Our day started very early this morning when I spotted Nandi, the lodge's resident spotted eagle owl, sitting on our balcony. I was a bit undecided about waking Debs up as it was only 5am, but I figured she would be a bit upset if she missed seeing the owl.
After a bit more sleep we headed to the restaurant for breakfast and then after saying our thanks and farewells to Gavin, we hit the road.
Our day on the road started pretty well, despite being sunnier than we had expected it was still fairly cool. With a long day ahead of us, we certainly didn't want the same temperatures we had encountered when we returned to South Africa.
Having checked our route, we knew we had a one fairly long climb and then the road should be at worse rolling. Riding along in the wide hard shoulder we found that we were not alone; early on at least, we had to share it with dung beetles, lizards, millipedes and at one point a leopard tortoise.
It was all going so well and then the wind strengthened. As we neared the town of Mkuze, having been fighting the wind for the last 2 hours, we began to realise that we were unlikely to make it to our intended destination. During some of the stronger gusts of wind we had almost been brought to a halt.
Turning off to the town, we stopped at a tourist office to find out if there was anywhere reasonably priced to stay nearby. We couldn't describe the staff member as informed, or even attentive, but we did get some vague directions. Arriving outside Biweda Nguni lodge it looked fairly promising and with no sign of the wind abating we weren't exactly filled with options. On the plus point the room is enormous and the lodge/B&B is very nice. For some reason however South African guest-houses charge ludicrous prices. Rooms seem to run at a very similar price to what you would pay for a decent hotel in central London. We have always accepted that occasionally we may have no choice, but at this rate our funds are not going to last the distance. Thankfully it looks like from now onwards we should be able to find camp-sites, cheap backpackers and even better we have several offers of accommodation.
Needing to get some food from the town, we got a lift in with the woman who is running the B&B. Just outside the local supermarket we encountered not one, not two, but four cyclists from England! They were on their way to Swaziland and had the benefit of the terrific tail wind. Once again we were reminded what a small world it is, when it turned out that they had all been students at the UEA (University of East Anglia). We gave them as much information about the road ahead that we could, but they are on a very tight schedule so are going to have to miss most of the sights. It is quite sad how unrealistic a timetable people give themselves sometimes. Although in their case it seems that they have just miscalculated. Wishing them well on their trip, we headed into the supermarket to get some lunch.
Back at the room and we have just holed ourselves up in front of the television. With any luck the wind will have died down a bit tomorrow. We have a shorter day ahead of ourselves now, thanks to our enforced early stop. So even if the wind doesn't drop we should be fine.
Isn't Nandi cute!
ReplyDeleteLove from Mum and Dad