This is my first meal since breakfast yesterday morning. A peanut brittle, nougat bar, biltong and beer was the sum total of my nutrition. 
This stuff is magic. Its a local anesthetic that can be used to give your bum 45 minutes of pain free riding. I need it this morning. The plan for today is to complete yesterday's run to Greylingstad and then on to Perdekop. Probably another 130 km day.
Bye-bye Balfour
Greylingstad is not exactly memorable. So avoid it if you can. Thank goodness I did not continue through to this town last night. There is no B&B or hotel.
This friendly oke wants to be on the Internet and so his black buddy posed with him. 
I read about this place called Val whilst researching and planning my trip. The article mentioned that it was special, run by an artsy afrikaans couple. The pronunciation is afrikaans as in waterval. I wanted to see it and was not disappointed. Very creative people own it.
Behind me are strips of old timber in different colours. Simple but effective. 
Nice pub and there was a poster advertising a Shawn Phillips concert. Remember him! Apparently he now lives in the Eastern Cape.
There is a blackboard behind the male toilet door complete with chalk and a blackboard duster to allow those toilet door graffiti artists to flourish. Posters of Dylan, old National Geographics adverts, black and white photos, labyrinth, backpackers, beautiful gardens etc, etc.
And all this in the middle of nowhere.
The burger was good and the coffee was proper. Worth a visit.
This photo wad taken by a young manager at a Standerton fuel station. Rowing is his thing, but he has just bought a bicycle and is going to plan a trip similar to mine. That is if his dad, the owner of the station, will give him time off.
I realized today, that there is a lot of interest in this sort of biking, not necessarily solo.
One of his customers joined us and suggested that the Perdekop Hotel is were I want to stay tonight.
Always nice to get referrals.
Beautiful images like this, makes the ride.
There must be kilometers of this stuff along the railway service routes and it makes the going tough.
So I get in to Perdekop after 133km's and nearly 13 hours only to find the referral was not such a dead cert after all. The Perdekop Hotel has been rented by a company that accommodates workers working at the Mujuba Power Station. Joe, dressed in black, tells me no private customers allowed. I'm tired and hungry and its dark. He calls Freddy, the caretaker. Freddy sees the bike and calls his supervisor who gives permission for me to stay.
Freddy then gives me his room to stay in. I argue with him, but he'll have none of it. Nor does Freddy want to charge me, but I make him take a couple-a-hundred, I buy a few beers from the shebeen and we had some fun. I felt quite humbled by this experience.
I went to bed without supper again. I put on my earphones, thought I should listen to some Dylan, but realized after 'For the Times they are a Changing' that I'm not a Dylan fan. Sad!
I went to bed without supper again. I put on my earphones, thought I should listen to some Dylan, but realized after 'For the Times they are a Changing' that I'm not a Dylan fan. Sad!
Night Sweetie.
