Cycle Day 1 Jeffreys Bay to Storm River

Cycle Day 1 Jeffreys Bay to Storm River

Today has been most enjoyable. I awoke to a beautiful sunrise over a calm sea and blue skies above. Breakfast was very nice and we were ready to role at 8am as planned.

The first couple of miles were through Jeffreys Bay with a couple of small but steep climbs but nothing too taxing. My legs were a bit heavy and I’m still suffering from slightly swollen feet from the flight, hopefully by tomorrow they should be back to normal.

After the first water stop the traffic thinned out a bit and we started to just roll up and down some fairly gentle hills through some fabulous countryside.

It was fairly similar to parts of northern NSW with farms and dry fields interspersed with irrigated cattle farms etc. I get the impression that without irrigation it would be very dusty around here. In the distance and to our right we have been flanked by some rather impressive looking hills of a couple of thousand feet or so, all in all a beautiful place to be riding.

There were a couple of cheeky little hills into and out of river valleys which focussed the mind a little but they weren’t too taxing and we just eased our way up them knowing that there was much stiffer challenges ahead in the trip.

Half way up the second little climb I could see a snake slithering its way across the road ahead of me, thankfully it was going away from me so I tried to take a photos of it but as I did so it got ran over by a car and splattered! 

This second water spot was in the middle of nowhere with a little group of Monkeys messing about in the trees above us. It was getting hot by this time so we were getting though quite a lot of water.

After a few nuts etc we set off again with 30km to go until a local farm shop. The road was still gently rolling and we were able to get a fair lick on and soon rolled into the farm shop for tea and a toastie which went down really well. At this point we were only 30km or so from the end of todays ride so we had a decent rest and I managed to entertain a group of German tourists by falling flat on my back when I slipped on the floor in my cycle shoes. To be fair I think it was worth a good 5.8 for artistic impression as I mangled no only to save the two water bottles I was carrying but miss the display of local jams etc that was next to me as I fell.

After the break we cycled about 25 km to the Storms River Road bridge where we stopped to admire the huge gorge it was crossing complete with Peregrine Falcons flying about below us. It was fairly impressive structure and I could only imangine how long it would have taken to get down into the alley and back up again if the bridge wasn’t there. 

After a few photos we knocked off the last 5Km or so to the Hotel TsiTsiKamma Village in Storms Village which resembled  an old colonial hotel complete with beautiful gardens and multicoloured apartment buildings that dates back to the late 1800’s.

Upon arrival we had a late lunch of Broccoli and Hake Lasagne with a salad and then there was time to get kit sorted and go for a swim before we have to eat again tonight.

Mileage today was 66miles with a bout 3000ft of climbing. A lovely way to start the trip, tomorrow is billed as being a bit tougher in terms of other the climbs and the distance with an option to do a 100 miles route if time/heat allows.