A long, dusty and at times, bone shaking drive north west to reach Swakopmund on the Skeleton Coast. 

On one hand there is nothing to see, and on the other there is so much to see! 

The only place to stop was back at the roadhouse at Solitaire, where we topped up the tyres and fuel tank. 

From there on, we swapped drivers every hour or so. There are so few other vehicles, you can just slow down, stop and switch places. 

The road is actually as wide as a duel carriage way, but with no road markings, you have to just try and drive on the flattest part, only moving over to the side to let someone overtake or to give oncoming traffic a wide berth (to avoid getting a chipped windscreen from flicked up rocks).

Although the road was not ‘busy’ we had quite a few vehicles overtake or pass us in the other direction. Earlier in the morning before a breeze had picked up, the dust would linger in the air and suddenly visibility would be down to a few metres as we entered the trailing dust clouds! Not ideal when you’re travelling at 60km/h.

Eventually, we left the National Park boundary.

The last part of the drive was the bumpiest. Like crossing a big, uneven cattle grid for about 30km! The terrain outside was utterly desolate. Nothing in every direction – not even a distant hill on the horizon. Not a place to break down!!

As we reached the coast, at Walvis Bay, we suddenly found ourselves enveloped in a thick sea mist! Walvis is an industrial port, which felt incongruous after hours of endless horizons and nothingness in every direction. 

We spotted loads of Pink Flamingos on the wetlands on the edge of town, and had toyed with the idea of stopping for a walk around the port. But the sudden mysterious fog felt unsettling so we continued north to our accommodation in Swakopmund. 

At times we drove only a few metres from the high tide mark, but could barely see the water through the thick mist. 

Our apartment is only a 100m from the beach, so before checking in, we stood on the beach and watched a few waves as the sun did its best to break through the murk. 

There is a garage under the apartment, which is one of the reasons we picked it – so we could leave it safely unattended. However, what we didn’t consider was quite how big our ‘car’ is – especially with a tent on top! Luckily for us, we just managed to squeeze it in at an angle! 

We are going to be based here for a few days now so that we can rest, recover, wash clothes, wash ourselves, re-group and re-stock before the next phase of climbing adventures! After days in the desert, now we’re inside this modern apartment, Africa strangely feels a long way away! A well planned place to rest…