We left “The Hell” at 07h00 to get going while it was still cool and to avoid any cars descending the pass while we were going up. As Lynne put it, we “crawled” out of The Hell (more nail and teeth marks…). Our destination was “breakfast” at Lah-di-dah Restaurant in Prince Albert via the descending Swartberg Pass. We could not believe our eyes when we saw affluent people who have motor vehicles riding their bicycles up the pass. This is serious, extreme cycling.

At Prince Albert, we had connectivity so we could catch up on e-mail. Philip received an e-mail from the Karoo National Park to indicate our booking request had been declined as the park was fully booked. We decided to head in the opposite direction for Montagu. On our way to Montagu we passed the “Sutherland” turnoff. “Lynne said “do we want to go there?” “Philip said “Yes!” and with that, in the middle of the road did a U-turn and off we went to Sutherland.

Sutherland which has some interesting statistics, namely:

1. The coldest place in South Africa;

2. The largest telescope in Southern Hemisphere; and

3. Purest, freshest air anywhere in the world.

We camped at “Sterland” (Translation: Star Land) caravan park which only has 7 secluded camp sites. Each camp site is surrounded by Poplar trees to protect campers from the continuous wind and to provide some privacy. At 20h00, we attended a very informative lesson on Astronomy that Jurg presented.

After a failed booking at the Karoo National Park, Lynne asked, if I had booked a campsite in Ceres – No, as we were on a “see as we go” tour.