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MOSSEL BAY NEWS - An impromptu cyclist on his way to Mossel Bay, on a road trip raising funds for charity, had a miraculous escape from certain death when his bicycle struck a barrier and he somersaulted down a cliff near Wilderness.
A thorn tree broke his fall, so the Briton only fell about three metres, rather than hundreds of metres.
Rory Hopkinson (22) and Hugh Carthew (21) from south Wales, were on their Durban2Cape Town trip, as they call it, when Rory's accident took place.
They stopped in Mossel Bay on Tuesday, 17 October, to spend two days in town.
Rory was unable to cycle for a few days after his fall.
He told the Mossel Bay Advertiser: "Neither of us cycle back home, so I'm not good at taking sharp turns." He was trying to negotiate a bend when the accident took place.
He suffered a gash on his left leg, whiplash during his somersault and was bruised and sore on his left shoulder. Thankfully Rory's leg did not need stitches.
"Do you know of a physiotherapist in town?" he asked.
Hugh cycled into Mossel Bay on his own. Injured Rory was a passenger in their support vehicle, driven by Johan Evert, who is a packpackers' establishment expert and tour guide and planned the two fundraisers' route and accommodation.
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They are raising funds for Save the Rhino in South Africa and for the United Kingdom's Army Benevolent Fund for ex-soldiers.
Rory and Hugh are in training for the army. Both wish to be British officers. "We have to get into [Royal Military Academy] Sandhurst to do this," Hugh explains.
Well, the two are certainly putting in a little "training" with their current trip. With Johan driving close by, they left Durban on 1 October and are due in Cape Town on 24 October.
The plan was to cycle for 24 days with only three rest days in between. They and Johan were in contact via two-way radios.
En route to Mossel Bay the aerial of the cyclists' two-way radio, attached to the handlebars of Hugh's bike, broke off. They planned to replace it in Mossel Bay.
The highlight of their trip was looking down on a pod of 12 whales breaching from their elevated position on a road above the ocean in Coffee Bay in the former Transkei. "Awesome, beautiful," is how they described the spectacle.
"Getting to Coffee Bay was just so different," Hugh said. Because they wanted to avoid Mthatha, they rode on gravel tracks with only co-ordinates to guide them.
"Local knowledge helped!" the men say. They are certain those roads have not seen many British cyclists.
Leaving Kenton-on-Sea with rain bucketing down, the men got soaking wet. "We rode through knee-deep puddles. Although the day seemed to start off badly, we had so much fun," Rory enthuses.
He seems to be a sucker for punishment, because besides his fall, he had an "interesting encounter" with a crab 800m above sea level.
"It was quite big. I picked the thing up and then it bit me!" he exclaims indignantly.
Hugh concludes: "We've had quirky moments." When the two stopped in Mossel Bay they had raised £4 000 already. If you would like to support Save the Rhino via Hugh's and Rory's effort, go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/durban2ct.
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