The Wild Coast

The Drakensburg range has many mountain roads. The region is largely agricultural with massive cattle ranches. This is a world away from the urban South Africa I had just left. White farmers manage vast acres of land. It looks organised & efficent. Fencing, no litter, no discarded vehicles, no animals on the road. I explored. Late morning, I realised I was lost & had done 300K. 

I needed to get to the "wild coast" for my overnight. That was 400K away from my starting point in the morning. I was still 400K after my mountain meandering. So, head down I got back on stanav & set off.

I was heading for Port St Johns. The problem was that I was on mountain roads. Hairpins, trucks, roadworks etc. meant progress was slow. I was about half way by mid afternoon. As I got closer to the coast the weather changed. The entire coastline was blanketed in sea fog. Not just fog but dense, dry ice fog. You could only see a car's length ahead. It felt like the fog was a wall out of which anything could emerge. I had about 150K to do (100M) but thought I had time before dark. Four hours later I arrived way after dark at 8PM. The road to Port St Johns took me up & down mountain passes. Zero visibility in the fog did not help me spot the wandering people, cattle, donkeys, dogs, stop/start taxis, trucks with no lights. My nerves were in tatters when I rode around a corner saw a dark shape, another & another in the road. I passed within touching distance between a group donkeys meandering across the road.

   

 

I arrived in darkness so it was not until morning that I could see the setting. Pounding sea & lush, quiet coastline. I was greeted by the owners dog.

And found a frog in my tank bag.