The joys of a support vehicle: Porridge for breakfast, tea and coffee, energy bars, fresh oranges, camp fires at night, potjie braais… the list continues, topped with transport for our bags! We feel like we are flying! It has revolutionised this experience.
We are now soft. Spoilt brats.
With that has come George and Elly and my dad, and we couldn’t ask for a better support team if we tried. Cycling along debating the meaning of life and catching up with your best mate, or giving your father a seriously hard time… Awesome.
It’s a little surreal really – we are coming home.
The cycling has been three days of 130km, but the road is smooth and the terrain gentle. It has been a bit of a cake–walk. The first night saw us staying with the Ray and Sally on their farm in Mazibuko. They looked after us like royalty. It was wonderful to chill out on such a gorgeous farm, go for a run, ride a motorbike, swim, drink red wine, and veg out on the lawn with a good book.
The second night we camped on a football field on the side of the road in the middle of the thick bush. We paid some local footballers to collect water from a stream for an attempted bucket wash. We did the same for firewood, and within a few hours were very comfortable in our makeshift campsite. We sat around the campfire, stars overhead, butternut in tinfoil… again, I catch myself smiling at the luxury of it all. This is a far- cry from eating enjera and shiru in Ethiopia!
Last night we stayed with Rochelle and Marius a day’s cycling short of Livingstone. Again, the hospitality of near strangers is overwhelming. To have a team of twelve camping out on your front lawn, monopolising your bathrooms and creating havoc in every corner of your house – they were incredible hosts.
Today we’re off to Livingstone. White water rafting, bunji jumping, kayaking on the Zambezi – tough life! I couldn’t be happier.
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