On the Roof of Africa

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Hi, all.

After my accident I had to wait so long to ride again. But here we are, hitting the road again. My German Princess is happy and so am I. I forgave her for the blood and the pain. I always do. She is a good love. Sometimes she gets angry but never has betrayed me. It is not just luck, I did my job for that kind of loyalty. I made her doing what she was made for. She was designed for long African trips, no for being kept in a garage as the former owner did for years. But you have to ride her gently. She has temper. If we crashed, it was my fault. What a difference to human love and its empty promises. It takes ages to find the right person but only few miles to find the perfect bike.



Anyway, I am in Lesotho, the Roof of Africa. Two days riding from Port Elisabeth and things are becoming normal step by step, mile after mile. The first day was hard. Bad weather, cold, wind, rain… I was frozen in my summer clothes and craving for a little bit of sunshine. My ankle was hurting me and my arm and shoulder cried for rest. I had night in Aiwal Noord, an Afrikaans village about 500 km from PE. But today it has been one of those perfect days of riding. I woke up early in the morning, I put my boots on, and left. Soon I crossed the Orange river and everything smiled at me. Sun, a lot of sun. Mountains in the horizon. A nice gravel road to the border. Friendly policemen and easy paperwork.





Lesotho is again the rough Africa. Animals walking around, deep poverty, children everywhere, AIDS spreading, but it is also the good Africa with friendly people and the sense of riding the real adventure.







I miss my friends: Jerome and his family; Alfred, the good mechanic guy; Barbara and Eugene, the owners of the B&B; Alan and his wonderful workshop plenty of dogs, bikers and beers, and Rydall and Meg, my guard angels. But I promised them I was going to be back in South Africa as soon as I can. My German Princess will be waiting for more love.




Keep well.

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