04/12/2010 Winterton to Sterkfontein dam

We awoke to beautiful morning in Winterton and the feeling of kinship with the mike and his family was strong as they helped us further with food, the preparation of bikes and words of encouragement ( as we eventually found out were quite necessary) After our goodbyes we rode out of Winterton, crossing the little Tugela and ventured on for some while until we reached the small town of Bergville where we stopped for lunch.

Beautiful early morning Winterton



The Little Tugela River


After this we found through traversing increasingly vertical inclinations that we were nearing the berg and this was confirmed by signs and our eventual reaching of the  Amphitheatre backpackers. We refilled our water supplies here with bought water and after several warnings about the pass we rode out into the blistering heat to face one of the most gruelling challenges of our trip: OliviersHoek Pass. After a sleep to miss the midday heat we fought up our way through the pass, much of which had to be walked, and with the promise of respite seen at the Little Switzerland sign we pushed on. Somewhere near this point and high in the pass( in fact right before Little Switzerland) me and Keegan, brandishing our Pfeffer Pepper spray came into close contact with some large baboons, who being quite uninterested in us , were content to eye us from several meters away and then continue on, disappearing into the Drakensburg. We finally stopped at Little Switzerland for a break. Exhausted we rode again higher into the pass, where we were saved by a kind man with a large bakkie. we made the last stretch into Sterkfontien dam on bike and were very happy to find cheap camping, clean ablutions and friendly people.