Friday. September 17. Day 49

Great day for exposure...

Ate an early breakfast at the guesthouse and made our way out to the N2 where the SABC camera man filmed Puddy skating the Days stretch. He skated a total of 31km’s making up for some lost time.

People were exceptionally friendly to us on the road waving and cheering. We learned later the day that we were featured on the front page of the local paper The Herald that morning. Dj Fresh form 5FM also gave us a call around 16:30 which gave us some more media exposure.

The raod also offered thses footpaths next to the high way enabling Puddy a smooth and safe ride for the day. Cornell was also able to shoot some nice videos with the ocean backdrop.

The rest of the day was spent at the SOS Villiage. We will be spending Monday at the Villliage with all the children playing with them and enjoying a lunch.

Thanks to The Palace Gusthouse who fed us a lovely Breakfast.

Wednesday. September 1. Day 33

Today was one of our scheduled off days which Puddy welcomed with a smile. All slept a bit later and took the chance to re vitalise and prepare.

Had a nice breakfast and a heap of thanks to Johan from The Glasgow Pont Hotel for 3 nights free accommodation and great food. He also let us sign his bar wall as a memento from our side.

The rest of the day was spent in relaxed fashion having lunch and enjoying the sun set on the bridge while picking up on our hackey skills.

29 August. Day 30. Exit Free State. Enter Eastern Cape.

Last night’s rugby match was a whopper...

We definitely had a good day today executed in good spirits. Spent half the day doing some long needed washing (by hand) and the other half putting k’s on the clock. James, Max, Puddy and Cornell devoted some time to “skogging” (mixture of jogging and skating) and getting Human a bit more comfortable with skateboarding. After a training session Human joined Puddy on the road for a first time long haul! Big ups to Human!!

We started skating 21km’s before Bethulie – in which Human accompanied Puddy in and did another few k’s at sunset across the bridge of the Oranje River (which was a sight to behold) leaving us with 29 km’s for the day. Average of 18km/h and a top speed of 42km/h.

Standing on the edge of such a magnificent piece of natural beauty (Oranje River) it was hard not to devour its splendour for a moment.

Had a some lunch and celebrated another border. We are now out of the Free State and officially in the Eastern Cape. Next town Venterstad!

P.E. here we come..

August 28. Day 29. Arrival at Bethulie

After greeting and thanking the people form Nick’s Place for 2 nights free accommodation we set out to our marker on the R701 – or as we know it; “The Road to Mordor”. The ridiculously rough surface was a nightmare to ride, making Puddy very negative. Luckily James convinced him to keep pushing by rigging the San Clemente 64mm wheels on his board . This made Puddy amped for the road again. His previous wheels were done for, and after some inspection we found one wheel actually had what can only be described as a puncture.

The fauna and flora is livening up. We encountered some monkeys and a Secretary bird in the veld next to the road.

We got Human to try out the long board whilst on a brake form skating, and were surprised that he actually rode quite well. Keep in mind that he does not skateboard at all.

The team is pleased with the day’s work skating a total of 30km’s on and made it safely in Bethulie.

See you tomorrow.

http://www.sosvillages.org.za/

http://skateforchange.co.za/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skate-for-Change/124999770872772?ref=ts

Tuesday the 24th. Day 25.

We started the day off a little later than planned making some of the guys a bit edgy. We drove out to yesterday’s marker and Puddy got right to skating hard again. Even though the road was ridiculously rough (to such an extent that Puddy had to push down one the best hills he’s encountered on trip and only reached a max speed of 29 km/h) he managed to skate the longest continues stretch without taking a break. A grand 17.5 km’s. He then carried on to skate another 12.5 km’s. Leaving us with a total of 30km’s for the day. This is a clear sign that Puddy’s fitness is increasing daily. He also pulled a 500m manual. Not the furthest on the trip but pretty impressive considering the state of the road.

Max somehow managed to forget the battery for the camera so there are no images for today. Cornell shot some footage and also got some interviews with the people where we were staying in Bloem.

We got invited to the opening of a new restaurant so we will be staying one more night in Bloem, even though we are basically at our next stop. Apparently Ferdinand Rabie from the Big Brother fame will be there. So we are looking forward to creating some more awareness for our cause.

After the day’s skating Puddy sat down with us all and we had a serious talk. We structured our next 500km’s and set clear objectives for everyone on board. The tour needs to run smooth and we shouldn’t get side tracked from our objective. THE SOS CHILDREN'S VILLAGE.

You can view more on the organisation Puddy is skating for here:

http://www.sosvillages.org.za/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/SOS-Childrens-Villages/261370131363?v=info

With only a couple of k’s left before we reach our 500km mark and have something special planned for Puddy. But more of that tomorrow...

20 August, Day 21

With only 10 km's left to skate into Bloem, Ruan and mates joined in again. The wind was blowing from behind and the road was a lot smoother than the day before. There was big and seriously rough uphill in town but fortunately was followed by one 'lekker' downhill. Puddy asked that we all skate together for safety reasons but the downhill was to tempting and Ruan chased down like demon. Puddy reached a speed of 43 km/h. I can only image the speed Ruan reached.

After rolling through the streets of Bloem, we joined Ofm at their studio were radio DJ Riaan did a interview with Puddy. This was great fun as Riaan got the

studio stuntman "Mal Jan" to try the tricks Puddy was attempting. Puddy took it slow at first as not to make to hard for "Mal Jan". Puddy did some nice airs and grabs while being hooked up

to the studio with a wireless mic continuing the interview with Ofm in the car park were the ramps were set up.

Saterday was spent cleaning the van and fooling around on the local mini ramp. Max, who recently started skateboarding again (after embarking on this trip) did a rock to fakie on the ramp, after taking some solid slams.

The guest house where some of the guys are staying treated us to a lovely braai and some insight for the road ahead.

Bloem's local watering hole Die Mystic Boer held us a nice party with bands Submachine, Juggernuaght and lekker local band Apeklap who dedicated a song to us. Ruan wrote a story on us for his blog; http://www.theobscenelyloud.co.za/ which created some more awareness for the cuase. Bloem has defintly treated us well on our trip to thus far.

18 August, Day 19

After a time well spent in Bultfontein, we move onwards to bloem, to relocate our base camp at on of the local bloem communal houses.

Skating towards "Die Rose stad'' was quite a tuff stretch, Puddy faced a few solid uphills and got a bit tired out but managed to skate a total of 28km's in his day 19 session.

The crew went out the night to go and check out the Mystic boer, the place were the Skate for Change Grondvat party will take place this weekend the 21st of August.

17 August, Day 18

After a funny night at the Hostel we got back on the R700 between Bultfontein and Bloemfontein.

Max joined Puddy for the first time on the road for about 5 kilometer's, James also joined in a bit later...

the day ended with puddy breaking a tour record with 42km's skated on day 18 !

Good job Zwennis !