We finally made it! This was the day we arrived in Luderitz!
We started the morning in Aus with the wind that was beyond describing; we were worried that the roof would be blown off during the night and that the trees wouldn’t be standing anymore when we went outside - it was that bad.
After a warm breakfast inside our guesthouse, we all braved the wind and the cold to pack up camp and start. Our original plan was to start cycling from Aus and do the 120 km all the way into Luderitz.
Driving out of Aus showed us that this wasn’t going to happen. The gusting of the wind was a huge safety factor because even though it was a tailwind, the gusting was so intense that it would give our less experienced riders a tough time in staying on their bikes. We decided to assess every 40 kilometres, and after a visit to the wild horses in Garub, we realised that only the last 40 kilometres would be safe to ride.
What a glorious 40 kilometres those were! All our students loved riding, and our average speed picked up to 22 km/h, with students easily doing 20 to 30 kilometres back to back. It is tough to think this was the same group of students we started with. On our practice ride in Windhoek, it took the group about an hour to do 3 kilometres and even the first few days were very slow days. And now the group was flying!
After arriving in Luderitz and setting up camp, a trip to the beach was well deserved. As a teacher, seeing your students laughing and enjoying themselves makes all the struggles, hours spent planning and hard work all worth it. It was the perfect ending to many days on the road.
Tomorrow will be a busy day with a visit to Kolmanskop with breakfast, a boat trip, some history of Luderitz and a visit to the Maritime Museum. The perfect way to end the Cycle challenge.