Wednesday 11th October 2017

Prieska, South Africa to Sussosvlei, Namibia

A 5.30am start with hope of catching up with the rally tonight. We made the mistake of not filling up with petrol last night as the first town we came to, Marydale, had one garage and it didn't open until 7.30am. We thought and hoped we'd have enough petrol to get to Upington. 

Upington is a large prosperous looking town and surprisingly there were vines growing all around...compared to the dry scrub we'd driven through for hundreds of kms. Filled the car with petrol, a quick coffee and biscuit and we were on our way to the border at Nakop. Customs wouldn't stamp the carnet as they say South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Botswana work together and we will not need the carnet stamped until we leave Botswana for Zimbabwe. Had to take his word for it.

When I came out of the Immigration office here was Phil in the car surrounded by local ladies and one sat on the door frame and apparently ruffled his hair!

Smooth going and on to Karasberg where we noticed the speedo cable had broken. Great, no Halda.

At Grunau to avoid the gravel road we took the longer B1 to Keetmanshoop and then up to Bethanie. The road deteriorated from here. At Helmeringhausen the Ferrari was on the side of the road with the mechanics. It had serious problems. We went into Maltahohe which was out of our way but better to be sure with petrol. At the station we came across Dirk & Anna. They had shredded a tyre earlier. From here it was a nightmarish ride on the C19. The roads were corrugated and dust everywhere. We came across a few other rally & official cars and knew we'd make Sussosvlei tonight. We arrived at the lodge about 8pm covered in dust and dust caked to our sunscreen, but glad to be here.

Dinner was available until 9pm. We were presented with medals for our effort in catching the rally.

Total mileage today was 1,140kms.