Cycling The Road Less Travelled

We’re back on Canadian soil. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage another detour to South America or the Middle East…trust me though, I tried. We arrived in Montreal on the 24th. We’re thrilled to see family and friends but it does feel odd to be back, very odd. In a little over a week we head home to Vancouver.

If you are curious to know what we are thinking after over a year and half on the road or where we go from here, check back in a little while; we still have a few more things to share. (Sorry, I know it takes us forever to update, but we will update).

A while ago, we posted our best/worst. We left one out: Most Annoying. By far, the most annoying/disappointing has been other travel blogs that have copied, stolen ideas or downright plagiarized snippets of text from our site. Come on people, (you know who you are); that’s just sad.

Souvenirs have been bought, the bicycles have been boxed, the bags packed and tickets are in hand. It looks like we are all set to go. Too bad our hearts and minds aren’t ready to let go.

South Africa; now here is a country with a serious, serious PR problem. Whenever we’ve spoken to people and told them we’ve been or are going to South Africa, we’ve always gotten the same reaction: fear. “But it’s so dangerous!”, “I’ve always wanted to go but there is so much crime”, etc etc. For many, South Africa seems to conjure up images of complete lawlessness. We’ve spent over four months here. If all the rumours and speculation were true, then we should have been killed at least 20 times by now. We haven’t been, not even once. Would you believe people say “please” and “thank you” here too? Okay, okay. I’m being completely facetious; I’m just trying to make a point. Yes, the statistics are there, yes there is a serious crime problem, yes you need to be vigilant, smart and cautious but that doesn’t mean you will be mugged as soon as get off the plane.

South Africa has a disproportionate amount of incredible and unforgettable places to see and things to do; in fact, it actually borders on the ridiculous. Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope, the Garden Route, the Winelands, Drakensberg Mountains, Blyde Canyon, Kruger Park, Tsitsikamma National Park, the Wild Coast; the list goes on and on. Pass up on South Africa and you will miss out on absolutely stunning landscapes, tons of wildlife and endless outdoor adventures. South Africa is a country of UNBELIEVABLE, natural beauty and still that is secondary to me. To me, South Africa represents incredible dignity and hope. After almost two years of travel, it remains one of the countries where I have been humbled, taken aback and moved the most. It’s intoxicating. This is a critical point in South Africa’s history, a time of change and hope. Are there still issues? Yes, of course. You just need to drive around and you’ll see sprawling, world-class estates, next to shack-lands, mere tin walls held together with a handful of nails and rocks. However, despite this, there is an incredible, undeniable spirit and dignity that is both humbling and very difficult to explain, but we witnessed it time and time again as we travelled through the country.

I won’t claim I know South Africa or that I understand it; that is something that is reserved for those that lived here through the turmoil of that last few decades. I can however say, without any doubt, that it is a land of stunning beauty and even more stunning hope and potential, OMG the potential. Amazing people, things and ideas will come out of this land. I’m convinced of it.

Way, way back in September 2007, we blogged about being only a few months away from the start of our trip and not yet having purchased a single item, not even bikes. Too busy? Poor planning? Procrastination? Well all of the above, but mostly it was due to our shared, deep hatred for shopping and shopping malls. The last few months before we left were a complete blur of shopping, packing, painting, moving and training.

It’s a good thing people learn from prior mistakes…too bad we didn’t. It’s three days before we leave and we have over a year’s worth of souvenir shopping to do. This inevitably means us running up and down the Green Market and the V&A Waterfront in a desperate panic, eventually settling on kitschy key chains and lighters for everyone! I know, I know, terrible, unforgivable. Sorry…

Our first major stop after Lesotho was Golden Gate National Parks in Free State. Beautiful sandstone outcroppings, lit up with magnificent colors of golden yellow, red and deep purple at sunset. And of course, if that weren’t enough, they threw in a few wild zebras for good measure.

From there we headed to the humongous Drakensberg Mountains. The first stop was the Royal Natal area where we did two incredible hikes. Hike one was from the Sentinel car park to the top of the escarpment. With the exception of the gorge, the hike isn’t that strenuous and the views are extraordinary from start to finish. The views at the top of the escarpment will blow your mind! The next day we hiked up the Thukela Gorge.

