6th June 08

Date: 6th June 08
Location: Springbok, South Africa
Weather: Clear blue skies and sunshine, cold @ night 25°c
Status: Superb all round

Up early again with the destination for the day being Bloemfontein around 850kms away so we left the camp in the pitch black and after a couple of hours had the most awesome sunrise.

We made such good time on the road covering over 300kms in 3 hours that by the middle of the afternoon we’d already hit the outskirts of the city and decided to try and get all the way to Pietermaritzburg that evening at its Patrick, James and Sarah’s final destination for this part of the trip, another 600kms down the road.

We filled the cars with more expensive fuel, filled our stomachs and set about the long haul down to Kwazulu Natal. Once the Friday evening traffic had calmed down the roads emptied out and the average speed climbed again and by midnight we arrived at the last pass through the Drakensburg Mountains before dropping down the hill into the city.

It’s been 8 years since I’ve been here and the drive through the city was familiar and before long we’d pulled into the gates of Patrick’s family house a very welcome sight after 20hrs and nearly 1600kms of driving.

Good to get a comfy bed for the night in the very comfortable B&B they run!


End of day location: Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Distance covered: 1560kms