Maggie's Rambles

Date: 26 March 2023 Sleeping location:  Fuleng Guesthouse , Quthing, Lesotho Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 114  / 21660 / 6823 Estimated climb ( m  t oday/total/ tot a l   Part  2):  2500  / 204800 / 86800 Sonic Youth song of the day:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDTSUwIZdMk Day in three words:  Goodbye mountain kingdom I was up and out early with a goal in mind - the town of Quthing had hotels, cold beers, hot showers and restaurant food, and it was my goal, a big day but doable on tarmac roads. This being my goal, the above Sonic Youth song was in my head all day, which is no bad thing as it’s brilliant. Once again it was a beautiful calm cool and clear day. Just before I rode out I tried a bit of Joseph's homebrew beer, which he was drinking out of a 2 litre soy mince container at 7.30am. We've all been there. It was tolerable.  I had a nice lil warmup with the remaining 550m of the 600m climb away from the Orange River'...

Date: 25 March 2023 Sleeping location:  Cell in Ha Mosi Courthouse/Jail 30.0515S 28.2790E , Lesotho Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 101  / 21546 / 6709 Estimated climb ( m  t oday/total/ tot a l   Part  2):  2300  / 202300 / 84300 Respite: nope Day in three words: Smooth and steep It was another beautiful calm, clear and cool morning and I had a little kid audience again, watching me pack up, but they just talked quietly amongst themselves about all of my fascinating gadgets, didn’t ask for anything and said goodbye when I left, so they were fine really. The kids are strange in that they are mostly respectful and never ask for sweets when you stop in a village, but out on the road they become ravenous sweet zombies and will follow you to the ends of the earth to get (or, in my case, not get) their sugar hit. Throughout the morning the tarmac randomly appeared then disappeared, which is quite alarming when you're descending at 60kph and there ar...

Date: 24 March 2023 Sleeping location: Patch of grass in village  30.0511S,28.8480E , Lesotho Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 62  / 21445 / 6608 Estimated climb ( m  t oday/total/ tot a l   Part  2):  1400  / 200000* / 82000 Rocks: be DAMNED Day in three words: Maggie’s hiking holiday I slept badly because my beautiful camp spot was a bit too pitched and I kept sliding down towards my feet. I was finally woken from my on and off dozing at 5 by a lusty "good morning!" outside the tent. Nobody was there when I popped out and I have no idea what they were doing as it was still pitch black.  True to his word, Patrick came back with his friend Xholan, or maybe Gqolan or Qolan (it was pronounced “#click#olan”) when I was packing up and we had a chat and took some great photos of him and Clickolan with Maggie. The rest of the track up over the Matebeng Pass was relentless and 95% unrideable. The “dirt” part of much of the dirt road had been washe...

Date: 23 March 2023 Sleeping location: By stream  29.8646S,28.9448E , Lesotho Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 66  / 21383 / 6546 Estimated climb ( m  today/total/ tot a l   Part  2):  2100  / 198600 / 80600 Cows: calm Day in three words: Dirt road disinformation I’d set my alarm for 5.45 to get a jump on the day but the family rooster had set itself for 4.30, so I was up and away early, even after spending some time patching the two new holes in my shorts with tape. I said goodbye to Jobo’s lovely family and set off. Again it was a beautiful cool, calm clear morning.  The road loosely followed the Orange River, but as said river is in a big canyon most of the time the road was up and down over the hills to stick near it. The morning was therefore a series of 200m climbs to work the legs, then 200m descents to work the forearms and core. The road surface was worse than yesterday but not too bad, aside from the occasional chaotic washed...

Date: 22 March 2023 Sleeping location: Spare room in village chief’s house, Lelibohong ( 29.5825S,28.7541E) , Lesotho Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 71  / 21317 / 6480 Estimated climb ( m  today/total/ tot a l   Part  2):  1600  / 196500 / 78500 Road conditions: middling to awful   Day in three words: Changing the plan It was a beautiful calm, still, cool morning, in sharp contrast to the immediate steepness of the dirt road. That shouldn't really be a surprise as the next 90km involved over 2500m of climbing, all of it unpaved. The first few hours was spent climbing, slowly and steadily, through consistently wonderful views up to the 3000m Menoaneng Pass, realising just how astonishingly beguiling Lesotho is. Countless steep rugged grass and stone peaks rise in every direction, and in the valleys there are stout little stone or cinder block houses with colourful window and door frames, yellow fields of wheat and masses of pink, yellow an...

Date: 21 March 2023 Sleeping location:  St James Lodge, Molumong, Lesotho Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 75  / 21246 / 6409 Estimated climb ( m  today/total/ tota l   Part  2):  2200  / 194900 / 76900 Beer: earned Day in three words: Sani and cheer It was a very windy morning, with thunderstorms still raging up in the mountains and the power still off. I got myself ready slowly as there was no point rushing out into this weather, which was tortuous as I just wanted to stop thinking about the challenges ahead and start doing them. As if to offer support, the hostel cat rubbed itself against me as I stretched out my still-slightly-stiff legs. I  couldn't wait around forever and after the storms passed by I set off into light rain at 9 towards the first main challenge of the next week, the huge, steep, epic Sani Pass connecting SA with Lesotho.  The first section moved up a d eep river valley of more cliffs, escarpments and steep g...

