345km
Our stay at The Crowned Crane B&B was comfortable but also disappointing if we think about the backpackers we just came from. There Charmaine made sure she knew when everybody wants to leave the next morning and made sure that the parking was done accordingly. This morning we woke to find that we were blocked in. We finished packing and then ran around trying to find somebody to move vehicles. Today I decided to spare myself some frustration and put on my rain suit from the word go. It was clear we were not going to see the sun today and less than a kilometer into our ride it started. But we were confident that today will be a good day because we started dry (always a bonus) and we made sure that everything is zipped up properly.
Something I forgot to mention previously is that ironically the roads we’ve been riding on are part of the Sunshine Coast route, ironic considering that we never saw the sun. Today however we are traveling on the Wild Coast route.
The rain is mostly a drizzle that comes and goes on the way to Kei Mouth, a small resort town where the Kei River flows into the ocean. One of three pontoon ferries still operates here to take vehicles across the river.
But before we get to the river we stop at the Kei Mouth Motorcycle Museum. We arrive at 8 am which is a bit early. Izabel phones Billy Nel the owner, and when we told him we are at the gate he immediately said ‘no problem, give me 20 minutes. Billy drives up and greets us as if we are family coming to visit. He explains the whole setup while everything is being unlocked and opened up, and there is a LOT.
The place is just mind-blowing and you need to set aside a good 2-3 hours to walk through and see everything. There are not just bikes but also airplanes, cars, toys, and anything you can possibly think of. Billy is as interesting as the items he collects. The money collected from the gate is donated to a charity so besides seeing amazing things you will also be doing a good deed by visiting.
We leave not because we’ve seen everything but because we must, but we will be back. The Kei Mouth ferry is a way of life for many people in the area to get across the river so often there are more pedestrians than vehicles. This is one of only three pontoon ferries in South Africa. We’ve done two of them on this trip, Malgas, and Kei Mount. To be honest I’m not sure where the third one is.
The tarmac ends pretty soon and it starts to rain again.
What would have been a fairly good gravel road became not so good. The heavy rains have washed away most, if not all the soil at some places leaving just the aggregate they used to build the road and huge mud puddles.
As we approach some of the local villages the road became busier.
Eventually, we have to ride through Umtata traffic, something I really hate.
Even with dark clouds looming in the distance I feel confident that we will arrive dry at our overnight stop in Port St Johns.
And so it is. Despite some more drizzle and heavy mist, we stop at Port St Johns River Lodge for our Xmas stop. We will stay two nights and have Xmas lunch in town tomorrow.
After completing 15 forms in duplicate and leaving a breakage deposit we go to find our chalet, or so I thought. Instead, a huge plume of smoke and fire erupts from Putin as I hit the start button. I quickly switch everything off but whatever happened fried something needed to start. Luckily it is downhill to our place, except for the last few meters which required Izabel to push. I was prepared for tomorrow to be a maintenance day but really, this too! And we need Putin to run to go to Xmas Lunch tomorrow. So instead of waiting to see what fried wonders await me, I decided to at least access the damage while there is still daylight.
Turn out that the live wire running from the ignition totally burned out. I obviously need to find the cause so I trace the harness to see what else could be fried.
I replace the burned wire but nothing. Taking the ignition switch apart I find that the contact has melted so it set further back which means that the contact won’t touch it.
Time for plan B – Hotwire. It works but I feel that I can fix the switch so I take it apart completely, bend some contact, rinse, and repeat and eventually got it working. Replace the burned-out wire and bobs your uncle.
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