The Ride Day 1 (109 km, 573 m total ascent) ? The day's stage is mainly good gravel road, with a spectacular piece of jeep track towards the end. Leave the Lodge, when you get to the main road (C37), turn left. The road undulates through some rocky terrain, after about 35km you get to a T-junction, turn right onto the C10 i.e. to Ai-Ais. After about 12km you get a road turning off to the left (D316), take this turn i.e. to Noordoewer. After you?ve come down the long hill past Farm Kanabium, through the river and up the climb a bit you will get to a gate. Just behind the gate (this place is known as Fred se Punt) is a sign that says Rosh Pinah/Aussenkehr and another one saying Norothshama, take this road i.e. turn right onto the D207. Travel on this road until you get to a split in the road (there is an old gate), take the right hand road, i.e. go into the river. Follow the jeep track in the river until you can see the Orange River. The track climbs out of the river to the right, follow this track until you get onto the main road. Turn right onto the main road and follow the road for about 2km. On the left you will see a fairly deep donga/river, there is a track in this river leading down to the Orange. This is where we will camp for the night. Day 2 (67.7 km, 620 m total ascent) ? The day's stage is all good gravel road. Leave the campsite and follow the road down the Orange River, i.e. in a westerly direction. After a few kilometres the road veers away from the river and starts to climb into the mountains. After the top of the climb it is another 15 km to the Fish River Mouth, this is a good spot for a break. From here on you will be following the Orange again. There are no roads branching off this road so you shouldn?t get lost until you get to Sendelingsdrift (you don?t actually get there but you will see some buildings on a hill). At Sendelingsdrift you turn away from the river and travel north toward Rosh Pinah. You will travel along a very twisty section of road until you emerge at the Water Affairs pumpstation. Turn left and take the road that runs between the staff houses and the pumpstation. You will climb over a steep hill and then descend again down to the river. At the bottom of the hill turn left into the old recreation area where we will camp for the night. Be careful on this entire section of road!! There are some sharp, blind turns and the road is quite narrow in places and there are usually some manic drivers. Day 3 (106 km, 600 m total ascent) ? The day's stage is all gravel road which is in a poor condition in places. We will transport our bikes from Sendelingdrift to Witputs, about 66km of uphill, tarred road. We start the day?s stage at Witputs (junction C13/D463) and take the D463 in an easterly direction. The gravel road on this section of the ride has not been graded since the rains of 2006 and hence there are some tricky river crossings so watch out. Stay on this road until the farm Huns where the D459 splits off, you will come through a river where there is a farm homestead on your right. Turn right (this is still the D463!) and continue until you get to a big river with lots of camelthorn trees (there is an old farmhouse on the right hand side of the road). This is the Konkiep River and we will spend the night here. Day 4 (72.6 km, 651 m total ascent) ? The day's stage starts on a good gravel road but as soon as we turn into Canyon Nature Park it will be mainly jeep track, some of this is quite tough with loose gravel and thick sand. We will leave the Konkiep and continue in an easterly direction on the D463. After about 10km you will see a sign that says Canyon Nature Park. Turn right and take this road until you get to the Soutkuil farmhouse. Leave the house in a southerly direction, after about 12km we get to De Beer?s Pass. Be careful, the pass has been concreted but there is loose gravel on the concrete and there is a gate in the middle of this pass so don?t go too fast down the hill (hopefully the gate will be open but don?t bet on it). Keep travelling on this road until you get to Wegdraai farmhouse, travel across the yard and continue southwards to Kochas farmhouse. From there you go east toward the Fish River. We will camp at a place called Kochasdrif on the Fish for the night. Day 5 (50 km, 1000 m total ascent) - The day's stage starts with jeep track but as soon as you are on the main road it is good gravel. After crossing the Fish you start to climb towards the main road. Once you get to the main road (C37), turn left and continue, past the Ca?on Lodge, until you get to the T-junction with the D601. Turn right and continue to the Ca?on Roadhouse (you can't miss it, there are too many sign inviting you to stay!). Turn left and sprint to the finish (and hopefully a nice, ice-cold beer!). my passport is in order
