BB2BB Day 10

We had a wonderful evening with Stryker and Bellie Cilliers and were treated like kings. Bellie made some sandwiches and boiled eggs for me for the road

I discarded the saddle bag and replaced it with a reduced contents in two plastic bags. A similar setup to what I did for the 2014 Freedom Challenge. I also sent reduced the weight of my back pack and ask Hennie to take everything back with him.

I had breakfast at 04:30, bid fair well to my hosts and Hennie and set off into the night. It soon became clear that my " under saddle" problem was not totally resolved. As soon as I went through a biggish bump, the rear wheel would  touch the bags under the saddle. The going was also heavy with a fairly thick mist which effected the road surface to such an extend that I thought there is something wrong with my bicycle. I just could not get a proper momentum going.

As soon as it was light enough, I stopped to assess the under saddle issue. I decided to move the bags around to the front of the saddle. The bags were narrow enough for me to pedal without them inter fearing with my pedal action. The mist started to clear as the sun cane up and by 07:30 the sky was clear and I was going along at a good pace. I stopped for a nature call and had one of the eggs and a sandwich. I also took out my earphones and enjoyed some music for the rest of the day.

The scenery was quite beautiful and I felt privileged to be able to cycle through this part of the country. I passed through the town of Lothair and turned off to Amsterdam. A couple of kilometers down the road I turned right onto a gravel road which took me to Amsterdam via Sihanahana. The bag was moving around too much to my liking, so I stopped to refasten it and continued on my way. Just before Amsterdam I came upon the most beautiful scene of a farm dwelling with some trees and a big barn. It was picture perfect and I posted the picture of the BB2BB WhatsApp group. I reached Amsterdam at 08:40 averaging 14.9 kph.

I could have stayed on the tar road to Piet Retief, opted for the gravel road which runs sort off parallel to the tar road. Safer and more interesting, though a couple kilometers longer. This part of the journey turned into a emotional roller coaster and "touched" the secondary reason for this trip. To work through my son's death 15 months ago. It stated when one of the songs played at his memorial service "Come now is the time to worship" played on my iPhone. For the hear on I allowed my emotions run free! I stopped in one of the many plantations at about 11:30 to have the last of my "breakfast pack".

The lady from the guest house where I was staying, asked me to notify her about an hour before I would get to Piet Retief, because she arranged fir an interview with the journalist of the local paper. As I reached the town I stopped to get my Garmin to get me to my destination which was indicated as 2 Mark Street. When I got there it was obvious that something was wrong. I phoned my host and found that there was Market Street at the Ermelo end of town. It took another 10 minutes to get there. I clocked in and immediately had a shower and washed my cycling clothes. The hosts provided me with a lunch of a chop, boerewors, a delicious potato dish and salads. After lunch I had my interview with the journalist. She promised to email the article and I will then post it on my blog.

That was a good day. 119.85 km and 9:16:48 in the saddle.