Next up was the Central Drakensberg area where we stayed at Cathedral Peak Nature Reserve Home for two days. Our first hike was through Rainbow Gorge where the big treat was dipping our feet into the bone chilling water of the river. Our last walk was the incredible Cathedral Peak hike. This walk has it all: incredible vistas throughout the entire hike, a difficult distance and a significant elevation gain (18km and about 1600 vertical meters), two very steep gullies to climb and several grade c scrambling. Unfortunately, it is winter now and there isn’t too many daylight hours and since we woke up a little too late, we ran out of time to attempt the final 300 m to the peak. In retrospect, it was a good decision to turn back as we only had about 30 minutes of daylight left when we finally got back to Lucy. Nevertheless, it was spectacular, an unforgettable hike to end an unforgettable trip. Sitting at the base of the Orange Peel Gap, eating lunch and looking out at the amazing vastness before of us, was one of those moments that takes your breath and leaves you silent, in total awe of the world. Not a bad way to end our journey.

Our trip here was spectacular but too short. In reality, you need weeks, not days, to really see Drakensberg, but we are grateful for what we got to see nevertheless. We have to leave something for next time anyway.

Us on Cathedral Peak hike. A bittersweet moment; a beautiful spot but also the end of this journey.

So we packed up Lucy and set off for Drakensberg. Of course, we couldn’t resist going into Lesotho; a small mountainous country completely landlocked by South Africa. We crossed the border and my heart was pounding. Another country, something new to see and experience; what could be more exciting? It’s always surprising how much things can change from one minute to the next as you cross a border; crossing into Lesotho from South Africa was no exception.

We drove through the capital and through some of the other towns in the lowlands. We stopped occasionally to take pictures, the views and sights were incredible, the people seemed very friendly. We drove to and spent the night in Ts’ehlanyane National Park. The next day, as we headed back, we spotted a huge crowd of people gathered around so of course we had to stop. It was a Sunday; it turned out to be a church service. No actual church, just a service under a beautiful blue sky and towering, lush green mountains. Beautiful. Spiros had his camera, but since it was a religious service, wasn’t planning on taking photos. One girl, Julia, had other things in mind though. When she saw the camera, she screamed out. “Oh, come here! Shoot me, shoot me!!” Well, you only have to ask Spiros once. After dozens of photos, she looked at the portraits and said “Oh, I’m so gooooooooooooooood”. A star was born. I guess you had to be there, but it was really, really fun and kids soon started lining up. People then began eating, dancing and inviting us to join in. As I’ve said it before, the world is really a very friendly place.

Lesotho is outstandingly beautiful and the people we met were lovely. Yet another stunning reminder of why Africa has left such a deep impression in our hearts and minds.

We’ve been in Cape Town for awhile now; it’s been fabulous and now our feet are getting itchy. Yup, we’re that predictable. We have less then two weeks to go before we board that plane to Canada, not nearly enough time to see what we want to see but we’ll happily take what we can get. So, we’re off again on a South African road trip, this time in a surprisingly sassy, red-headed Volkswagen named Lucy. The goal is to make it to the Drakensberg Mountains; we’ll see how far we get. Ahhh, a map and an open road. Sweet!

Best location to Start a Cycling Trip:
The foot of the Pyramids in Giza, Egypt. That just can’t be beat.

Unforgettable Cycling Highlights:
Day 1 in Egypt at the Pyramids, Dolomites, Gorge du Tarn, Provence in the Fall, Chapman’s Peak Drive, Nubian Desert in Sudan, Ethiopian Hills, Namibia, Sunflowers in Tanzania, Northern Laos, Tuscan Hills

Best Border Crossing in Africa:
From Sudan into Ethiopia. Drop off your passport, go around the corner and get a beer (Sudan is “dry”), have a shower at the brothel and go back to pick up your passport a few hours later. Unless, of course, your name is Ed.

