This is a guest post from Claire Le Hur who is cycling to China with her fiancé Stuart Block. The couple will start their journey in East Africa where they will follow new ‘silk roads’ charting the journey of key natural resources as part of an exciting new education project. Claire will be riding a bamboo bike, built by an African social enterprise and Stuart will ride a tandem, keeping the back seat free for those they meet en route. They will also be raising money and awareness for two great educational charities. Find out more about Claire’s big adventure here.
We spent six weeks in South Africa, or the “rainbow” nation, as Reverend Desmond Tutu liked to call it, and were amazed by its diversity and contrasts. It’s a place where wealthy cutting-edge cities stand next to primitive aborigines and wild animals, where natural beauty lies next to ugly scenes of human depravity, and where the kindest, most generous people live side-by-side with gun-brandishing criminals. Sadly modern South Africa is still carrying the legacy, and the scars, of more than 300 years of oppression and segregation and while some credit must go to the post-apartheid governments for improving roads, electricity, education, and housing, the country still faces huge political, social and economic challenges.
We crossed the border to South Africa at Beitbridge, the busiest border post in Africa, where we waited three hours in the midday sun. It was tough, but people were saying that it can take all day to get across, so in that respect we were lucky. Once over we headed straight to Johannesburg where we had a few days exploring the city and enjoyed a much-needed break from pedalling!
One night we met our good friends, Nobantu and Ris, for dinner. They were horrified that we had walked the 1km from our accommodation to meet them because Ris was carjacked at gunpoint just a few months ago. He really thought he was going to die. Apparently the carjackers were surprised to see that Ris was black and couldn’t understand why he is living in such a ‘lani’ (posh) neighbourhood. As Nobantu and Ris explained what had happened that night, they laughed about the fact the Chief of Police arrived at their house in the middle of the night wearing pyjamas and his wife’s fur jacket, but clearly they were both still shaken by the incident, .
Our South African cycling started properly when we left Johannesburg. When we were about 20km out a terrible storm hit and we were forced to shelter in a garage in Balfour and then dry out in a lodge. This was our first experience of poor whites Africans. I got chatting to the children playing in the garden. One little girl told me, quite candidly, that she lived there with her grandmother, 40, and that one of the boys had moved into the lodge as his mother worked there and his father beat them up.
Later we had a lovely ride to Val and had a great experience staying at the Val hotel where we were welcomed by our very generous, and eccentric host, Rita. She showed us around the little museum and gave us a very fitting bottle of wine: Boer v Brit. She told us that the bar was usually shut on Mondays but we were in luck as the local farmers had phoned to say they were coming in to celebrate the first proper rain. We had a great night with them.
The bar is called ‘Place to go when you are tired of ploughing’!
After a few days cycling on very dangerous roads with lots of traffic and no hard shoulder, we were both physically and mentally exhausted. Luckily the cycling improved when we reached the stunning foothills of the Drackensburg mountains where we enjoyed a lovely night in a farm in the little village of Normandien.
The stunning route to the farm, Normandien
From then on we experienced the best of South African hospitality as we were sent from family to family. Everyone had a friend or relative in the towns we were heading for and they were so generous, and such great fun.
Then it was up the Midlands Meander and a visit to the Mandela Capture Site. The history of the ‘Rainbow Nation’ is so interesting and inspiring and this museum really brought home to us how much the great political legend, Nelson Mandela, did to lead the fight against the apartheid regime – a system of racial segregation which oppressed the black majority. He would be turning in his grave to see racial tensions rising again. Then onto Pietermaritzburg where we stayed in another school, although it was Christmas holidays so we did not meet any pupils.
Me cycling the Comrades Marathon route
Our host, Matt cycled out with us along the first 30km of the Comrades Marathon route the next day. It was so hilly – I don’t know how marathon runners do it.
Taking a breather on ‘Arthur’s seat’ on the comrades marathon route
Finally we reached Durban, our end point for the Economic Cycle in Africa. The city’s impressive port is where most of the natural resources mined in Southern Africa are shipped to Asia from. We arrived on Christmas Eve and were warmly welcomed by several friends. The idea of the ‘Rainbow Nation’ (or lack thereof) came up again when talking to Kirstie, a white English girl, who is married to a black South African. They met in Singapore and she was very excited about moving to the Rainbow Nation as thought their relationship would be easier, but sadly people are still judging them.
Then, yes we ‘cheated’ and drove to Cape Town. Aside from the worry of being victims of violent crime, driving through the Transkei was probably our scariest adventure in South Africa as I had hardly driven since August! The roads were dangerous and we regularly met by a herd of cows or goats in the middle of the road. Walking up Lion’s Head was a highlight, although we didn’t make it up Table Mountain as it was way too windy.
Gorgeous views from Lion’s Head
Then it was time to pack up the bikes again. Ironically, after everyone talking of the corruption in Africa we managed to get all the way to the airport without paying a single ‘fine’ however we did have to pay to allow our bikes onto the plane as they exceeded the weight limit!
We felt really happy and at home in South Africa, and despite all the warnings from people to take care, we felt very safe. We just really hope that the political and economic situation does not deteriorate too much more. We will miss Africa greatly and have had four amazing months, cycling 4,000km through it. This blog is being published from the United Arab Emirates as we stop off enroute to Singapore. Look out for our next post in mid April which I’ll have written from somewhere in Asia…
