Day 24: Piet retief to Bethel

I left Swaziland peacefully.  My bike drove well, the officials were kind, and friendly (yes even the South African ones), and I was kind of relieved that I could enter SA on a better note this time.  Did i mention that I had to unpack half my stuff at Beit Bridge for the SA police Service?  They say they were looking for "bombs??"  Anyway, since I had seen 8 countries and could potentially see a 9th one, Lesotho, on the way home, I was now kinda confused.  Head home, or head for Lesotho and make this a 9-country trip?

Memories of Swaziland

I still had Swaziland fresh in my mind, but had left already.  Heading to Lesotho or not?  I wasn't sure. What I was sure of was that my side stand was busted.  i only had my main stand left, and the bike had already done 10000 km.  What I also knew was that, if I do Lesotho, it has to be via Sani pass (a world famous pass that is about 3000m above sea level).  Of this last fact I was sure, and eventually sanity (or is that insanity) prevailed and I recalled that somebody had told me that "8" turned on its side was the symbol for "infinity", and that suited this trip perfectly.

I did not have anything more to prove to myself and felt that entering Lesotho would push me (and possibly the bike) further than needed.  After all we had now entered 8 countries (not including South Africa), and 10000km had been traveled.  This settled (between me, myself, and I) I traveled onward to the west.

I eventually reached a town called Bethal after sunset.  i thought about the last few days, and the fact that I would be home soon, and see my family, and all this made me decide to check into a lodge for a bed this night.  Strangely, none of the 3 whose doorbells (or is that gate bells??) I rang answered.  Eventually I had no choice but to enter the caravan park in Bethel and camp together with 2 other "normal" tents, and a work crew at the far end.  The camp site was next to a dam of sorts but who cared.  i had a camp site, a hot shower, yes, the water was awesome, and my tent was set up.

I went to sleep bt 19:30, since I was bushed, and my stove was out of fuel as well....... I did not want to drive into town (about 3km) to get food so just went to sleep. I slept well despite the chill in the air.