South Africa - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 309

national competitions. So, the fact that this regional team tied a strong national team like
France truly said something about the vitality of South African rugby.
I spent several days in George and had many wonderful experiences with the
Hooles. I spoke at a few schools namely Convent Primary School, York High School and
at a bible study group. However, one of my highlights in George came very unexpectedly.
One evening, Philip asked me if I wanted to go with him to hear a talk given by
a man named Eric Attwell at the horticultural society. I agreed not knowing what the talk
was about. I assumed it was about plants or the mating rituals of a tsetse fly or something.
Whenwearrived, Isatinthebackoftheauditorium sonoonewouldnotice ifIfell
asleep. As soon as Eric started to speak, my eyes widened and I listened in complete awe.
Eric's topic was not on plants or insects. His topic was about how he and his brother Jack
cycled from London to Cape Town in 1936.
I was speechless.
Even though they did almost the same route as me, what I completed in the past
year could not really be compared to their adventure. First, they completed the task on a
simple three-speed bicycle that needed to have the chain manually placed on the gears (no
derailleurs back then). Second, they practically had no tarred roads (I had more than 60%).
Third, they had to deal with much more wildlife than I did (in my case, aside from the li-
oness, troupes of primates and a couple of snakes, most of the wildlife near the roads were
killed and eaten by the locals.) Fourth, I had detailed maps that gave distances and elev-
ations, their maps did not have as much detail. Needless to say, I hold them both in such
high esteem.
Eric explained how he and his brother were forced to stay in South Africa because
of the start of WW2 for no passenger ferry services were permitted to the UK.
To be perfectly honest, I was content to just sit in the back of the room and simply
say hello to him at the end of his presentation and leave. I did not want to be introduced or
bring any attention to myself for the evening was about Eric not me. I even remained quiet
throughout the Q&A session at the end even though I really wanted to ask him a million
questions.
When the Q&A was over, I began to gather my things to silently return to the car
when all of a sudden Philip stood up and introduced me. I was mortified. The whole room
turned around to see who Philip was talking about and I was motioned to stand up and
then cajoled to join Eric at the front. I reluctantly walked to the front and fielded questions
from the crowd. The audience was enthralled to have two cyclists doing almost the same
route57yearsapart.EricandItookourphototogetherandthestoryappearedinthetown's
newspaper. I must say it was an honour to meet Eric. The topic he wrote The Road to Lon-
don described the journey he and Jack took and was written many years after the fact as a
tribute to his deceased brother.