Phillippolis

I am finally in a room in Phillippolis at the Backpackers Accommodation across the street from their famous NG Kerk (church) slap bang in the middle of town. This is one of the reasons I am so enjoying riding through towns I have never seen before. I was afforded a tour of the church and I was told that this is one of the few churches that have an original pipe organ. What interested me was an old Afrikaans bible dating back to 1901.

It is the book I am holding in the picture. My tour guide was quick to tell me that their preacher was a woman and that she was a libber. I asked her if people still got saved in this church as I belonged to the Lord Jesus and He was my Saviour. We both settled on the fact that He is Lord.

Last night I met a lovely couple who professed the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, and they were kind enough to feed me as well. After my morning cup of coffee and my daily blog I left Graff-Reniet at 7.30am and made my way toward Nieu Bethesda, the ride was sweet. I was soon onto dirt and the view tranquil and relaxing.

The roads were still a little unpredictable as there has been rain and the water builds up in areas and caused uneven surfaces, which resulted in the back wheel sliding, but nothing serious!

The road changed from soft sand, almost claylike to a hard stony surface without much warning, so I didn’t bother to inflate and deflate my tires but kept them an a stead 2.2 bar, just hard enough so that the stones on impact did not bend my rims and just pliable enough to grip the sandy surface. Or so I figured, it seemed to work!

I had breakfast in Nieu Bethesda, a great omelet and met Bob the plumber with his 200 KTM in tow on the back of his bakkie and His Kiwi side kick who said she would follow the blog, hello there; I hope the rest of your trip is panning out well. I saw a zebra-horse for the first time, there is a name for it, but I am not sure what it is. Interestingly you can see the zebra stripes on it hind quarters.

Guess what? You guessed it, I hit another locked gate, and I’m beginning to lose my sense of humour, maybe it is time to add a wire cutter to my travel kit.

I am just kidding! I then had no choice but to keep on going, the road got worse and the traction was all over the place, but still a lot of fun. I eventually hit the N1 and then the wind and the oncoming trucks made it unpleasant. I decided to pull over and pitch the hammock, until I realized that the trees were infested with ants. I packed up without a rest and picked up the pace towards Colesburg. After Lunch at the Engens Wimpy I got off the N1 as soon as possible and ended up in Phillippolis at around 4.30pm.

Signing off

Tyrone