Afrique 8 – OUTSHOORN TILL GRAAF REINET PART 2

 Next day we cross the little hill which hide the dam. And we have a very large view of the Great Karoo, a very flat land with grass and shrubs, till the end of the world. Well not so far, as we can see the range of mountains which are 200 km away. The dam is absolutely dry, and a small river comes in, snaking. The weather is harsh, very windy, on left side, and very cloudy. We are just before the rain, so we just receive drops. The mountains behind desapears in clouds, and certainly there it is snowing. And slowly the clouds covered all the sky and cover also the mountains in front. The road is barely undulating, and we can see herds of sheaps, for mohair whool. By 3 o clock we start to look for a place to camp. We check 2 water tanks, but we cant hide us enough behind the first one, and for the second the gate of the field is closed. We finally see 2 farms. The first one is far from the road, and we see a little further a building, at the foot of the hill. We decide to go and see. It is a house for hunters. Outside, at the oposite of the wind, so protected, there is a large gallery with tables and a chimney, and good room to pitch the tent on the concret under the roof. We arrive just on time to avoid the big showers. There are toilet and tap water too. We have a very good night listening the crazy wind and the rain on the roof.

In the next morning the sky is blue, and the wind still as strong. And luckily it turns a bit, so we have it perfectly on the back. So we become the flying tortoises, running at 25 km. The road continues the same undulating in flat land, with fields of shrubs, and in reality climbing a bit. We will crosss a pass at 1000 m and descend till 750 m. We quickly arrive in Aberden, which is a nice village without township. It has a garden in the central place, and a few old buildings around in good state. No blacks are laying. A woman welcomes us and indicates us all the shops. We make a quick shopping, and we have an early fish and chips in a take away. The waiters are very nice. Then we go back to the main road, and I take a very good real coffe in the yellow road shop at the cross. The wind is so pushing us we decide to continue till Graaf Reinet. The road continues undulating by the shrubs land. We fly, sometime 40 km. We see some ostriches, herds of monkeys capucin, and one eagle. By 3 pm the wind is less stronger, and we come ack to anormal speed, but we are only 15 km to the end. We climb easily the last hill, and we see on right a large flat plain, and on left protected from the wind by the hill, the city of Graaf Reinet.