We have a bit of driving to do today, so we are up early - especially us as we have to prepare breakfast. It is cold and we decide to heat up the water that is used in the hand wash bowls and the dish washing bowls. It is much more pleasant. It is a simple breakfast, but no one really wants to hang around in the cold anyway. After packing up, we are on our way.
We stop in Vanrhynsdorp for some shopping and to exchange money. We go into the bank and ask them what the exchange rate is - they said they can only tell us after we have handed over our money and they process it through the computer (and this is Standard Chartered Bank). While a bunch of people are willing to change money on this basis, a number of us walk out in disgust. Service was better in many West African countries!
Instead, we wander the streets and, in our meandering, we come across a bottle shop that has an interesting collection of local wines. They are priced so cheaply - $2-3 a bottle, that we have to pick up about 6 bottles to try. From there, we go meet the truck at the supermarket and wait while the supplies are collected and loaded up. We head off at 12:30 PM and have lunch on the truck. A couple of boxes of pies and chips have been bought and we dig right in. It makes a change from the usual lunches that we have while driving.
A bit later, we arrive at Clanwilliam - we need to pick up some supplies that we could not find earlier, and one of the passengers goes to visit the doctor - he has not been feeling well. All seems to be OK (i.e., take a few pills and call in the morning if you are not feeling better). This next stretch will be on dirt roads heading up into the Cederberg mountains, so a few of us decide to go up on the roof seats.
While we wait to head off, we decide to open a bottle of wine and to sample some of the local drop. It is not too bad, especially for a few dollars a bottle. We have almost finished the bottle by the time that we head off. This was just as well - the road gets very bumpy and Gilly decides to step on it. We are bouncing along and it is a bit hard to keep the red wine from spilling all over us.
As we drive along, it gets a bit colder from the wind chill effect, but we had bundled up and were prepared. And was it ever worth it to sit on the roof seats. It was a spectacular drive up through the winding road that made its way through the valleys and over the passes in the heart of the Cederbergs. At times we were driving on steep hillsides, with the road falling off, with no barrier, to the valley far below. (In the picture on the left, you can just see at the bottom of the picture the shadow of us seating on the top of the truck.)
It was with regret that we made it to the campsite just before 5 PM, but it was starting to get cold up top as the sun went down. After setting up the campsite - we got a nice spot under some trees, but still with a few of the sky- we started to prepare dinner. This will be the last meal that we have to cook on this trip. We have decided to make fried rice and Jacqui takes charge. Paolo and Lars do the chopping and try to follow the instructions for the head cook. We also open a few more bottles of the cheap, but quite good, wine that we had bought earlier today - a very good investment. The fried rice turns out very good (despite all the wine and fun that we were having), except the last batch as we ran out of Soy sauce.
It turns out to be another very cold night and, after relaxing around the fire for a while, we retire early to our tent.