South Africa - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 302

After breakfast with Nicole, she packed me a lunch and tied a balloon to my bike
fortheComradesMarathonforhandicappedchildren.Itwashugsandkissestoallthegirls
living with Nicole and then I pushed off. The first 80 kilometres were filled with hills but
the wind was nowhere near as severe as entering Grahamstown. Descending was fast and
beautiful and that was how it should have been…damn it.
When I came up to my last hill, 50 kilometres from Port Elizabeth, I stopped on the
side of the road and was moved to tears of joy at what lay on the horizon.
It was the Indian Ocean. Since leaving Lagos, Nigeria and the Atlantic Ocean over
6½monthsago,IhadbeencyclingintheAfricaninterior.TheonlysurfacewaterIsawwas
in the form of puddles, lakes, reservoirs, waterfalls and rivers. It really didn't hit me that
I was nearing the completion of my north-south route of the continent until that moment
when I saw the Indian Ocean. As the accomplishment sunk in, I became more emotional.
My energy level skyrocketed making it so much easier to cycle, wind or no wind! When I
finally arrived at the shoreline, the first chance that I got, I dipped my front wheel into the
water.
AsIcycledalongtheoceanintoPortElizabeth,Icouldn'tkeepmyeyesoffthewa-
ter and from breathing in the salty air more deeply. The ocean was so beautiful to behold.
I found a telephone booth and called Kurt Francis. I met him at the Beach Hotel and he
escorted me to his home. I met Louie his roommate and then we went to visit his friend
named Toni. She was a schoolteacher and really a great person. Her parents were really