorrow morning. Halfway through today's ride Leigh decided that we should have a bottle of bubbly with our dinner tonight so a late lie in may be a necessity.

Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 2,140 km (1,329 miles)

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