Sleeping in a room at the Lesotho border
Distance 101 + 13603 = 13704
Average 12.8
Time 7 h 50 m
Total from Amsterdam 19104
Location S30.432651, E27.569201
Sleeping in a real bed is such a luxury that we’re reluctant to get up when it’s still dark and here in Lesotho, freezing cold. But the plan is to ride another 100 km today, to the SA border giving us only 75 km to do tomorrow to Lady Grey … rugby (SA England) being the culprit once again for taxing our bodies to the limit. We were riding by 06h35 but legs were feeling heavy with lactic acid build up and I wasn’t feeling confident repeating a ride as difficult as yesterdays. We were told by Maposela last night that the section of road we were riding today was newly tarred and my suspicion of a coarse gravel tarred surface, was confirmed. Our pace slowed down radically but there was no wind so we slogged away slowly, concentrating on completing 10 km at a time.
At 20 km and 08h30 we were still shivering so stopped at a random house and asked the lady sweeping the yard if she had a kettle. We chatted to the family while thawing in the sun drinking our tea. The hills were steep but far fewer than yesterday.
After 46 km we reached the town of Mohale’s Hoek and found a tiny ‘one table and chairs’ restaurant, The Mexican Snack Bar, and filled our bellies with chicken and chips.
I battled with a few hills and stopped several times to rest for a minute or so before carrying on. Our final 10 km to the border was on lovely smooth tar which was pure bliss to ride on. We are camping in our tent in a room that’s empty. There are about 8 rooms in this run down place but it’s clean enough. I haven’t seen any creepy crawlies. Bought some beef stew meat from Mrs Brooks at her tiny shop and bar that she runs over the road and we got a basin and a kettle of boiling water to wash in. Peter downed the beers and I had a few mugs of beer shandy. Its 21h39 and he’s out for the count … can’t blame him as his bike is very heavy and he shields me when the winds is blowing.
Night all xx
– Our tea stop at a local home
– More beautiful countryside
– Peter parked his bike and pushed my bike up a very steep hill
– A herdsman keeping an eye on his cows
– Our room for the night was the one with the last two windows on the right
– Peter really enjoyed the local Maluti beer. Mine was mixed with lemonade, a shandy
– The passage to our room
