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Bottlenose dolphins for Francis on his seventh birthday last week. This life has it all: splendour, terror and the quiet moments in between. But don’t look away, not even for a second.

Moonrise, 900m above the Swartland 🌖

@thecederrace Yoh. Drove to the start in a blizzard at 3am. Started at 4am in freezing slush and finished 14.5 hours later as the light was fading from the sky. Thank you to @nicklmgordon for the company during the first seven hours. Sorry you had such a nightmare with your bike and gear 😫 And thank you thank you to @jess_blumenthal who brought me a ham and cheese roll and some hot chocolate on Uitkyk Pass. I think that’s what got me through. Also thanks to @fallingman_sa and @everydaycyclesupplyco for the loan of some superb @restrap bags, which kept all my gear dry and safe despite the Antarctic conditions. It’s a day on the bike I’ll never forget. See you next year @raoulgoetze and team 🙂 #trek920

Last stop: the beautiful Forge cottage on Oakhurst farm near Hoekwil. Go stay there. It’s wonderful.

Subaru Outback appreciation post ⚡️

It was so cold that we had to make it count and find some snow, and find it we did on the De Hoop road outside Uniondale ⛄️

I actually apologised to the farmer for how much wood of his we burnt. The fire was that size or bigger throughout the night.

Mountain Zebra to a farm somewhere between Willowmore and Uniondale, where we spent the night in a one-room stone cottage. It was cold and drizzly and the wind blew straight through the walls. I burnt a metric tonne of firewood, which Francis helped me chop using this gigantic axe.

From Morgan Bay we detoured inland to Mountain Zebra National Park. Beautiful wilderness area in the high Karoo. Numbing cold. Highlight: a pair of bat-eared foxes playing in the golden afternoon light.

Walks at Double Mouth. Summer in winter. Finally.

From Hlosi we sailed on a freezing wind to Morgan Bay. East London was nervous, but it seemed too cold for looting. Sunset up on the cliffs was pure Wild Coast 🐄

The main lodge building at Hlosi at dusk, as a winter storm rolls in. Before Covid, I doubt this place saw many South Africans. Now they’re desperate for anyone - as are all the lodges and guesthouses in the Eastern Cape and beyond. The tourism industry is hanging on by a thread. Support it if you can.

Some of the animals of Amakhala. Wildlife photography with a 50mm lens @andriesbrink - what do you reckon? 😂

The great Minster winter road trip, paused in 2020 and back with a vengeance this year. We drove nearly 3 000km to Morgan Bay and back, via drought and snow and looting warnings. Pics to follow. These are from our first stop: game drive faces in Amakhala on the upper Bushmans River. It was not warm!

Scenes from the @mother_amateur_bicycling_club race up Galgeberg, a mountain behind McGregor. Hardest and most spectacular climb I’ve ever done. Special to have done it with my dad alongside me on his e-bike, and Jess and the kids waiting at the top. Forever-memory stuff. Thanks @jerotz and @carldavidjones

Mountain Mist, special times ❤️

This is a moment I’ll never forget, and one I hope Elliot will never forget either. He’d ridden about 18km by this point but the hill to the first food stop was taking its toll. Somehow @stanengelbrecht arrived at just the right moment to capture all the emotion. The presence of the @eroica.cc official photographer gave Ellie the confidence kick he needed and he jumped back on his bike and pedalled like mad. Until Stan disappeared up ahead and the tears started flowing again 🤣 I’ll remind Elliot about this in a few years’ time when he’s hammering me up a climb...

The beach, book-ending a bike ride. Some Wednesdays are better than others.

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