November 5: Garden Route to Lake District

Once again the rain played with the plans for the morning but the groups wants to ride, so it is bundle up and let's try this. A quick shuttle down the road away from smoke and hopefully ahead of most of the storm the group charges on. The Garden Route under normal circumstances would be a beautiful ride with the ocean on one side and the hills on the other. Vegetation here is green and lush with pine and eucalyptus trees lining the roadside. Flowers are just beginning to bloom, so the colors of red, white, pink yellow dot the countryside.

The goal of the day is to stay ahead of the rain and traverse through the countryside of fields of brush and desert cacti on a gravel road away from traffic. Mother Nature has a different plan, but the group is determined. The route travels southwest away from the ocean up one hill and down another. The roadway looks like a whip that has been snapped leaving behind the ripples that form a continuous pattern of "ups and downs"!

Wet and tired the groups winds their way to a quaint B & B in the city of George. A glass of wine, a hearty dinner and all is fine for the next day's venture.

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