Most Eventful Taxi Ride:
We were in a cab in Cairo. Whenever the cabbie made a sharp turn, we heard a very loud “BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHH” coming from the trunk.
The cabbie turned to us and explained: “Goat.”
Spiros, the optimistic vegetarian, then asked: “Pet?”
Cabbie shook his head and said “Kebab”.

Most Surprising:

1. How attached you can become to a little red box.
2. How much you can miss gruelling 8 hour bike rides on horrible roads, being caught in sandstorms and baby wipe showers.
3. How little you really need to get by.

Top 3 Most Memorable Spots We Went for a Swim:

1. Nile River, Sudan
2. Fish River, Namibia
3. Indian Ocean, Zanzibar, Tanzania

Top 4 camping spots:

1. Somewhere in the middle of the Nubian Desert in Sudan
2. By a lake in Namibia
3. Fish River Canyon, Namibia
4. Tsitsikama National Park

Worst Camping Sites:
Anywhere coastal in Italy or Croatia in August. Icchh!

Worst Night in the Tent:
Sienna. Cycled in a downpour, pitched up in a downpour, slept in a huge puddle and woke up at 5:00 am to catch the train.

Most Played Song at the Resort Campgrounds:
Tie between “I will survive” and “The Final Countdown”.

Most Embarrassing:
When that private outdoor spot you found to go to the bathroom is not so private.

Most Tragic:
Well…it’s still tough to talk about but it’s .. it’s the Tragedy in the Italian Gelateria…Definitely. Still choking back the tears on that one.

Toughest Roads:
Ethiopia, Sudan and Cambodia

Toughest 3 cycling days:

1. Road to Venice, Austria
2. Tunisia sandstorm,
3. Gondar, Ethiopia

Most Battle-Scarred Piece of Equipment.
Our tent. Sniff, it didn’t make it.

Most Important Piece of Equipment we Brought With Us:
Duct tape. (Bet you were thinking bicycles).

Our Favourite Liz:
Elizabeth Doster

Favourite Dinner:
Surprisingly, had nothing to do with the food. Diana, our favourite Liz, Spiros, the two Rafaels and I having dinner under the stars in the Serengeti.

Best Night Cap:
Diana, Spiros and I drinking wine out of plastic mugs, while wrapped in sleeping bags, sitting at a waterhole viewing point in Etosha National Park, watching rhinos and elephants.

Best Dinner Music: Sound of zebras grazing nearby

Most Obvious Answer We Least Wanted to Hear:
Spiros to our safari guide Rafael the night we were camping in the Serengeti, outside of the established camping grounds: “Is it safe to sleep here?”
Our guide to Spiros: “No, of course not. Very dangerous.”

(On a side note, the first time Raffael took people on a safari he set up their tent, then his. He waited until they retired to their tent and then slept in the truck. )

Best Reason to Skip a Hike you Really, Really Wanted to Do:
Cause it’s a volcano and it has just erupted.

Dumbest Animal:
Well, chickens get so freaked out by passing bicycles and motorists that they will leave the relative safety of the side of the road and dart out in front of you, but we’ve seen a warthog casually walk by 4 lions. Warthog wins…and loses?!

Cutest Animals:
OMG! Baby elephants, baby elephants!!!!!!

Most Bizarre Experience:
It’s a tie. 1) Campground on the Italian/Slovenian border. It’s hard to explain but we never did figure out why the family next to us kept screaming out “Andy Warhol” every few minutes. 2) Vang Vieng; scores of tourists sitting in cafes for hours watching endless “Friends” reruns.

Best Ferry Ride:
The Twinkie Express of course.

Worst Ferry Ride:
From Tunisia to France. Profuse sweating, vomiting and hail. Enough said.
.
Worst Flight:
Roller Coaster ride to Lalibela

Worst Meal:
Hmm..we’ve had some humdingers. The “boiled potato and beets” dinner on the TDA after 150km + ride pops to mind. Oh, and the egg and tuna sandwich in Tunis that had me hurling for 3 days was another memorable one. Ah…good times.

Country we Loved and Hated at the Same Time:
Tunisia

Favourite Small Towns and Villages:

1. Wadi Halfa, Sudan
2. Granff Reinet, South Africa
3. Montalcino, Italy

Best Campfire:
The infamous campfire in the Fish River Canyon. It was “a clean burn, the perfect burn”.

