Day 7: Port Elizabeth to Oudtshoorn (424.4km)
We left the hotel with a couple of additional journalists and the film crew that joined the group. And of course, Joan Barreda and Ignacio Cornejo. Unfortunately only Ignacio would ride this day since there was a mix up with Joan's luggage and none of his kit arrived as yet.



This meant that he was in one of the vehicles with Richard from Honda Europe. Hardy and Janco was in the front, followed by Richard and us trailing. Probably the only time Hardy and Janco was ever going to be in front of Barreda and me keeping up with him!
We followed the R75 and refuelled in Steytlerville.







From there we took the R329 to Willowmore, where we were served with a properse Karoo braai at the Royal Hotel. It was heaven after so many hotel buffets - jip, you can get gatvol of those.




From here we hit some gravel roads on the R407 past Vondeling. A particular dry river crossing claimed many victims. It was one of those where you had an audience cheering you on and lots of motivation and laughter later, everyone made it across, no broken bones, but a couple of egos crushed.





Jean-Michel Bayle and Ignacio Cornejo showing the guys how it’s done.

Giuseppe having some fun.




And of course I had to sit on Barreda’s bike. (Ook maar niks gewoond nie!)

It wasn't long after that we received notification of an accident. One of the journalists that joined us just the night before (his first day of riding) had a big tumble. When we arrived, the medic was already attending to him and the doctor, who was further up in the convoy, already on his way there.

It was pretty obvious that he was riding too fast, hit the brakes and lost control. Later that evening we would learn that he broke his clavicle, humerus, all 5 toes on his right foot, some ribs and suffered a punctured lung. He was admitted to the Oudtshoorn Medi-Clinic and later transferred to George, where he is still recovering until able to fly back home.
We loaded his bike onto the trailer and left the medical staff to attend to the rider.

Apart from this unfortunate incident, everyone reached Buffelsdrift unscathed.


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