We treated ourselves to breakfast at the hotel this morning. Eric's speciality pancakes and French toast were certainly filling and it took us a while to get going. Having woken to bright sunlight, by the time we set off, the clouds had set in and we were treated to a cooler overcast day. With a day of climbing ahead of us, this was pretty ideal cycling conditions. After a brief stop to get some food for lunch, we set off into the hills.
Compared to some of the routes we have taken, today's wasn't particularly steep. Despite the fact that we climbed most of the day, I personally found it easier than the last few days of coast road. The coast road had been relentlessly up and down, with almost no flat sections where you could stretch out your leg muscles. At least today we had a few good sections of level(ish) road where we could just pedal.
Today the effort was rewarded by friendly locals and some terrific scenery; a lot of the friendly greetings were probably due to the fact that Debs has once again covered her bike in tinsel for Christmas.
What wasn't so rewarding was getting a puncture in my front tyre. Having been warned countlessly about how the area may be dangerous to stop in, having a car pull up with four guys in it just as I started to mend the puncture was a little worrying.
We never did find out what they stopped for, perhaps to answer the phone (not that anyone seems to pull over for that), but they soon drove off leaving us to it. So far any concerns people have shown regarding us riding through the Transkei, have proven unfounded. There is no doubt however that very few white people travel through, other than by car and we suspect even fewer stop.
With the skies darkening and the wind strengthening we arrived in the town of Mbizana and thanks to the signs found Daphs B&B. We would rather have stayed somewhere cheaper, but along this stretch of road there are very few options available. Free camping has always been and option in the past, but only if we can find somewhere secluded. Other than a few places earlier in the day there has been nowhere that looked promising. Most of the problem being that we are travelling through a very densely populated area.
Despite being a little expensive the B&B seems alright, unfortunately they haven't got any water at the moment which means no shower. It appears that the whole town is off while the municipality carry out repairs. You still might have thought that a B&B would have some kind of water storage system. Especially as I later found out that the water is often off in the area!
While Debs rested, I braved a walk through the town to go and get some shopping. Mbizana isn't the prettiest of places and the now rainy weather didn't make it look any better. I received a few strange looks from the locals, probably as much because I was clad in a t-shirt and shorts as the fact that I am white! That said, I don't imagine they get too many white tourists wandering around. The dirty streets and splashing rain meant that I returned to the room filthy, only to find that we still had no water. I would like to say that it was the last time I had to head out, but as the restaurant stopped serving at 5:30pm, I ended up going for a takeaway at the local KFC. It seems that the two things you can guarantee in a South African town is a Spar, or equivalent supermarket, and a KFC.
The water eventually came on, although it was really no more than a trickle. Debs quickly rushed to shower, in case the water went off again. While I decided that I would wait until morning, which turned out to be a foolish decision. Yes you guessed it, by morning the water was off again.
Having whiled away some of the evening watching television, we decided to go to the bar for a quick beer and ended up having a few. It was the Telkom cup football final and the bar was pretty much full of very drunk locals. Despite our protestations, the owner/manager kicked a couple of people off the bar stools so that we could sit down and we settled in to watch the match. Neither of us are big football fans, let alone South African league football fans, but when in Rome! To say it was a bit of a rowdy affair would be an understatement, but for the main part it was all good natured.
Sometime towards the end of the match the, by now very drunk, manager asked if we would mind watching the rest of the match in our room, as he thought things may take a turn for the worse. We have no idea if they did, but thought it prudent to listen to his advice. It was a sudden end to what had been a slightly bizarre evening. With the possibility of a long day ahead of us tomorrow, it was probably best that we went to bed anyway.
Assuming we can find somewhere to stay, we should be stopping in the town of Flagstaff tomorrow. Failing that we may have to put in a long day to the next town. With any luck though we should be nearing the end of the steep climbing. Which of course will probably turn out to be famous last words.
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