Freedom Challenge- pt IV

Day 5 : Malegonlonyane – Vuvu

On the road again at 5am, the 8 hours of sleep had done wonders. Zooming down the concrete road was an absolute pleasure. Well, until I almost crashed avoiding some cows. Things went well all morning. I hit the turn off at 10km at daylight as planned and took a good line off the mountain after Koaring (taking it very slow to save my ankle) and made a quick recovery after taking the wrong split up towards Black fountain.

After a quick second breakfast and coffee at Black fountain I pushed on and blasted along the ridge line, another quick recovery from a wrong track (“Avoid tempting tracks that drop off to the left.”). Stunning views, stunning riding, what a life. I pushed myself hard to get to Tinana mission on time to push on to Vuvu. Like many I’d had sleepless nights about the approach to Vuvu and didn’t want to end up like many others had wandering around the valley in the dark. 

For the Tinana approach I planned to take the official route around the mountain rather than the tiger line down to the mission. All went well until I was enjoying the ride too much and missed the turn off, almost doubling back on myself. I pushed on around the curve below the mountain to check out the Tiger line for next time (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it). I took a five minute break at the mission and was moving out again at around 1145. I took the high route out, stopped for 15 minutes to fix my chain tensioner then descended into the valley and crossed the Tina river where workers were building a new bridge.

The sun was shining, I was on a nice dirt road, life felt good. Only the small issue of the Vuvu valley to contend with.

“Cross the stream and follow the path as it makes its way up the Vuvu valley. As a general rule keep right. Do not turn up the large valleys that head off to the left. These valleys go off 1 kms, 3 kms, 5 kms and 8 kms after the school. You will need to criss cross the river as you go. You want to be keeping the high ridge on you right and be heading almost due west up the valley.”

At each river crossing, bend or feature I stopped to check my map, my odometer, compass and to anticipate how the river would bend and the ground would look. Each time knowing exactly when one of the rivers/valleys would come from the left. The wind dropped, the sun was out so it felt like a relaxing Sunday walk through the fields “Am I really acing this? Whats all the fuss about”,”whats the catch?.”

I found the lone tree that wasn’t a lone tree and headed further up the valley, teasing the dot wachters with a little detour of 200m up the last valley and back to avoid getting my feet wet again so close to the finish. The last climb up to the village was certainly a struggle and took longer than it should have but I got there, arriving at Vuvu school before dark.  The day I’d most feared…owned.

At the school I had a bucket shower and a dinner of the infamous Vuvu chicken. Retiring to the homestay at 7pm. Once again getting my 8 hours of beauty sleep.

Another 12 hours on the road, another day closer to my blanket. The toughest day of the trip was done. Only 19 toughest days to go.

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Day 6: Vuvu to Rhodes

The maths was simple: 0430 start, less than a hour to the base of Lehanas portage, the first hour or so of the portage in the dark and then correct at daylight at 0630 if I’d gone up the wrong side of the horse shoe. The 1000m climb up Lehanas would be about 5 hours in total plus another hour up to the pass, 1.5hrs blast down hill and therefore in Rhodes for lunch time, hopefully with enough energy left to push on for the 4-5 hours to Chesneywold and therefore sneak in my first extra stage.

That was the plan anyway and it went well until just after 0700.

“There is a small container on the escarpment usually occupied by a shepherd.”

I was scanning the horizon and enjoying the view just after sunrise. The Drakensberg is such a beautiful place to hike.

I wondered if I would be able to see the blue container already, in theory it should be at the top of the mountain so I thought maybe I’d see the silhouette against the sky line. I did…..but the damn container was on the wrong mountain.

Fuckitycuntybollocks. loser that you are….I burst out laughing at my super night nav skills. There was only one logical thing to do. I sat down, unpacked my flask of coffee and my rusk. No serious problem should be tackled without first having a cup of coffee.

I studied the map, enjoyed the view and looked at my options.

1. Back down the way I’d came (2 hrs) then restart Lehanas. Gulp.
2. Down and up to the other side to Lehanas as the crow flies. Gulp
3. Carry on up my spur to the ridge line 3-4 hours away then hang a left along the ridge line to pick up the route after Lehanas. Probably an extra 6-8km hiking (the map did show a track for the last part though).

For the sake of the dot watchers I posted a photo on twitter and asked if I needed a visa for Lesotho, most didn’t get the joke until much later in the morning when my dot could be seen going along the ridge line (now called the ShaneLoop or LittleLoop).

It was indeed a long hike up, often without the benefit of a goat track. The spot of rock climbing I had to do while carrying my bike was a little too exciting for my taste but I made it.

After a long, stunning, tiring climb and probably my favourite hike ever, I made it to the ridge line. I crossed the wire fence into Lesotho and hiked across the grass for almost an hour before picking up the track that would eventually lead me to the container and later Tenahead lodge. It was tempting to stop at the lodge for a quick break but I didn’t want to loose momentum or have my resolve get melted by a cosy log fire.

At Naudesnek I briefly stopped and considered turning left and heading back to Vuvu. In the spirit of the Freedom Challenge it only seemed right to go back and take the correct route. But the pull of the warm shower, bar and restaurant in Rhodes was stronger than the bucket shower and Vuvu chicken.

I pushed on and landed in Rhodes a little before 2pm. Not a bad recovery at all.

I was pretty finished due to the extra detour and extra climbing so Chcsneywold was out of the question. Cold beer, a warm bath and an afternoon off was just what the doctor ordered.

The toughest day of my Freedom challenge was done, only 18 toughest days to go.

>>>Part V<<<