Day 8: Uniondale to Louvain

Knowing that we have a fairly long day ahead, and that we might not progress very fast as a result of foot troubles, we opted for an extra early start. We left Kammanassie Backpackers at 5:00, Norman and Sue kindly driving us to our starting point at the R62/N9 intersection.

Our walk got underway at 5:20, in the dark with an icy wind in our backs. Thoughts of the "spook van Uniondale" involuntary played in our minds...

It stayed cold till well after sunrise due to the wind, but it wasn't long before the sun started making it's presence felt.

Since we were in a sense testing Wouna's 'roadworthiness' after the recovery day, our times and distances were carefully planned. We knew according to all info that we had exactly 35km to walk, and we should make it to our destination by 17:00 at the latest. So you can imagine our shock when, after 20km, a passerby told us we still had 35km to go!

We again confirmed distances, and decided to push along. Upon reaching our target distance, however, there was still no sign of Louvain farm. We walked on for another kilometre, when a local farmer (Kobus Kamfer of neighbouring farm Ganzekraal) informed us we still had about 6km to go - not what you want to hear at 17:30 in the afternoon with burning blisters!

Luckily, with the assistance of a lift into the farm's 2.5km driveway, we made our destination before dark.

The stay at Louvain was great, and our hosts assisted us figuring out our route for day 9. The guesthouse itself is quite stunning, and as someone who's photographed a few weddings in my time, I can just imagine the great shots you can get in that setting!

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