Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 77, December 2015 | Page 54
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50 Shades
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By Marie-Anne Meije
A
nother bucket list dream come true. A visit to
see the flowers in Namaqualand! And better
still, to do it on a bicycle.
It all happened rather quickly. Spaces had come
available on a tour and I said “I’m in”, and then
Jean Reynolds said she was coming too.
And so it came to be that early on a Thursday
morning towards the end of August, we tied our
bikes on top of the trailer and headed to the
Northern Cape. The news was already out that
the flowers were exceptional this year.
Our destination was Oranjerus near Upington
where we met Chris and Lizzie from Escape Cycle
Tours. We arrived there in the late afternoon
and met everyone on the deck overlooking the
Orange River while the sun was setting. There
were two more in our group, Keith the Irishman
who just landed and Andre the Belgian patissier
from Jo’burg.
Day one started with hoots of laughter. Our
Irishman had obviously not set his watch correctly
and overslept. When Lizzie went to find him he
came to the door still half-asleep, naked and
clutching his family jewels with his hand. Lizzie took
a while to get over that one.
Eventually, we all got on our bikes and headed
out. Lizzie, still in shock, took the first ride, while
Chris followed in the mini bus with the bike
trailer. We rode towards Keimoes through the
vineyards. It was on gravel travel, first it was
gentle undulating countryside and a good warm
up. Later riding though the hills, it got a bit more
challenging.
Marie-Anne admiring the beauty
of the Namaqualand
50 Shades riders Jean
Reynolds and Marie-Anne
Meijers riding through a
hundred shades of flowers
10
ISSUE 15 DECEMBER 2015 / www.moderncyclist.co.za