November 12, 2025
To Chegutu
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
I woke today a little unrested after a slightly delicate stomach during the night. My energy levels were about 70%, so I cautiously decided to proceed with my planned ride to Chegutu with the option of stopping earlier if necessary. A tail wind was forecast, with rain later in the day.
The roads leading out of Harsre were busy with morning traffic. Drivers seemed competent enough, give or take the odd manoeuvre without looking out for me, and generally drove patiently. I rode past the Sheraton, a shadow of its former gleaming self, past Ridgeview and onto the R2 heading South West initially. The tail wind ensured I made swift progress, despite my slight energy dip.
Zimbabwe was beautiful as ever, in its simplicity and friendly warm people. A touring cyclist was a rare sight in these parts. Most choose to ride via Victoria Falla and into Namibia and Botswana. So, I was a bit of a novelty, and attracted a multitude of friendly waves as I cycled along. I could sense that people were struggling though. The happiness and gusto that I had seen in East Africans was clearly missing here. Zimbabweans had been through a lot. History was cruel to them until independence in 1981, and recent decades have brought economic and social misery. This suffering was evident in the faces I came across on the road... a certain despair and weariness in their eyes that filled me with empathy.
The R2 was a lovely surface to ride on. A reasonably well maintained hard shoulder kept me away from the main traffic, and the terrain remained relatively flat and slightly downhill all day. Riding past the "Lion and Cheetah Park" and Kake Chivero brought back more boy-day memories.
The scenery stayed the same all day: vast scrubland, with trees and the typical Zimbabwe " balancing rock" formations. There were abandoned kiosks along the way, which back in the day would have been food and water stops for lorry drivers, and possibly cyclists! I realised that I would have to plan carefully for water and food for each ride in Zimbabwe because regular opportunities to re-fill supplies simply did not exist, reflecting recent economic woes.
I rolled into Chegutu, on schedule, and checked into the basic but clean and friendly Lemwelva Lodge where, after showering and doing laundry, I fell into a most blissful siesta. In the late afternoon I wandered into town to get some supplies. Chegutu is a quaint little town, with old colonial style buildings, a strange disused aircraft display, a bustling market and Supermarkets with many empty shelves. Due to the US Dollar economy, the minimum spend is 1 USD, for say 2 litres of water or 6 bananas. So if you only want small amounts of stuff, you have to pay at least 1 USD, which is why the minimum water buy is 2 litres and the minimum banana buy is 6! In supermarkets, cards are accepted so the problem doesn't exist, but to buy anything on the street, the 1 USD minimum spend can be frustrating. To add to the challenge of street purchasing, vendors lack change, so even if you have a 10 USD note, and are willing to buy 6 bananas for 1 USD, you can't because the vendor won't have 9 USD change! I forfeited bananas today because I didn't want 60 bananas for my 10 USD!
Back at the lodge, I had a delicious meal of chicken in gravy, sadza and greens, washed down with, of all drinks, a coke!
Today's ride: 110 km (68 miles)
Total: 134 km (83 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 10 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |