Day 10

---

We leave Swakopmund at around 8:30, hoping to be at the bank as it opens to change some of the dollars we are carrying. Unfortunately, Saturday AM seems to be the time the locals descend on their bank, so the line is already 50 deep at that time. We head across the road and hit the ATM instead, fill up at the edge of town and head north up the coast. We are on a "salt" road, so called as it is tarmac covered in salt from the sea and very slippery when wet.



We head up to Hentes Bay, very chilly at 14 degrees. Along the way, we encounter a recent skeleton coast wreck, now parked in the breakers and home to dozens of cormorants, white sided and common. We pause for a look round and Pam buys lapis lazuli off some locals, who have taken the trouble to spell out skeleton coast in old bones on the sand. The skull is that of a seal, John says.



After turning inland at Hentes Bay, we expected to get warm soon, but no such luck. The undulating gravel road continues in a straight line to Uis, where we stop for lunch (a rather nice boerewors hot dog). Slight issue between Dr Steve and an inebriated local over the price of a rock, but several other locals intervene and the moment passes.



The word is "compressions" for this leg. When the bike reaches the bottom of a hill in the road and starts to climb up the other side, the suspension "compresses" as all the mass that is travelling down needs to change direction and start heading up. This transition is absorbed into the suspension which then rebounds, making the change much more comfortable for rider and pillion. One of the modern advances in motorcycle suspension technology is to be able to change the settings from the handlebars, so that when two people mount up with luggage, a simple switch change raises the ground clearance and makes the suspension harder to compress with all the extra weight. A very good thing, but even with the settings set as high as they go, with me, Pam and the top box we have to be very careful not to slam the suspension to its limit on these hills, "bottoming out" as its called, or even "grounding out" by smashing the bash plate that protects the engine from hitting the ground under such circumstances. (John repeatedly reminds us that we will drive the mounting bolts of the bash plate into the engine casing if we land hard enough). So we take our time whilst still having fun on the whoops!



We refuel in Khorixas (the village names are sounding more African now and less German/Dutch). Pam' pops into the adjacent shop to get emergency chocolate rations and finds herself in a football conversation (the bloke supports Spurs and was looking forward to the Arsenal-Spurs London derby). She emerges with two mint Aeros and a Nestle Crunch bar.



The other things about these rolling roads is that you often can't see what's over the rise in front. Rolling off the throttle is the safe way, so you can deal with what you find at the top, but when you go over 99 without mishap its so easy to get caught by the 100th. And that's what happened to Paul. Instead of yet another simple downward slope, he came across a right/left chicane around a scattering of large rocks. He was lucky to get away with just a bashed shoulder and broken clutch reservoir. Bit of a scare but no real harm done. He was not alone in spills, as we went through twisting farm roads lined with donkeys and goats.



At around 3:30PM we crest yet another hill to encounter an amazing view. The road plunges down onto a plain which is dotted with mesas, flat topped outcrops of rock standing high above the plain floor. These are the Ugab terraces - we are now approaching the Vingerklip, the "finger of stone", a needle-like rock 35M metres high standing alone and pointing heavenwards. We ride down onto the plain and ride between the rock formations, each one revealing its true shape as we round them. After a few more kilometres, we enter the driveway to the Vingerklip Lodge and make our way to the reception where we park the bikes.



The Lodge is pretty special, even without the location. At 4:30, dressed for dinner (as much as we ever do), we climb the terrace that towers over the lodge, ascending the last 100ft or so by 200 steps on a rather shaky looking steel staircase. We get to the top blowing pretty hard to find an large area of vegetation (think the Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), a restaurant/viewing deck and, off in the distance, one of the lodges special rooms, a honeymooners suite, the only one at the top of this terrace.



We have a couple of sundowners watching the light change across the valley. And then it becomes obvious that Jenna and Craig are not with us, the reason being that they are in the honeymooners' suite! Craig has planned this moment for the best part of a year and is currently on one knee proposing. Shortly thereafter, to an applauding crowd 200 yards away, both can be seen waving and embracing, so as Wallace might say, "That went as well as could be expected, then".



They join us for dinner and we have a memorable braai in the Eagles' Nest which we have to ourselves. We stagger down the terrace steps to the lodge below and hit the bar for a hot chocolate and rum before crashing out.



Check out this link for more info on the geology. http://www.namibia-1on1.com/vingerklip.html

---