Now sunset view guest house is check point one. Here all riders have to take a selfie to show they were there. Nice small well run guest house. Everything you need you will find there. They are self-catering units with all the odds and ends you will need. Having purchased supplies for the road from the petrol station in town on the way into Sunset view guest house. I was prepared for a full breakfast with some extras from the guest house. Now the temperature in the early morning was very cool. So I waited for just before the sun touched the horizon. Then hit the road out of town. This is a very beautiful part of the route. Very mountainous. With some lovely down hills. Here I picked up to much speed and burned out a component on my voltage regulator for my dynamo. Only finding it out later in the day. There is a nice long climb that takes very long to get up after the biggest decent. Fortunately the gradient is not too bad. Here school children make their way to school, in school uniforms looking on in wonder. The road then descends down to the Kings Highway. Once on this big smooth road there is a small accent to the border post. At the Oshoek border post there is a good place to purchase food and petrol. Arrived at around 11am.  Well petrol was not needed by me.

Border crossing is well run and fast moving. Not long and off you go. Police at border can tell you when the last rider passed before you. N17 is a nice road with lots of traffic. There is a nice wide area next to the yellow line. However once you get halfway to Ermelo the shoulder runs out. Now it gets a little unpleasant. Hopefully in the future this will be better as there are road works to widen the road. Gentle tail winds helped a little but as afternoon progressed the wind turned to a head wind again. This slowed thing down quite a bit. The target of Standerton was starting to slip with every gust of wind. Finally turning head light on for dynamo and find it did not work. Well standby light had to take me into Ermelo. This has only about three hour’s battery life. So had to settle to push for Ermelo and sleep there. Actually was glade as last year some young farm boys coming from the bar tried to run me off the road at 1am in the morning, halfway to Morgenzon. Stopped and phoned Gateway backpackers to make a booking. Lucky to get a room of my own. Rolled into Backpackers at around 7pm. This was the second cheapest place I slept at. It was also the crummiest place I slept at. Do not recommend to take your family there. However I had all that was needed (Hot shower and place to charge all my gadgets). Not prepared to wait for a pizza delivery I rode back to centre of town and ordered takeaways.

Next morning wanted to hit the road early so did not wait for shops to open to repair my voltage regulator. Left just before sunrise finding frost on the grass. Loosing feeling in the fingers very quick. I was not prepared for such cold weather. Last year it was nice and warm. Rode most of the night last year on this stretch. In the day light I found the culvert I had slept in the year before. Only slept there for about two hours. Road is fast moving up to Morgenzon. Then up to Standerton it has gentle ups and downs. Arrived in Standerton and started looking for a TV repair shop. Found one in the main street. They were very helpful. Must say they had a Zimbabwe technician who knows his stuff. He said to fix it would be easier to rebuild it. He said it would take an hour. This was just great. I walked down to the Shoprite and purchased lunch and supplies for the road. Actually got too much, had a problem fitting all into the gaps in my bags and shirt. Only paid R150 for the voltage regulator rebuild. Makes you wonder why they cost R2000 if you import them. Well there is some fine tuning needed on it but it works well.

Hit the road towards Vrede at about 1:30pm. Now the wind was blowing a sand storms across the road. Going was very slow. Some places visibility was very poor. Rode on left side of road but when the trucks passed there would be a gusts of wind that sucked you towards them as they passed.  Then once passed the wind blew me off the road. So changed and rode on the right side of the road. When an oncoming vehicle came I just exited the road surface. This worked very well. Reaching Vrede at sunset. As the dark came in the wind dropped. Now I knew the next town was Warden. However to get there you have to use the R101. This is a very busy road as it is an alternative route for the N3 (main highway). So I phoned Warden Lodge to see if they will accept me if I arrive at about 11:30 pm. He said that would not be a problem. This stretch of the road turned out very nice.  There was not much traffic at that time of night and vehicles could see me from far and gave me lots of space. The flashing red light and the reflective strips on the forks worked very well. Spun very well and landed up rolling into Warden Lodge at 10:30 pm. Just as they were packing up to sleep. Asked to pay my bill so that I could leave early in the morning. Owner said no, he will sort it out in the morning. There was a catch, he will be about at 7 am. That was not good for me but excepted. Pleasant place to stay. If you are there for supper time they make some very nice food. I was too late for supper. Thank goodness for the extra supplies I had got at Standerton.

Found owner of lodge in the passage at 6:30 am. Asked if I could pay. He said no it is for free. He likes my attitude and what I am up to. I said are you sure, I would pay. He said no go. So off I went and found the only shop open at that time of the morning. Only worthwhile food was milk, Marie biscuits and chips. So that was breakfast.

Road to Bethlehem is one of my favourites. It has lots of long downs with gentle ups. As with most days the wind picked up at 9:30 am. Working the wind takes a lot of food. I was starting to run low and feel the power running low in the legs. Knowing the only way to finish this race is to just keep the wheels rolling, so that is what I did. Rolling into Bethlehem just before lunch time. I filled up supplies and ate out of the petrol station shop. This is always the fastest way to get going again.

Down to Fouriesburg the wind was testing me. The back was also getting bit painful. Had a good lay down on a nice grassy patch, at an entrance to a farm. Amazing how nice it is to lay down with a packet of Marie biscuits under my back, in my back pocket, on the sore spot. The pressure on the spot took away all the pains. Would recommend it to any cyclist with a back pain.

Not far down the road after stopping to taking photos, Andy found me and gave me a Fanta orange. As you can see it was very relieving.
Wind was little better now and last roll down to Fouriesburg was easy. Arriving late in afternoon decided to stay at Andy’s accommodation. Actually very comfortable.
Then Andy and I had dinner at the Fouriesburg hotel. Must admit I was very hungry and ordered a plate of lasagne. It was supposed to be a big portion. Actually the plate was big but portion very small. Then ordered a steak just the same as Andy had eaten. So landed up eating two suppers.

By this time Andi had withdrawn from the race leaving me in second place. Johan was some place coming out of Swaziland or going into Swaziland. Think he slept at the police post on the South African side of the border post. No bed, not electricity and no shower as I understand. That is probably why he took a shower at Sunset view guest house when arriving in Piggs Peak and then hit the road again.

Looks like there will have to be a part 3 for this race.