South Africa - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 300

At the 21 kilometre-to-go mark, I stopped for lunch and checked my rear tire. It
was still in good shape and was glad that I noticed the tear the day before the fast decent.
It was still cold at 2:15 p.m. as I arrived in Queenstown. I asked two locals about the road
to Fort Beaufort, and they both said not to go there directly but instead to go through Cath-
cartinstead.Iaskedwhyandtheytoldmethattherewereyouthsthrowingrocksatpassing
vehicles along the route.
I decided to stay in Queenstown for a full day of rest and stayed at the cathedral.
I asked again about the road to Fort Beaufort and was told not to worry for what the
youths were doing was greatly exaggerated. I was given a space to sleep in the catechist's
classroomandsaidtheRosarywiththeladiesandaLebaneseman.Aftermass,Iwentwith
FatherSeerytovisitacentrefortroubledyouthswhereIgaveapresentationaboutmytrip.
I returned with Father Seery and after dinner, we watched the news regarding the political
negotiations in South Africa as it prepared for its first free democratic elections.
The next day Father Seery woke me up at 6:15 a.m. and cooked breakfast for the
both of us. He told me that he arranged for me to stay at the parish in Fort Beaufort. With a
big thank-you for everything, I left by 9:00.
I cycled directly to Fort Beaufort and didn't bother with Cathcart. I cycled through
the 'troubled' township, 33 kilometres from Queenstown and even though there were a lot
of youth sitting on the side of the road, I just said hello and smiled and they reciprocated.
That was it.
The headwinds made climbing my next mountain pass that much more difficult. It
took me over eight hours to arrive in Fort Beaufort averaging only 15 km/h. At least the
scenery distracted me as I battled the wind. I passed by a dam and came upon an area that
wasquitedesolate.IeventuallyreachedtheNicoMalanPassat1438metreselevation.This
pass was ranked one of the top altitude gaining passes in South Africa (637 metres.) I was
so tired yet I still had 65 kilometres to go. After I crested the pass, I even had to battle the
wind to make the decent. About 15 kilometres later, I cycled through Seymour and contin-
ued for another 30 kilometres slogging away into the wind. About 10 kilometres from Fort
Beaufort, I averted tragedy by centimetres as a solitary speeding vehicle veered into my
lane from behind and almost side-swiped me. I was too shocked to say anything.
As I neared Fort Beaufort, there was an explosion of greenery around me with
groves of orange trees as far as the eye could see. In the very last 3 kilometres, the wind
shiftedandIusedthetailwindtofree-wheelintotown.Lookingback,thiswasmytoughest
cycling day in South Africa (so far). Thankfully, it was only the wind I had to deal with
andnotanypoorroadconditionsoranythingmechanical. Inhindsight,Ishouldhavetaken
longer breaks to ease the built-up stress the wind was causing.
The locals were very friendly and waved and smiled as I entered the town. Father
Peter welcomed me and invited me to join him for mass. After dinner he needed to visit
a town called Alice, so I stayed on my own in the house and watched television. I took a