R43 Padgebruikers Kla: Padmakers Moet Spoed V...
Gansbaai Courant het heelwat klagtes van padgebruikers ontvang dat die R43-pad tussen Stanford en Gansbaai onveilig is.
Scott Harvey (43) and Sarah Tyler (36) rode into Gansbaai on Wednesday, the 13th of October from Cape Agulhas on their two bicycles.
Weary from pedaling against the wind but happy to see their friends, Christo and Cathy White from Franskraal, whom they have met in Lamberts Bay. They looked forward to sleep in a bed for a few nights instead of a tiny tent.
These two adventurous (perhaps crazy?) people, Scott a Canadian and Sarah an American, stay in Paris, France.
They left their home in Paris on the 23rd of August 2013, three years ago, on their cycle journey from Paris through twenty five countries and across Africa to Cape Town.
When asked why they did this - they said: “Because we love our bikes and cycling and this was a good excuse to cycle every day for three years!”
They started from Paris and the only time that their mode of transport changed was when they took a boat from Turkey to Egypt.
They traversed down East Africa and then went across to Namibia and entered South Africa at Pofadder on Saturday the 17th of August 2016.
They tell the most amazing stories and have beautiful images of their journey. They once cycled between two herds of elephants when they heard lions roaring in the distance. It happened a couple of times but their was never a reason for any narrow escapes.
The journey over three years took so long because they chose not to take a straight route - the purpose was not to get to Cape Town but rather to enjoy the trip. Thus they took all the gravel roads and experienced remote places, never seen by other tourists.
They lost count of the number of mountain passes (and that includes the Swartberg pass which they walked as it was too steep to cycle). All along the way the people were helpful and friendly (except for one minor incident but they never felt threatened).
Two well-built “Body Buil-ders” were expected – instead a “skinny” couple showed up for the interview. They still use the same bicycles. Scott is on his third set of tyres and Sarah on her second set.
In Lamberts Bay they met Christo and Cathy White, who reside in Franskraal and were invited to come and stay with them when they reached the Overstrand. Along the West Coast they were absolutely blown away by the wild flowers (Sarah reports how people had told them about the flowers and they thought: “Oh really we get flowers in Europe too… but the experience was amazing and nothing in Europe compares”).
They also knew about the whales of Hermanus hence their desire to come to the Cape Whale Coast and a whale watching trip was arranged for them by Gansbaai Tourism. They went whale watching on Dream Catcher of Wilfred Chivell, Dyer Island Cruises from Kleinbaai. Both Sarah and Scott couldn’t stop talking about this trip and how it exceeded their dreams - saw whales, sharks, seals and penguins.
From Gansbaai they will cycle to Cape Town and then they fly home to Paris at the end of October this year.
They say that they will find it hard to adjust to their normal lives, as Scott is a research kidney scientist and Sarah a pastry chef, after this adventure so they are certain it will not be long before they will be on their bicycles again.
An amazing couple with a great sense of humour and adventure!
“Thank you for the interview, we felt like celebrities,” said Sarah. “And the whale watching trip was an amazing experience!”
