My cycling and wine adventures with a story

The Matobo Hills Hertiage Challenge took place from 21 to 23 March, 2024 in the Matopos region approximately 35 km south of Bulawayo, southern Zimbabwe. The Matobo Hills, Zimbabwe’s ancient landscape full of mystery and fascination is Zimbabwe’s largest World Heritage Site, in excess of 3,000 km2 and is the country’s only UNESCO Cultural Landscape…

Leaving Walvis Bay after breakfast along beautiful winding roads. Stopping at Solitaire for apple tart. Desert Quiver camp, Sossusvlei, Deadvlei and Sesriem. I am still adding pics.

We took a tour from Walvis Bay along the coast to Sandwich Harbour. One of the must do’s and I have tried to do it justice with some of the pictures. It starts off driving past the Walvis Salt Production then onto the beach before heading into the Namin-Naukluft Park along the beach. Stunning views…

The Sunday morning was spent looking for the German coffee shop and bakes. A walk around Swakopmund and the Pier. Lunch and Windpomp Mike 14 and a visit to Hentiesbaai. Unless you like fishing an option for some desert golf in Henties.

Some pics of our travels up. A packed Fortuner with both bikes inside and a case of wine! The White House past Grunau where we stayed on the way up with evening stories from the farmer over a glass of wine.

It is always fun to look at some of the stats of the ride. From the planning sheet to target a 24 hour finish where speed estimates were definitely out – faster averages at the start to slower at the end. Stop times about right. Also my Strava data. I ended this with some fun…

Some pictures of the Desert Dash Ride from registration to the finish.

It has always been a dream of mine to do the Desert Dash (DD) solo but never thinking that I was fit enough or able to get an entry. The Desert Dash is a Mountain Bike race in Namibia from Windhoek to Swakopmund. It is 397 km long with 3507m of climbing and has to…