Worst Campfire:
Sesriem Campground. Sorry, can’t say more. Diana, Pepe and I are forbidden from ever speaking of it again.

Best Sunset:
Had a few but this one in Namibia always comes to mind.

Favourite Outfit:
T-shirt, skirt, running shoes, pony tail and the mandatory bicycle chain ring grease stains on my calves.

Easiest Way to Garner Attention in Italy:
Sit in the middle of the town square, bring out your bowls and eat cereal. It helps if you are a little scruffy looking too.

Best Trees:
The trees in Africa…Baobab, Quiver, Acacia

Best Quote:
(Ok, this is a repeat but I just have to). Another TDA rider to Spiros: “Don’t cycle behind me…I have diarrhea”.

Most Persistent Touts:
Arusha, Tanzania (we were followed for 4 continuous hours) with Nha Trang, Vietnam a close second

Most Hi Tech Way of Ordering Lunch When You Don’t Speak the Language:
BabelFish.

Favourite Street Food:
Night fish market in Stone Town, Zanzibar

Most Memorable Bathroom:
A room with a view. The bathrooms in the Ngorongoro Crater have windows. You can watch an elephant walk by as you pee.

Best Coke Stop:
Any coke stop in Sudan.

Best Night Market:
Luang Prabang, Laos

Country We Were Most Pleasantly Surprised With:
Tie between South Africa and Namibia

Oddest Google Search String Used to Find our Site:
“huge bulge bicycle spandex pictures”

Favourite Greeting:
It’s still “Jumbo Sista’” or “Good Morning Teacha’” (Both Tanzania)

Friendliest People:
Sudan

Scariest:
A steep off-road hill, lined with small children holding very big rocks. Actually scratch that. It’s 100 hungry, cranky TDA’ers right before dinner….Definitely.

Most Valuable Skill Attained:
Peeing in a sandstorm. That may sound like a useless skill but I totally disagree; In fact, this may just get top billing on my resume.

Most Valuable Lesson.
This one came early on.

Most Unforgettable Moments:
Times likes this and this.

Best Part of Cycling The Road Less Travelled:
The open road, the freedom, the kind souls you meet along the way, the exhilaration of the unknown…it’s too hard to pick just one.

Worst Part of Cycling the Road Less Travelled:
None, it’s all good.

Wow, it has been a while since we last updated! My apologies, my mind has been elsewhere lately. So, let’s start where we left off. We were in Cambodia. How did we end up back in Cape Town, South Africa? We were sitting in a coffee shop in Phnom Penh, talking about the inevitable; the end of the trip and going back home. Our cycling tour was pretty much over and we were trying to decide on a spot where we could hang out for a week or two before heading back, maybe some beach in Thailand. Our plan was to fly home early March. We had found tickets on expedia weeks ago, saved the itinerary and periodically logged in and looked at them. We never could find the will to purchase. Then Mel, our friend from South Africa, come online and we started to chat. She soon said, “Hey, why don’t you come here?” We could spend some time with her and Luc and then we could house sit for her while she went to Europe. There were lots of reasons to do it; to see Mel and Luc again, we LOVE South Africa, there is a hiring freeze due to the global economy back home anyway and spending time in SA would actually be cheaper then living in Vancouver, the jeans, Manoushes…actually just for the blog entry alone was good enough for me. Of course, there was one blaring reason not too; we were running out of money and we were very, very, very far away from South Africa. I distinctly remember the words: “Ah ^%$$% it. Let’s just go and we’ll worry about it later” being spoken. About 48 hours after the idea came up; we had tickets and were making our way back to Thailand to catch our flight. I’ve spent more time trying to decide what to have for lunch. Who knew we were so impulsive? We certainly don’t look the part. I mean seriously, look at us; the all beige wardrobe, conservative hair cuts, the sensible shoes. People in sensible shoes don’t just throw caution to the wind like that, do they? That quiet person in the cubicle next to you at work isn’t dreaming of cycling through the Middle East or climbing Mount Everest…are they? Hmmmmmm.

