Day 114, Sunday 8/5/07, Ai Ais via the Noordoewer (Namibia) border crossing to Fiddler Creek (S.A.) west along the Orange River.
Up at 5am to leave the gate at 6:20 for a proper warm up for our 4th and last time trial is this morning, 23km over the dirt road. The start is 6km up the road from the Ai Ais gate. Not too many participants. Due to my overall standing I start 4th last after Adrie, Chris and Gunther. The route is 5km uphill, a right turn on the D316 towards Noordoewer and 4km rolling flat, then 14km down. The latter section on the ultra smooth gravelroad goes at speeds of 55 to 65 kph! Come in 7th out of 14 in 38:34. After this, a long gradual climb an ultra fast downhill and backwind ride to lunch at 85km where the D316 joins the tarmac of the B1.
Then with the wind from behind 40km to the Noordoewer border crossing, over the Orange River bridge to the S.A. Viooldrift border crossing at 125km. The remaining 11km to Fiddler Creek on the Orange River are less pleasant against the stiff wind over an awful dirt road. The shady and green campsite on the riverbank makes it all worthwhile. Total vertical for the day just under 1000m! It was a warm day (max. 41 degr.) with high hazy cloud and strong winds. The landscape is desert like, dry, bare of trees or vegetation, rocky hills in the background, quite beautiful.

Day 115, Monday 7/5/07, Fiddler Creek to Springbok (Caravan Park camp). Up an hour later at 6am (due time change to S.A.) to leave camp at 7:30 and arrive for the start 8am on the tarmac road at Viooldrift. The road immediately goes up the hills south of the Orange River. Chris takes off, for all of us too fast to follow. After staying with Eva too long to help her Adrie jumps after him and has a hard time catching up with him. I find myself with Andrew and Janet, we work together for a while, Janet drops off, we catch up with Gunther who is waiting for us and together we ride to lunch at 73km. After lunch Eva and I ride together, catch Janet who is not able to jump in our wheels, catch Gunther and the three of us ride together until 10 km before the finish Gunther leaves us behind to finish 3d . Eva and I finish respectively 5th and 4th. A beautiful day again, through a wild, rocky and dry landscape, total distance 130km and vertical 1350m. Visit Springbok on the bike, exchange $$ for S.A. Rand, upload photo's to my website (finally a fast broadband connection!), buy yoghurt, juice, my favorite Cornetto ice creams at the local Spar. Phone home in the evening with my satphone.

Day 116, Tuesday 8/5/07. Springbok to Garies. Start at 8am. Good road, excellent weather, in the morning little wind getting stronger during the day, temperature during ride 13 to 36 degrees, many climbs and descents. Before lunch the tandem and I are dropped by Adrie, Chris, Eva and Nels in a long climb and we take it easy to lunch at 63km where we catch up again. After lunch I leave with Adrie and Chris to catch up with Eva and Nels who left earlier. The 5 of us ride at a fast pace together sharing the work in front. About 30km before the finish I get dropped again on a long uphill and continue at a slower pace alone to the finish at 116km on the exit ramp to Garies. Another few km to the camp, buy some ice creams on the way, eat/drink, shower, wash clothing, do stretching exercises, go to town to buy headlamp batteries, a three pronged S.A. plug for my power bar, buy yoghurt, another ice cream, write log. Distance for the day 119km and vertical 1010m.

Day 117, Wednesday 9/5/07, Garies to Vanrhynsdorp. A cool 13 degree morning again, clear blue sky, road continues to be excellent, the landscape remains hilly, rocky, wild, with ground level scrub growth. Until lunch at 78km many long climbs but I mange to stay with Adrie, Chris, Gunther and Eva. Nels got dropped on a fast downhill due to his mountain bike gearing. After lunch continue with A/C/E and finish 4th in the sprint at 148km. Ride another 2km to our camping. Put up tent, shower, was clothing, eat/drink, write log, stretch the weary muscles. Visit the nice little town, have 2 ice creams and buy yoghurt, milk, lemon twist soft drink to mix with a beer at the campsite. Day distance 150km and vertical 1060m.

