Zimbabwe - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 271

party gave me their addresses and invited me to visit them. I made no promises but I did
take Elise Coetzer up on her offer later on as I made my way to Harare.
I stayed at the party until late afternoon and eventually made my way back to the
church. I went with Father Christian for a walk to let his three dogs run freely. I spent the
rest of the evening at the rectory and planned to leave the next morning.
I spent until mid-morning talking with Father Christian and after breakfast, I said
my final good-byes. I cycled through some beautiful terrain with slightly rolling hills and
vastfarmland.Iwasinsuchajoyousmood(almostgiddy)andsangatthetopofmylungs.
I greeted everyone who passed by with a loud and enthusiastic 'good morning.'
I made it to Chinhoyi, a really pretty town, by 4:00 p.m. and met Elise Coetzer
(from the previous day's birthday party) at her shop. She arranged for me to stay at her
friend Looke Van NieKerk's home and gave me directions. I immediately made my way to
his home and after settling into my room, Looke, his family and I went to Elise's home for
dinner.
The next morning, after breakfast with the Van NieKerks I cycled to Elise's shop to
say good-bye. She gave me some cookies for the road (which were much appreciated) and
off I went. From the very moment I left the town, I had a long climb and my legs weren't
happy. It really set the tone for the next 55 kilometres for I felt like I was cycling through
mud. I stopped at a road side shop and bought an egg sandwich and chocolate really just as
anexcusetotakeabreakfromriding.Aftertheshortbreak,Ithentackledashortmountain
range and soon arrived on a plateau. The sky was overcast with the threat of rain looming
over-head which thankfully never transpired.
ThesecondhalfofthisdaywasmuchquickerforIfinallygotintoarhythm.Imade
it into Harare and arrived at the Canadian High Commission by 6:30 p.m. I went to the
guard's room and called the Canadian High Commission's duty manager. Wendy Gilmore
quickly came to pick me up and we packed all my gear in the trunk of her car leaving my
bike inside the main building. We drove to her home and ate dinner together before she
went out for the evening. I was left alone with her refrigerator (I behaved, I promise) and
just wrote in my journal before falling asleep.
Over the next six days I managed to do a lot of work while I stayed in Harare. I
leftWendy'splaceandretrievedmybicyclefromtheCanadianHighCommission.Icycled
to the north part of the city called Greendale and met with Keith Koppart's friend, Robert
King. He offered me his guestroom for as long as I needed while I was in the capital. I
thanked him for the offer and moved in.
The next day I had numerous media interviews including a long interview with
Channel 2 BC-TV and was promised that it would be aired the next day at 8:00 p.m. I then
cycled to the newspaper office to be interviewed.
Early the next morning, I was picked up by STC-UK staff and went to visit their
farm project, a crèche they ran on the property of Mazoi Farms. While the children's par-