2 Days of riding bundled with a travel day to and from Barkly East set us up for a short bike packing trip with Douglas and I to ride from Barkly East to the small town of Rhodes, this was a much needed test of bike setup and fitness ahead of a ride up Sani Pass in the coming weeks.

Day 1 – Barkly East to Rhodes

Slight cloudy conditions and cooler temps gave us a good ride out to Rhodes. There is very little in these areas so we were pretty self sufficient and carried everything we needed.

This meant bringing out the bike bags as we would need to carry food for the day, enough water and clothing for the overnight stop as we had no support vehicle for this trip.

The ride out was a relatively “short” route with some climbing. We got into Rhodes around lunch and got checked into the Rhodes Hotel for our overnight stay and got some lunch before heading out to explore the area a little and find a spot in the river to swim.

Quick exploration of the area led us to a quick beer stop at The Walkerbouts Country Inn & Pub, very friendly people and some insight to the history of the town and local events like Rhodes Trail Run.

Rhodes Hotel one thing they’ve always got right is that their food is amazing! I’ve stayed there once before and the food was good, this time they lived up to their reputation!

Day 2 – Rhodes > Bokspruit > Barkly East

Kicking the day off with breakfast at the hotel before we were on our way back to Barkly East. Weather looking to be higher temps than the day before meant today was going to get hot!

Climbing out from Rhodes we followed some of the Freedom Challenge route until the route took a left turn where we turned right so we could get back to where we started.

The days temps got higher which resulted in a quick swim in the river to cool off and trusting the local river water for incase we needed the extra water. We also happened to catch a bit of a headwind on the way back which slowed things down slightly.

So a slow ride back and after a quick stop at the local stores for milkshakes our ride was concluded. If you in the area be sure to checkout Dorpstal Coffee Shop!

The first and last night of the trip we stayed at Charlies Place, simple and really accommodating where they allowed us to leave the car there while we rode to Rhodes.

Ride Stats

Total Distance: 146km
Total Elevation: +- 2800m
Estimated Calories: 6,500
Total Time: 11 hours 40 minutes