365km
I won’t be saying a lot about The Sandcastle our overnight stop in Amanzimtoti because I don’t want to start the day on a negative note, we’ll leave that for later, many hours in the day to get pissed off.
But what I will say is that the view this morning was great.
The plan was to get breakfast at a little place just down the road but they only opened at 9 am so we figured we will push on and get something to eat along the way. One thing that I really so not love about KZN is the fact that you get very little to no roadside dining options. In all other provinces, you have no issues finding a ‘padstal’ but as soon as you enter KZN they disappear.
Seems like the weather is going to be nice today with some high clouds to keep temperatures at bay. We stop for petrol about 40km before the Eshowe turn off and meet Kevin. He is waiting for his riding buddies to arrive and they (14 bikes) will start a 4-day circle route through the Orange Free State. He explains that he has sold everything he owned except for a car that holds all his worldly possessions and that the bike his using is a loaner. Once the rest arrive they will stop in Eshowe for breakfast, we considered joining until we determined that it is a 100km detour for us.
We get a few spits of rain every now and then but I’m not concerned yet but make the wise decision to pull over and put on my rain pants.
There is a lot of law enforcement out today trapping for speed. This guy passed us just a few minutes ago and will now be paying for his need for speed.
And then a bit later we find them helping a hapless driver who lost the back wheel on his bakkie. Oh yes, it is a bakkie and not a pick-up truck. And believe me when I tell you that there really is a bakkie under that load.
We turn in to visit the reptile park and find it closed but at least we do find a treasure next to the road.
On our next stop, Izabel decided (wisely) to get us something to eat. There is no sit down so we eat in the forecourt.
And here I make one of my many questionable decisions (marrying Izabel is not one of them). I take off my rain pants because we’ve got about 60km to go and the weather is looking good.
And off we go, cold air rushing over us as we sing in our hearts about life and all its wonders.
Now if you did not guess this part yet, let me spell it out for you, there is no such thing as never, and less than 10km later the skies up front turned an ominous dark grey. No worries, I’ll stop as soon as it starts, and then BAM it starts pissing. Only 50km to go and I think I will just ride through it and then wind-dry before we reach our destination.
There we have another of those questionable decisions. By the time we reach Jozini, where we will overnight at Jozini Guesthouse I was soaked to the bone. Izabel has the Tonneau Cover to shield some of the worse rain so she is only mildly wet.
Life Hack #336 – Newspaper stuffed in your wet boots will dry them out in a jiffy.
Life Hack #423 – Rolling wet clothes in a towel and then wringing it will dry them out in a jiffy (all life hacks will result in jiffy results)
Grumpy’s Life Hacks 2021 will be on the shelves in fall 2022. Pre-order today by sending your credit card and CVC number
Undimiso and his girlfriend arrive from Mpumalanga and I attend to the UDF questions while Izabel observes from the comfort of our bed.
So remember Izabel’s wise decision to get some food earlier. Turns out that was it for the day. The rain prevents us from going to the only fast food outlet that closed at 5 pm.
Tomorrow we leave the South Coast to head inland for Mpumalanga. Not sure what the weather is going to do but Undimiso came from that direction and he rode into the rain some 100km from Jozini so we are prepared for a rainy day (no really we are).
For the fisherman amongst us, Jozini is known for some good tiger fish on Lake Jozini.
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