Day 102: Mpozolo Clinic to Ciko

Bit of macro.

Nothing wrong with this day so far. Just a little mist and drizzle.

This little bugger was keeping dry somewhere in or under my tent.

Gotta let you go pal.

Thanks for the stay guys.

I woke up to a misty drizzling day. Not the best but I had to push on. Little did I know what was in store for me today. The roads being gravel had pretty much turned to mud by now with some section quite deep. The worst was that some small stones had got caught in the gears or chain or whatever that prevented me from peddling more than I would have liked. The only way around it was to back peddle half a turn then carry on forward. I cannot express how much this angered me. I was on the verge of getting off and just breaking my bike into pieces. I wanted to destroy it for pissing me off so much just because of a little stone or something. It was that bad. I wanted to destroy everything. There was plenty swearing all to no avail of course. At times I just pushed down as hard as I could thinking that would break the stone out, but I had to refrain myself most times. It really was one of those cases where something isn’t going as you wanted.

After 14kms I then realized I didn’t have my phone anymore. Shit. I had forgotten to zip up my cycling shorts pocket at one point where I had kept it pretty much the entire trip and it must have fallen out somewhere. Fucking great I thought. I decided that I would backtrack in the hope that maybe I could spot it somewhere so I chucked all my stuff behind some bush cause I sure as hell wasn’t gonna back track with all that stuff in this mud. Then I slowly back tracked keeping my eyes open hoping to see my phone but with all this mud it didn’t happen. I knew I had taken a picture or two with it so far and I even rode as far back to when I had spoken to my friend Chris just to be double sure. I was hoping it was lying on the ground maybe at a spot I stopped to have a pee, where it may have fallen out when I was getting off my bike. Part of me was sure this was where it fell but alas I couldn’t see it anywhere. I was a bit pissed off but there was nothing to do but go forward. What was actually important was this entire journey getting done, not making sure I had a phone all the time. That could be replaced. Once I accepted the fact that my phone was gone I was at peace. Total acceptance. I tried by best to find it, that didn’t work so it was time to move on. Of course losing the phone meant I had lost all my notes I had made so far on this trip. The irony is that the night before I spoke to my friend Cat who asked if I had backed all my stuff up. The answer was no. Hahaha, such rich irony. I also knew that by doing regular Facebook updates I kept people at ease with regards to my safety plus entertained so now that I was without one, this may have caused some concern. It was a valid concern but nothing I could do at that moment and I would do my best to let everyone know asap. So lesson learned today is, if you got notes on your phone, email them somewhere periodically to back em up. Dont be a silly monkey.

Where I left my luggage as I attempted in vain to try and spot my phone.

I dont hate you Giant. Just the mother f#$%ing piece of sh%t stone that got lodged somewhere on you. Plus you do look awesome all dirty like that. Finally earned your offroad stripes. (almost crossed a line there Jones)

Not all bad.

So now phoneless I just pushed on through the mud which lessened as it stopped raining eventually. My goal was to get to Willowvale but I was about 5kms away and it was now just after dark. I was too tired to make it so I needed to find a place to sleep here. I asked a man who was leading a herd of goats home if I could camp in his garden. His name was Lucas and he said sure as I followed him home. Once there he offered me a place in one of the rooms outside instead of camping. Sure I said. Even better. He organised me a mattress to sleep on which was I super grateful for. I was also happy to meet his wife and children. They were all super friendly and keen to know about my trip and I was only too happy to answer their questions once I had washed the mud off me. Man it felt so good to be warm and clean and dry as I sat on the mattress under the blanket. Finally it was time to go to sleep. And I realized that losing my phone was a blessing in disguise as it had given the opportunity to meet these lovely people.

So glad to be warm and conmfy and surrounded by friendly faces.

This lovely lady stayed next door.

Distance 30kms