Staying with Grant Freeme in Lady Grey
Distance 73 +13704 = 13777
Average 11.7
Time 6 h 16 m
Total from Amsterdam 19177
Location S30.71036, E27.222521
We slept like logs in our Mutha Hubba tent in our room and got away to an early start by crossing back into South Africa at the Telle Bridge Port of Entry at 07h00. Our passports got their final stamp for this adventure and we are thrilled to have achieved our goal of riding in 20 countries… two very happy bunnies.
Got a local guy to take a picture of us in front of the Welcome to SA board but locals have not succeeded in getting the whole picture into the frame ? Were hoping our legs would be feeling better but that was a pipedream.
On our first hill we knew it was going to be another day of hell riding up the hills. Peter reckons I’ve been on a slack packing holiday .. he cooks, he’s my donkey carrying my luggage, Mmm (some of my stuff) and occasionally I help to pitch the tent.
Stopped at 20 km for tuna mayo sandwiches, sitting on a patch of grass with a view of the Catberg mountain. We have forgotten how beautiful the scenery is in Lesotho, having only been here once before in 1998 when Peter turned 40 and we went pony trekking for 5 days in the mountains. Both Lesotho and South Africa have rumble strips on the roads so we look for the area that has been worn away and flattened the most when riding over them.
Rode through Sterkspruit and was expecting to see a quaint little town … we never saw one pale face but did feed a lot of Peter’s slap chips to a cute puppy.
After a short stop for an orange we got cycling again when a lady stopped in the middle of the road for a chat. Peter directed her to the shoulder but the tail end of her bakkie was still sticking out into the road. We enjoyed talking to Sheila Funani, a real spunky lady who relocated from Johannesburg to Sterkspruit.
The last 15 km to Lady Grey was difficult as we were both dog tired and riding at a snail’s pace. We finally arrived at Grant Freeme’s, Comfrey Cottage Guest House at about 4 pm having been on the road for 9 hours. His mom, Gerda made us toasted sandwiches and tea and it was great to have finally arrived here. As the guest house is fully booked we pitched our tent, showered away two days of sweat and enjoyed a superb meal of chicken schnitzel and vegetables with Grant. Tomorrow morning Peter and I plan to wake up at leisure and will go into town later to buy food for supper. Icy cold outside but the Mutha Hubba is warmish, our -6°C sleeping bags will keep us toasty snug and warm.
Night all xx
– Hello, again, South Africa. So nice to be home
– The Catberg Cave is on the right side of this mountain. Zoom in to see
– This is the cutie who helped Peter eat his huge portion of chips
– Sheila Funani who stopped to chat
– We saw stacks of these locusts, mostly flattened on the road
– Our destination, Grant Freeme’s Comfrey Cottage Guest House
