With a longer day ahead of us today, we were packed up and on the road at 7:30am. The roadworks along the N2 that we had been concerned about, turned out to be a bit of a non event. Even though we had lost the hard shoulder to ride in, there was still enough space for us at the side of the carriageway.
With a relatively flat road and only a light wind, we were soon outside the city of Port Elizabeth. Instead of trying to negotiate our way through on the smaller roads, we opted to stick to the N2 free-way. Technically we are not supposed to ride on it, but as three police cars passed us without even a glance, we figured we were alright. Riding on the very wide hard shoulder, we safely negotiated the many off ramps without incident. This was mainly due to the very light traffic.
The way South African drivers approach a slip road is still slightly bemusing to us. In the UK we move over to the left, enter the slip road early, normally indicating, and smoothly turn. Here they don't indicate and then wait until the last moment to turn. Sometimes crossing two lanes and the yellow end of slip road paint; almost as if they hadn't noticed that the turning was there. This makes crossing the off ramps a little tricky, as it is impossible to know if an approaching car is going to turn, until it has gone past the turning. This was highlighted later in the day when Debs was beeped at by a driver turning off, when she was already past the turning. Simply because he had left the turn too late and had to cut in sharply. People often ask us where the worst drivers are and we would have to say South Africa. It is definitely a case of their speed far outweighing their skill behind the wheel. There being no real punishment for speeding, erratic driving or even drink driving probably has something to do with it.
Having ridden past the city, we continued to make really good progress and started to consider going further than we had planned. Making it to Jeffrey's Bay, would mean that we would be slightly ahead of our planned schedule. With plenty of day left we decided to go for it and after what turned into a bit of a slog we arrived at the town.
Thankfully the hostel was easy to find and we are now camped in the garden of the, unsurprisingly rock music themed, Hard Rock Backpackers. The music may not exactly be Debs' cup of tea, but the hostel is very nice and the guys running it are all very friendly.
After the long day we ventured out no further than the supermarket and a local restaurant. While Debs made full use of her kip mat, I joined our hosts in the bar for rather longer than planned. The probability of a hangover tomorrow is pretty high!
Negotiating the main roads sounds hazardous. No wonder you are tired, Debbie!
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