Gweru to Chinhoyi

Go to www.richardsrun.co.za to the blog section to see the pictures that are missing here :-)




Antelope Park was a blast. Had a great with time and met plenty of people.



On the second day we took a walk with three 13 month old lion cubs. It was pretty awesome to be with them. Even at 13 months they are a pretty mean prospect .later I saw some older males feeding …spectacular.





The elephants were quite intense as well but it seemed a bit circus like to me.



I joined Willem and Natalie from Livingston for a couple of meals and enjoyed the company of fellow South Africans for a while.



On the evening before I left Antelope Park I had a call for a local guy in Gweru, Killian, He was coming to see me as he had arranged somewhere to stay in kwekwe. I was very surprised when he arrived and told me that his company had booked me a room at a hotel and he gave me some dollars to pay for the room.



The road to KweKwe was pretty easy going and when I arrived I found to my surprise that they had a fully stocked and up-to-date ok bazaar. I had a good shop before retiring to my hotel “the city Lodge “. It was and interesting night because a couple of times during the night my door handle was tired.



I left early the next morning for Kadoma. When I was about half way I met a Russian Cyclist, Igor, He had come from Moscow and was on his way to Cape Town. He was making a “quick detour to see Vic falls why his Visa was being sorted out. He told me that he had met many people on bicycles but I was the first he had found on foot. He thought it was quite unique.











I eventually got to Kadoma at 5:30 pm; it was a long 77km today.

Fortunately, Japie met me in town and took me straight to his Neighbor, Charles where I was able to have three quick beers before being fed a mountain of spaghetti bolognaise.

Later he took me down to the local squash courts where some guys from Chegutu were playing and I was able to get my self organize for accommodation the following night with Howard Mathews the headmaster of the Bryden primary school in Chegutu.



Next morning I was joined at the start of my run by Richard, Duncan and Nicole, who stuck with me for a nice 4 km run before they turned off.



Shortly after that I was joined by a police trainee Nhlangthina who ran a further 10 km with me before he turned back company was toughly enjoyed.





I got to Chegutu and went to stay with Howard Mathews and his family at the Bryden primary school . I had a good rest and then some one suggested tennis so I included my self as the 4th in a doubles game .










The teniis match we played in Chegutu was rather intense with a smattering of sibling rivalry and good humour mixed together . Sadly my partener , Gwen , and I eventually succumbed to her sister Joy and her dad Howard 6-4 . The next morning howard organized that Darrel and Darryl join me for a run for the first ten km . They set a good steady pace and I suspect that it was my first sub 1 hour 10km in quite a while J



After about 40 km I was stopped by Lincon and his family who introduced me to the indigenous fruit called Mtufu as well as some swollen Maise kernels. Lincon wanted me to spend the night with him and his family but although I was temped I was trying to get to 60km before stopping for the day .









I eventually got to 60km and found a place to pitch my tent . I was helped by Tapiwa so we headed down to the local beer hall and bought to Lions which then enjoyed at my camp .


The next morning I was stopped onthe road by the Steve Swanepaoel who invited me for breakfast at his farm house . It was a spectacular breakfast which I enjoyed thoughly and then promptly fell asleep in front of his TV .