Cederberg 5 Dec 2022

Loeriesfontein – Verneukpan: 225 km

Last night we had Mama Alles mushroom risotto and it was delicious. The sunrise in Loeriesfontein is something special but the temperature is unseasonably cold. We are not planning an early start because we want to arrive on Verneukpan as late as possible. Seeing that there is nothing the last thing we want to do is sit in the sun for hours. I am not one for laying in so I’m up at my usual time and start packing. By 8 am we were ready to leave and we figured we might just as well get on the road.

The R357 gravel road from Loeriesfontein to Brandvlei is 120 km with nothing in between except dirt and stones. I was banking on getting some meds in Brandvlei since none of my normal stuff is working and I’m over feeling crap. Since we were in no hurry I decided that this was the perfect stretch of road to get some drone footage. We’ve had strong winds almost every day and today is perfect weather for drone flying.

Stop, do the calibration (very annoying), and off we go. Perfect. We are riding and drony positions itself on our flank. All is good- until it is not. I made a mount for the drone controller that worked great except for the fact that I did not test it with the new, bigger phone I’m using now. This means that it did not clip in properly, something I found out about a minute down the road when it fell off. I stop to go get it and as I’m walking back I can hear the drone changing pitch as it climbs out of sight. The phone fell out causing the controller to disconnect leaving the drone controllerless. By the time I reach the stricken controller laying in the dirt, broken antenna and scuffed I could no longer see or hear the drone. I panicked for a few seconds but then realized that it would automatically return home, which in this case is just over the hill.

By the time I reconnected everything it was busy landing and I just canceled and flew it back. Oh and not to forget the fact that I forgot to close the trunk when we drove away so now we have cool footage of us driving with an open trunk until you see the controller flying off. One day I’ll master it.

The rest of the ride to Brandvlei on this beautiful road is uneventful. We stop at the Windpomp cafe for something to eat and drink. The plan is to stock up in Brandvlei since this is the last shop on the way to Verneukpan. I consult Google maps and my Garmin for shops close by. No pharmacy but there is a supermarket and a butchery. Uh, no, they closed down almost two years ago says Louise who owns the cafe. But there is a new butchery we can try in town. ‘Town’ consists of a street and the main street (they are the same). After a humongous burger, we drive to ‘town’ to visit the butchery. They stock frozen meat in packaging that is torn and the meat is white from freezer burn. Nope, not for me so I just grab some frozen lamb sausage and 10 L of water.

It is just over 100 km of dirt road to the pan. The road conditions are not too bad but it is getting very hot and there is a farm gate every 5 to 10 kilometers. By the time we reach the pan around 3 pm, it felt like we’d been riding for 5 hours. I have not seen another vehicle since we left Brandvlei.

There are still big puddles of standing water from recent rains and I’m glad that we’re not getting any. This place can become a real mess really fast in the wet. We drive around for a while to find the perfect spot, one where you have late afternoon shade and shelter from the wind.

I forgot to get wood in Brandvlei so here we were, lamb sausage with no wood to make a fire. Worse case we can do it on the gas burner. I scavenge around and found some partially burned wood that somebody left so we were sorted. But now the task I dread, unpacking the whole trunk to get to the grid. A brainwave struck me – I’ll make a wors sosatie using wire. It worked like a charm. We finished off the brandy just as the sun was setting. Our hopes of some stargazing were dashed by cloud cover and a full moon. The moon was so bright that it shone through the clouds that gave it that hazy halo effect.

There was a strong wind blowing and it picked up speed as the day drew to a close. The absence of the sun seems to be a signal for the wind to kick it up a notch. I’m not sure when it subsided but it must have been in the early morning hours. It was only our body weight that kept the tent from getting airborne. But as I’ve realized, if the wind cannot blow something away it will try to flatten it.