The Road Winding Among the Mountains: Story of an Epic Bicycle Journey to the Richtersveld Mountain Desert

By Chris de Villiers

In the extreme north-western part of South Africa lies a hot, barren and inhospitable mountain desert region known as the Richtersveld. It stretches from about 29 degrees south to the Orange River in the north, and from the diamond-rich coastal strip along the Atlantic Ocean in the west to about 17 degrees 40 minutes east. Situated in the winter rainfall zone, the region has an annual rainfall that varies from less than 50 mm in the Orange River valley, to 300 mm on the mountains. Winter temperatures close to 0 degrees C, and summer temperatures in the upper thirties are common, although temperatures in the upper forties are not uncommon.

This book tells the story of a one-man journey on a mountain bike to that barren, inhospitable region. The journey started on 18 October 1993, and ended almost a month later on 15 November. During that time new places were discovered, new people were met and hardships were suffered in that harsh, unforgiving region. But most of all, the thrill of adventure was experienced almost every day.

The author starts his story by telling us how the idea of this adventure was born, then takes us along on his journey, day by day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chris de Villiers
• Release date: Jan 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310849329

Chris de Villiers

Chris de Villiers is an electronics engineer by profession, technically retired but self-employed in order to earn a living. While doing his military service in 1968 he developed an interest in solo adventure, which, for him, meant long backpacking trips, sometimes with other people but mostly alone, which he preferred. Later he became an avid mountain biker, not in a competitive sense, but as an adventurer.Chris has a passion for writing, of which he admits that he has done too little, but hopes to develop to a higher level. He lives on a quiet, out-of-the-way farm in the Western Cape with his two dogs. Besides writing and solo adventure, his interests include photography, cooking, reading, astronomy, science and technology.

Book preview

The Road Winding Among the Mountains

Story of an Epic Bicycle Journey to the

Richtersveld Mountain Desert

Chris de Villiers

Distributed by Smashwords

Copyright 2016 Chris de Villiers

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... Here is no water but only rock

Rock and no water and the sandy road

The road winding above among the mountains

Which are mountains of rock without water ...

From The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot

Prologue

In the extreme north-western part of South Africa lies a hot, barren and inhospitable mountain desert region known as the Richtersveld. It stretches from about 29 degrees south to the Orange River in the north, and from the diamond-rich coastal strip along the Atlantic Ocean in the west to about 17 degrees 40 minutes east. Situated in the winter rainfall zone, the region has an annual rainfall that varies from less than 50 mm in the Orange River valley, to 300 mm on the mountains. Winter temperatures close to 0 degrees C, and summer temperatures in the upper thirties are common, although temperatures in the upper forties are not uncommon.

This story is about a one-man journey to that barren, inhospitable region. On 18 October 1993, less than two months before my 45th birthday, I set off on a solo bicycle journey – my destination, the Richtersveld. But before I continue with my story, let me describe in a hopefully brief manner how that came to pass.

How did the idea to undertake a solo bicycle trip to the Richtersveld originate? No, this is the wrong question. I should instead be asking, what happened prior to the event described in this book, which ultimately gave rise to the event? In order to answer this question I have to go back several years in time to the mid-eighties. In retrospect it is clear that the idea had its roots in my unhappy state of mind way back in 1986 when I was simultaneously trying to cope with a marriage that had gone sour and a job that was as satisfying as chewing the daily newspaper. Of course, at that time I had never heard of a place called the Richtersveld, nor had I ridden a bicycle since my school days in the 60's. Going anywhere on a bicycle certainly was not in my thoughts at that time, but going about on foot, was. During my military service in the late 60's I had developed a taste for the outdoors and for maps, and by 1986 I had become a keen backpacker.

Day after day I daydreamed of adventure, of faraway places, of exploring the country on foot. The idea became an obsession and I went so far as to acquire a set of 1:250 000 scale maps of the entire South African coastline. Night after night I studied those maps, planning a detailed and ridiculously ambitious journey on foot, which would take me around the southern tip of Africa, from the Mozambique border at Kosi Bay in the east to Alexander Bay in the west. Yes, the seed planted by my military training had started to germinate. My elaborate plan even included caches of food and water deposited beforehand in strategic places along the route.

Alas, it all came to naught. Yet, the desire to break away remained, and I guess the straw that finally broke the camel's back materialised on a particular day in June 1986 when I was sitting behind my desk at my place of employment as an engineer in the former Transvaal, staring at my wristwatch and watching the second hand ticking round and round and round. It suddenly dawned on me that I was being witness to my life ticking away, one second at a time!