Day 6 had started with the drama of getting out of our situation, but the rest of the day had been some more amazing dirtroads riding around the mountain range instead of through it, we came within km's of where we had been stuck the night before, through Mutare and found ourselves sitting at the Moz border not entirely convinced that a late afternoon crossing is in our best interests seeing as we had no idea where we were going.. it seemed fitting to reward ourselves with a day that did not involve riding for 10 hours or becoming stranded, we had not had a rest day since leaving so the idea of getting to find a camp before dusk was a fantastic idea.
We did a U turn and backtracked a few km down the drag to a lodge we passes earlier. Martin's negotiation skills were put to the test when they informed us that their rolling green lawns were not for camping on.. dammit, they only had rooms. We could travel 20km to a camp site we knew or just settle here, we knew we had an early start into Moz the next day so a room it was, it was nice not to have to set up camp or make coffee in the dark for a change, sleep in a bed and not have to pack the bike the next morning.. after a drink at the bar we settled in for the night.. almost !!
Martin checks his phone and informs me that he has received a missed call, from a Zim number ??? I must make mention that I had been trying to get hold of my Dad's sister who lives in Harare, I had tried to phone her and had sent sms's but had received no reply so we canned the whole idea of doing Harare.. I phoned the number to see who it was.. "Hey Murray !! how are you boet ?? ' came this booming voice over the phone... ' where the hell are you , we have been expecting you to arrive in Harare for a few days now, are you ok?'... it was my cousin Bruce, great oke, used to play Rugby for Natal and was earmarked to be a Springbok when he moved to Zim to take up the family business of oil, petrol and gold.. I don't need to explain that they are not struggling.
I know Martin so well, I took one look at his face and said to my cousin ' We are in Mutare at the moment, we were ust about to cross to Moz but no worries.. we will be there tomorrow', I hung up.. Martin looked disappointed, I know he wanted to check out some dirt in Moz.. I promised him I would make it up to him by finding more good dirt on the way to Harare.
And good dirt we found.. naturally we had to take a bit of tar out of Mutare, but before long we hung a left, turning away from the eastern highlands we loved so much and headed inland, due West.
I have to check my maps again, I am not 100% sure where this is, all I remember about this little town is that it was a massive t unction and we turned left. We had a massive map of Zim, it was a terrible scale and didn't show very much, so we kept the sun in the right place and kept on heading North - West.. kind of. One thing I know with great certainty.. the people of Zimbabwe have no idea where the next town is and in what direction it is in when you hit rural areas. THe sign was classic though.