Date: 19 - 20 March 2023 Sleeping location:  Sani Lodge Backpackers 29.6622S 29.4560E, South Africa Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 79  / 21171 / 6334 Estimated climb ( m  today/total/ tota l   Part  2):  1300  / 192700 / 74700 Link: magic Day in three words: Curry and cheese I set out into more of the incredibly beautiful landscape of grassy hills, huge cliffs and escarpments and clear, fast flowing rivers. There was not a soul about and it felt very pure and peaceful.  The dirt road was in quite good condition but uncomfortably bumpy with random sand traps, and was the terrain was rolling with some quite spicy little hills. The last climb out of the area was a lot bigger and spicier - a large vindaloo, with similar sweat levels but much better views. On this climb I accidentally did quite a clunky gear change under load, the chain made a funny noise and then went completely limp. I looked down, saw that it was no longer a circle and...

Date: 18 March 2023 Sleeping location:  Wuthering Heights farm, 29.4540S 29.770407E, South Africa Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 85  / 21092 / 6255 Estimated climb ( m  today/total/ tota l   Part  2):  1600  / 191400 / 73400 Breasts studiously ignored: ca 20 Day in three words: Busy and empty I set off late-but-not-too-late, slowly picking my way uphill through Estcourt’s suburbs, then farmland, then heading on  a decent quiet road  towards a landscape of dramatic cliffs, huge flat topped escarpments and steep grassy slopes. I was gradually climbing through a “black” area of scattered housing for several hours and it felt quite poor and underserviced - there were a couple of tankers dispensing water, which I guess means the mains supply wasn’t working or didn’t exist at all. There was a slightly odd vibe, not unfriendly but not entirely friendly either, and I was referred to as "white man" a couple of times instead of the usual ...

Date: 16 - 17 March 2023 Sleeping location: The Riverhouse, Estcourt , South Africa Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 133  / 21007 / 6170 Estimated climb ( m  today/total/ tota l   Part  2):  1900  / 189800 / 71800 Adrionack Inn: 0 stars Day in three words: Storm and fury I was up early and whilst figuring out the day I realised that if I got to Estcourt I'd have done almost 500km since my last rest day, which wasn't really a rest day, so on a whim I decided to book a modest hotel for two nights, rest up and catch up with blogging and general life admin. This required a big but doable day, but I love a goal and I set off with fire in my belly. The first 25km was a bit uppy, but mostly downy, to Tugela Ferry, where despite having come down almost 1000m since the top of the dirt section yesterday the temperature felt about the same. These were all black areas and seemed quite poor, including the town itself. I only saw one other white person. I had...

Date: 15 March 2023 Sleeping location: Kazuma Guesthouse, Pomeroy , South Africa Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 83  / 20874 / 6037 Estimated climb ( m  today/total/ tota l   Part  2):  1100  / 187900 / 69900 The way we say Zulu: Z-U-L-U* Day in three words: Adventures in Zululand *  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23ViourbxrE The morning was misty but soon cleared, as it had on the day of the battle. I had to finalise the attempted repairs to Maggie but trying a new thing - lubing the cable guide - seemed to help. We are getting there. Somehow a combination of the repairs, sleeping in a bit, attempting to squeeze in a blog entry and general faffment meant I didn’t leave until 10, and even then I felt I had to go watch the video in the visitor centre because Johan had been so nice to me and had said it was  really good. To be fair it was, adding  a bit more historical context, but after that and some chitchat I didn’t  leave unti...

Date: 14 March 2023 Sleeping location: Bloed Rivier/Ncome battlefield , South Africa Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 66  / 20791 / 5954 Estimated climb ( m  today/total/ tota l   Part  2):  500  / 186800 / 68800 Accounts: differing Day in three words: A little history After a leisurely departure, mostly spent cooking and eating loads of my interesting food, I headed off after 10, cycled for about five minutes then realised I’d forgotten to look at the big church in town. This wasn’t just any church, it was one of the twelve best churches in Africa according to “The Moguldom Nation” website, so I turned back. The whole think was locked up but when poking around I found a woman called Mara who offered to show me inside. It’s a beautiful building from the late 19th century, made really solidly of golden stone, and I got to go everywhere and see the (original) organ and everything. Mara clearly had such pride in it, although I got the impression that th...

Date: 13 March 2023 Sleeping location: Cadle House, Vryheid , South Africa Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 126  / 20725 / 5888 Estimated climb ( m  today/total/ tota l   Part  2):  1500  / 186300 / 68300 Lunch: weird, big Day in three words: Dash for freedom* *Vryheid means “freedom” in Afrikaans I was away pretty early and back onto the dirt road into Piet Retief. It was in alright condition, with some bits fun but others steep and rutted, but just a few km into the day I felt some alarming steering vagueness and stopped to check if the troublesome rear wheel had deflated again. It was fine, but the front was flat. I swore a lot. A thorn had gone through again - what is it about the thorns of South Africa? After no punctures all the way up to its border I’ve had five since (although one thorn that I might have picked up in Zim accounted for three of those). I couldn't get all of the thorn out of the tyre without major and risky surgery so Maggie is...

Date: 12 March 2023 Sleeping location: Woodland  26.8705S 30.8850E, South Africa Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 74  / 20599 / 5762 Estimated climb ( m  today/total/ tota l  Part  2):  1600  / 184800 / 66800 Most emotional weather condition: rainbow Day in three words: The great escape In the morning I wasn’t feeling particularly restored but there wasn’t much point staying in the reserve so I kicked on regardless and, after breakfast and a fourth goodbye with Sarah, set off out along the “no access” road I’d come in on. As a little goodbye from Mlilwane there were about  ten kudu hiding in the grass on my way out. As a significantly worse goodbye from Mlilwane, the 2.5m high gate that I’d entered through was  locked and there was nobody around. There was no way I was taking the 15km detour, so a plan needed to be formed: I could climb over the gate, my bags could go under the fence, but what about Maggie? I found three big cinder blo...