So, what have we been doing in Cape Town? Well, after 14 months on the road, the first thing we needed to do was get cleaned up. That took the better part of a week. Sheesh, that was really exhausting! Since then, we’ve been doing lots. Lots of cycling, (gorgeous, GORGEOUS cycling here), lots of hiking, going to the beach, sight seeing, tried rock climbing, spending time with friends, relaxing, getting used to having a refrigerator and a laundry machine again, looking into squatter’s rights (just kidding Mel…honest) and even taking some time to do something creative. Mel is an AMAZING mosaic artist and has not only given me some lessons but has allowed me to use her workshop while she was gone. This is my second mosaic, I call her bootyliscous – ness. Most of all though, we’ve been trying to process this amazing adventure, these past 16 incredible months that have been our lives. To have seen the Pyramids, Ankgor Wat, the Sossusvlei Sand dunes, the Dolomites, the Ngorongoro Crater, to have been on several safaris, to have seen 40 wild elephants march in line to get to the waterhole, to have ridden our bikes through Ethiopia and Sudan, and Tanzania, to have bush camped in the desert, to have locals surround our camp and play music and sing songs, to have strangers invite us into their home because we are guests in their country, to have gone out there in the world, taken a chance and to have discovered that the world is a far more beautiful, far more friendly place then we could have ever imagined…well, that is a lot to process. How could two people be soooooooooooo fortunate?

Are we ready to come home now? Well, no. We really are ruined for life, but it is time. We need to start planning the next adventure after all. We actually have tickets to Canada now. We leave Africa in the third week of May, spend a few weeks in Montreal to visit family and then back to Vancouver on June 16th, approximately 17 months after we left. But that’s weeks away. Right now, I’m going for a bike ride.

Cycling across Africa was a very special experience for us. One of the main reasons was meeting very extraordinary, special people and forging amazing lifelong friendships. One of those people is our very, very dear friend, Chris Wille. When I broke my collar bone in Ethiopia and when I was ill in Zambia, Chris was always there for us; whether it was pitching up our tent or helping us stay strong. He’s been a great friend to us, both during and after the Tour D’Afrique.

Shortly after returning back to Canada from Africa, Chris’s wife Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer. We haven’t met Linda yet but from the emails we have received from Chris we have a pretty good idea of the exceptional person that she is. The strength and courage that they have both shown through all of this has been incredible and very inspirational.

Chris will be riding in the 2009 Cycle to Conquer Cancer event, a two day ride from Vancouver to Seattle which will be held on June 20th and 21st. The funds being raised by the riders and organizers will be going to the BC Cancer Foundation to help in the fight against cancer. If you would like to sponsor Chris please follow this link. If you are interested in participating or volunteering yourself in this very special event, you can find more information here. Thank you!

Dang! It appears I’ve forgotten my jeans. You know, those super comfy jeans I got at Mr. Price. It was way too hot to wear jeans in Asia but I’m going to need them now since we are going back home to Canada. We really can’t afford to keep buying new clothes so we’ve gone back to pick them up. I left them at Mel’s. Mel lives in Cape Town, South Africa. (I suppose you may be feeling an overwhelming urge to point out the cost difference between a new pair of jeans and tickets to South Africa, but we like to think “outside of the box”, thank you very much!). We got here last Thursday. Since we’re here we might as well stay for a few weeks; the weather is really nice right now after all.

What?!!! Shocked?! Not really buying the jeans excuse?! Did I mention these are stretchy jeans? Hey, I’m hurt! If you had spent any time at all reading our blog or looking at the photos you’d know just how important “stretchy” is these days. Okay, okay, you caught us. It would be a bit outrageous to come all the way here from Thailand just to pick up a pair of jeans, even if they are stretchy and super-comfy. The real reason we came back is, of course,…you guessed it…Manoushes. How could we go back to Canada without a quick detour for mouthwatering jibneh, to-die-for zaataar and babaganoush…oh the babaganoush? Hmmmm, so you didn’t believe we would come all the way here just for jeans, but you had no problem believing we would come all the way here for food? Awww! You really are reading our blog! Sniff.