Rest day in Francistown

November 19, 2025

The Digger's Inn entrance is beyond the trees in the back of this photo.

I slept like a baby in the comfort of my room at the Digger's Inn, waking at 9am to the sound of birdsong outside. I was tired from my efforts so far and was grateful of a rest day, which I had always intended to be in Francistown. I had a lovely breakfast of avocado on toast with poached eggs and very nice filter coffee, before sitting down to do some admin. I had emails to send and reply to, and some social messages to send that were long overdue. It was a pleasure getting through all the admin while sitting on the tree shaded balcony of my room. I felt so grateful to be able to run my London life remotely in this way.

I did some route planning for the next leg of my tour down to Gaberone. There wasn't much to plan because there is only one road going South, but what I was a little concerned about was a few long stretches where accommodation and shops for supplies were scarce. I had my tent, but was reluctant to pitch it wild, as I have mentioned before, so if all else fails I would resort to being friendly at petrol stations or Police stations along the way, asking for a safe space to pitch my tent. The following days would tell if this would be necessary. I now knew I had about 5 days riding to get to Gaborone, and the weather was forecast to be warming up I to the late twenties. Time to get the suncream on, which I had not done on the semi-cloudy and slightly overcast days that I had experienced so far.

After a big lunch, I had a lovely chat with Alks, who had just got back from a freezing session of Tai-chi in Roxeth Park. London was suffering a sleet storm and temperatures were down to below 5 degrees and looked to be staying that way this week. I shopped for food supplies, withdrew some cash and filled my petrol stove in preparation for some cooking. Francistown is a very pleasant cheerfully town, with friendly residents. As I took a stroll around the town centre to pass some time and wake my legs up a little, I was greeted by many friendly locals who would ask how I was, where I was from and if I was having a good time in Botswana.

A light dinner, and a crossword, concluded a most enjoyable day off the bike.

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