Day 118, Thursday 10/5/07, Vanrhynsdorp to Elandsbay. Today is declared a non race day as the route was changed at the last minute which has us cycle over dirt roads instead of tarmac. Originally we were to continue south on the N7 and then head west towards Lambertsbay, all on tarmac. Now we will take a series of smaller roads, through Vredendal and it's surrounding vineyards, after which the long stretch of dirt road starts. Some racers objected as slim road tires could not be changed to the fatter off road tires at this late hour. Ride most of the day with the tandem (Joash and Douglas). Just before Lambertsbay we sight the Atlantic Ocean along which we will ride to Cape Town. It is a beautiful ride again today, temperature is on the cool side (12 to 28 degrees), through the vineyards of Vredendal, the immense stretches of land with high hills in the south and then along the wild coastal area parallel to the railroad and the Atlantic shores to Elandsbay, a tiny village with a fantastic beach, one of the nicer surfing areas some surfers from Cape Town tell me. I take a dip in the cold and heavy surf. Day distance 114km with a vertical of 530m.

Day 119, Friday 11/5/07, Elandsbay to Yzerfontein. We leave at 8am. for 9km on a dirt road around the Elandsbay cliff and along the shoreline. The bay and beach we just left are an incredible sight against the morning sun. We (racers!) all stop to look and take pictures. The dirt road turns out to be very rough instead of "smooth as those in Namibia" as the TdA tour leader had told us. Janet's "broken" wrist cannot withstand the washboard, stones and bumps. She is in pain and has to go very slow. Chris gets understandably very upset about this nth gaffe of our tour leader where it concerns road descriptions and drops out of the race today to stay with (his wife) Janet. Chris has a 30sec. advantage over Adrie for this section of the tour. We are looking forward to "a race of the titans" as we are sure Adrie will attack somewhere to try get the lead back. Adrie tries but does not succeed in changing Chris's mind. He asks me to speak with Chris and I fall back in an attempt to convince him to defend this advantage against Adrie offering to wait for Janet and ride with her to lunch. Chris's mind is made up, we wait for Janet, keep her out of the wind and ride together to lunch at 70km. The small race group has left 10 min. earlier and together Chris and I ride against strong headwinds to the finish 145km in Yzerfontein. The Caravan Park where we camp is just behind the beach. George has arranged a chalet with nice beds, shower, living room and kitchen for the four "dutchies"! I do the normal chores, set up the tent on the grass outside our chalet and am able to dry it and get rid of the sand sticking to it. This evening it's party time and some of us show their talents in amusing the others with various sketches and songs! Day distance 146km and vertical 407m.

Saturday May 12, 2007. Day 120. The BIG day we complete our quest of riding from North to South across the African continent, Cairo to Cape Town. The culmination of 4 months on our bikes, over close to 12,000 km of African roads, through 10 different and widely varying countries. From a modernized old civilization of Egypt to a western South Africa where the various groupings are creating a liveable environment.

I have mixed feelings as we approach Cape Town from the north along the lovely sandy beaches with the white surf: glad I made it but sad it's over, glad to be home soon with family and friends but sad the adventure with my new family of friends of the past 4 months is at an end, glad the daily "work" routine of the preceding four months is ending but anxious about the "old" routine back home that needs to picked up again.

After the party of last night at our last (Caravan Park) camp in Yzerfontein the groups are slow to start. There is no hurry: we have ample time to ride to our assembly point 65 km further to a beach parking just past Melkbosstrand. It is another beautiful morning but a cold 9 degrees at breakfast makes us dress warmer than usual. Soon after I start riding with the small racing group the early sunrays feel warm and are welcome as it is "bl...." cold in the wind generated by our speed on the bike. We climb up to the R27 and head south over rolling hills towards Table Mountain which we soon see in the hazy distance. At the signs for Melkbosstrand we turn right and along the beach front a few km's further we ride for the last time past the Finish Flag.
Cape Town flanked by Table Mountain is clearly visible over the bay dotted with ocean going vessels awaiting port entry. For the remaining 25 km to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in downtown Cape Town we are escorted by police. They see to it that we are not hindered by the busy traffic along this route. The Mayor of Cape Town joins us on a tandem for the last few km's to the finish arch and the podium on Victoria Wharf. Music, speeches. more music, medals, more speeches, photo's, even more music. It is a wonderful reception we receive by the big crowd. And a BIG SURPRISE for me: Sophia, my partner in life, hangs totally unexpected around my neck to greet me at the finish!!!!

That evening, after the necessary transfer of all our luggage from Doris to the Breakwater Hotel and SS&S, we have a wonderful dinner party with the whole Tour d'Afrique group at a restaurant on Victoria Wharf. The ambiance is great, the food is excellent, a photo video show of our trip is beamed to a large screen, white and red S.A. wines flow freely down our throats such that two of our leading ladies do not hesitate to show off their tan lines.