3 Countries In 3 Days: Day 3

Day 3 dawned at Afriski Mountain Resort. We were all tired, but eager to get up and actually see the resort since we’d arrived at night and couldn’t make out much.

To say that it was cold is an understatement!

Temperature = -1.5°C (That’s MINUS 1.5 degrees celcius!)

Elevation = 3054m above sea level.

Location = Afrisk Mountain Resort, Lesotho.

The views were spectacular. Apologies if the page is taking a while to load but I couldn’t resist loading up the pictures as is instead of cropping of reducing their size.

The resort with the ski run in front. No snow yet. Winter season only opens in June.

Panoramic view from the balcony of our lodge. Some construction work going on hence the piles of sand etc.

More beautiful mountains.

Sun coming up. I love the colours in this photo.

Pic taken from the resort.

From there to home is only 4 &1/2 hours so we decided to have a full breakfast and fuel up on coffee – not too much though because going to the loo while dressed for biking is NOT an easy task! In the pictures below you will see that just our jackets and helmets and gloves took up a full table on their own. Thank goodness the resort wasn’t busy.

My husband was very worried that I would be cold so he literally made me wear ALL the warm clothes I’d packed. The jacket only just managed to zip up over the layers of fleeces etc that I had on under it. Once we got going I knew it was a mistake. I was warm, but I couldn’t even move my head to look left or right. I was starting to actually feel claustrophobic which is weird considering I was on the back of a motorbike in the open mountains of Lesotho. I think it was the pressure on my neck though. I signalled him to pull over and I had to take a couple of layers off. After that I could actually enjoy the ride. Like I said yesterday, we’d had to do the last bit of the ride in the dark so to see the views in the daylight was stunning.

One of the most frustrating parts about biking vs going in a car is that I am a snapper! I take pictures all the time with my phone. Not so easy when you’re clinging on for dear life and wearing a pair of slightly too big gloves. I managed to get a couple more pictures between the resort and the border.

Just raw beauty, in every direction.

Once crossing the border we decided to just put our bums down and get home.

Our route for the day was:

Afriski Mountain Resort, Butha Buthe, Fouriesburg, Bethlehem, Senekal, Ventersburg, Home.

Total Distance: 322.42Kms.

I got home just in time to go fetch my girls from school. They were happy to see me, but immediately checked to see where Gaya (my mom) was. I don’t think I was missed which is a good thing. It means that they were happy and content without me, and also that 2 nights away from them is totally doable again! lol

So to my mom and step-dad I say: “Thank you so much for coming to visit us and for taking such special care of our girls. They love and miss you already. Can’t wait for July when we see you again.”

This trip was so good. I loved everything about it, except the numb bum and getting on and off the bike. To spend quality time with my husband without the kids was really good. It’s the first time we’d left the girls for more than one night which has always been less than 24 hours.

So to my husband I say: “Thank you for taking me with you on an adventure. Thank you for keeping me safe. Thank you for all you do for me and the girls. Where to next?”

We did a total of 1605.7kms in 3 days, across 3 countries; South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho.

What an adventure!

The only trip you regret, is the one you don’t take.

If you missed Day 1 and Day 2, please do check them out.