Day 8: Aliwal North - Queenstown

Total Distance Covered: 813 km
Distance Remaining: 1,197

Somewhere along the way, we must have offended the hiking gods!

Two days ago it was scorching hot and we were all suffering in the heat…yesterday the girls were attacked by a plague of locusts…and today we’re drenched in rain and absolutely freezing. The temperature dropped 25 degrees Celsius overnight. It’s now 11 degrees (about 40 degrees Fahrenheit) and no one can explain it. By all local accounts…this doesn’t happen.

So…what we all thought would never happen has…we’re wishing for more heat!

As it is summer here and we planned for the heat…none of us brought along appropriate hiking gear for these temperatures. We doubled up our shirts and threw on whatever sweatshirts we could find…but Ryan definitely won the award for creativity putting on a very bright red pair of stockings to try to stay warm…with those legs on the road, there’s no way we won’t be seen today!

Having hiked so far over the last two days in 90+ degree heat, we are physically and emotionally exhausted. We stopped for a quick break in the hiking and ended up falling asleep…it wasn’t nearly enough rest, but the nap certainly helped!

After a long and quite miserable day of hiking in the cold, we met up with the Queenstown Rotary Club. We had a delicious poitjie (pronounced POY-KEE) and ate way too much! Thanks for the hospitality guys!