Day three

Day three

We left Ntsikeni at 06:10. The going was though, like usual. Initially we could not fine the track in the dark. After bashing through some long grass, we finally picked up the track. From there it went quite well. Justin, the guardian for the guys going to Rhodes, waited for us at the entrance to the Donnybrook forest. At this stage we were still all together. In the forest the faster men got going and George and myself carried at our pace. Navigztion was not to difficult and we were making good time. Towards the end we took a wrong turn, but we were at Centacow by 11:30. Justin met us there with some Coke and eats. We were going at a reasonable pace and found our way down to the first river crossing. Here the "fast guys" who got a bit lost in the Donnybrook forest, caught up with us. We tagged along with them for a while and they dropped us again. Once again the navigation was not that difficult and we were going along at a good pace. We still had about 20km to go when darkness fell. Finding cattle tracks on the dark is not easy! We found our way onto the foot of a hill where we had to pick up a two old farmhouses and a cattle track. In the darkness we could find neither. We had cellphone reception and tried to get some help. Everybody agreed that we were very close to the track but no luck. There also was abig donga directly in our way in an Easterly direction. After a while we decided to spend the night in bush and continue in the morning. We were also informed that one of the faster guys, Ugene Nel was due by 12:00. So we put our bikes on a high spot so that he can notice us. I decided to try one last time to look for the track. Walking in a SEdirection, I managed to get around the dongs and after while picked the track and the houses. I went back to where I left George and my bicycle and said "lets go"! At this stage George have already made himself comfortable under a bush. It did not look at though he was going to change his mind, so I left on my own. Three quarters of the way through the kloof is saw some lights up front. This was Justin who came looking for us. What an amazing guy! On my way home I still missed two turns in the dark, but found my way home and clocked in after 18 hrs 53 min! In the meantime found George and convinced him to ride home with him. So we got in at about the same tome. 96.21 km in 19 hours. What a day!