19 December 2023, