After being picked up by Janine and dropped off at the entrance to Louterwater Estate, we were on our way around 6:30.
Due to the previous day being a little shorter than anticipated, day 5 became longer, but still manageable at just over 30km. The weather had changed from cool and overcast earlier in our trip to blazingly hot - so much so that by midday the water in our water bottles was on the warm side of luke-warm. Not nice at all!
Luckily this was the one day where we actually passed a town/settlement en route, in the form of the small town of Misgund. Here we bought massive juicy pears (R1 each) from a local by the roadside - unfortunately probably stolen fruit, but we were too hot and tired to worry about that. We also bought Yogi-sip and cooldrinks which provided a much needed boost.
An interesting experience, walking in the Langkloof this time of year, is the constant, faint smell of rotting fruit - apples and pears on the roadside that must have falled off trucks. Not bad, just a distinct, sweet smell, almost like apple juice.
After crossing the border between the Eastern and Western Cape, we reached the town of Haarlem by 3:30, happy with our good progress, but didn't realise how long and spread out the town was. Being tired, sore and slow by this time, it took us another hour and a half to reach our destination - the house of Peter and Sheila Earle, which Peter kindly offered to us as a place to stay 2 days earlier. We had a great evening with the Earle's, with cold beer, a nice hot home-cooked meal and many stories about the interesting little town of Haarlem. Thanks so much for this, Peter and Sheila.
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