Day 311 / 76

Date: 17 February 2023
Sleeping location: The Farmhouse, Chimanimani, Zimbabwe
Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 55 / 19087 / 4250
Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 1300 / 166400 / 48400
Sarah: not Kevin

Day in three words: Mountaineering and exploration

I slept pretty well and set off in good time into a short section of up and downy bits before the mountains proper began - a 750m climb, then a 500m descent, then a 400m climb. The first climb kicked off with a long gradual section up a steep sided green river valley thick with acacia trees. It was beautiful and quiet and my progress was slow but pleasant. Mid morning I stopped to buy a drink and was asked by the woman running the shop if I had found my wallet yesterday. This confused me greatly and I texted the Africa cycling group to ask if there were any other cyclists in the area. Then I saw a message from Sarah saying that she had lost her wallet the other day, followed shortly by seeing Sarah herself coming the other way on her bike. She had left her wallet behind when paying for some mangoes, had stayed the night in Chimanimani with no means to pay and was now coming back to get the wallet* in order to head back to Chimanimani to pay and stay a second night. The shop owner had therefore confused me (6ft3, male, on a bicycle) with Sarah (5ft10, female, on a motorbike). This was actually quite lucky for me, as Sarah had been planning to leave after one night but I would now have a friend for part of my time in Chimanimani.

Immediately after this the climb kicked steeper and headed up into a eucalyptus forest with a few monkeys about. Again it was quiet and beautiful, though progress was more of an effort. At the top of the climb was a parade of shops delightfully called Skyline Junction. I had a snack stop here then began the big glorious sweeping descent down into a pine forested valley, covering 10km in not much more than 10 minutes. The views on the way down were wonderful but I decided to concentrate on not having a massive crash and check them out on the way back out of the area (from Skyline Junction the route was an out and back).  The final climb up to Chimanimani was up a river valley and therefore not too steep, but it seemed to go on for ages and I had surprisingly tired legs upon arrival.

In town I went to a Farmhouse-cum-digs recommended by Al, run by a lovely lady named Tempe, the auntie of Graham who ran the bike shop in Harare. Unfortunately I didn’t much get to speak with her as she was having a massive family reunion the entire time I was there, but it was a lovely bucolic place with good views up the valley to the looming mountains, cosy rooms, a nice big kitchen to cook in and eggs, milk and vegetables fresh from the hen/cow/patch. I was for some reason offered a bare mattress in a weird empty room above a barn for $10, but it was a bit "heroin digs" so I went with a proper room for $20 instead.

 

After some decompression and a shower Sarah arrived and we decided to go out to the nearby Bridal Veil Falls, a 5km hike along a wide dirt track. Even having seen pictures online they were still surprisingly beautiful and impressive, falling 50m down the cliffs into a big wide plunge pool. Of course we partook in a refreshing plunge into said pool (the clue’s in the name) and enjoyed the various delightful views before heading back into town before darkness loomed too much. 

Feeling much too clever we decided to take an alternative route back based on the paths shown on komoot. This started out OK, but the track became a path became an overgrown path became a dried up river bed. By now we were off the mapped “path” but said map showed a very straight "path" which, based on satellite view, seemed to be a clear cut in the forest for a power line or somesuch. Eventually we found this after some bushwhacking, but it was even more overgrown than the previous "path" and the power line that it had been cleared for had mostly fallen over. Daylight was almost up so instead we bushwhacked through the trees back to the official track, arriving relieved but covered in scratches from all the thorny veg. An adventure, but probably not a very smart one. Despite thunderstorms lurking all day I remained completely dry again, and Sarah was now convinced that I was some kind of good luck charm against the rain.

 

We arrived into town too late to go to the biggest food shop for dinner provisions, so instead we got some takeaway food - meat stew with corn mush as per usual in Africa - and a couple of takeaway beers from a bar. The cat back at the farmhouse cat was very cheeky but very cute, climbing all over us and the table in an attempt to beg or steal scraps of meat. We subsequently nicknamed her Sassy. Before bed I had a bath, partly to ease my tired legs but also party just because I could. The water was hot and satisfying but also suspiciously brown. After this I more or less poured myself into bed. 

*The story of this is rather neat. She’d been friendly to the mango sellers and given them her phone number, which meant they had a means to contact her to tell her where the wallet was. When she went back she ended up making food in their house for about ten people, then they all put on her motorbike helmet and danced around (it has the ability to play music inside the helmet) like Daft Punk. The pictures of this were absolutely hilarious.