Despite the anguish of not knowing the SA Idol result, we slept well and as we had a short day ahead of us we had a late start. Yesterday's cold and wet weather was still with us upon waking, but it gradually dried up before we left. If we could have got rid of the strong wind it would have been an ideal cycling day. Fortunately it was only a crosswind otherwise getting along would have been tough.
Riding along a refreshingly flat road we kept up a decent pace and soon found ourselves in Chissano where we stopped for a drink. This is where Hannes found us! He had left early and was then heading back to Maputo complete with a temptingly empty trailer.
With the weather worsening, his offer of a lift was too good to turn down, especially for Debs. One of her knee supports is falling apart and she has been suffering in the hills. Resting now is going to be important because we have some big hills to ride in South Africa and Swaziland. Hannes is a lovely guy and it was very good of him to give us a lift, it has been an absolute pleasure to meet him.
Watching the barren, open, terrain pass by through the car window and listening to the howling wind made us glad that we had accepted his generous offer.
Hannes dropped us off about 20km from the city centre and after waving goodbye we set off into the almost gale force winds. Progress certainly wasn't rapid, but slowly we wended our way towards the city. Grit blowing into our eyes and being constantly cut up by minibus drivers didn't make life any easier, but we couldn't say that riding into Maputo was any tougher than any other city.
Following Hannes' instructions, or so we had thought, we managed to turn off too early towards the city centre. Thinking about it now, when he said turn off before a bridge he probably didn't mean a flyover! With a slightly terrified Debs in tow, I negotiated our way through the dual carriageway traffic. By luck and definitely not judgement we ended up back where we were supposed to be.
Rather conveniently hitting the 10,000km mark as I stopped to check the map. A quick photo later in the middle of a main Maputo street, which elicited a certain amount of funny looks (getting Toad out probably didn't help!), and we were back on track.
A one way system did its best to keep us from our destination, but we soon arrived outside our home for the night 'The Base' backpackers. So far it seems alright, but we may move on as they currently aren't showing the Rugby quarter finals at the weekend. Something to do with the DSTV box not working? We will check out an alternative tomorrow.
Heading into the city we bought some food from the supermarket and then had a decent meal in a restaurant. The hostel is certainly well situated as far as restaurants, bars and shops are concerned. For now though the bars will have to wait, another early night is on the cards.
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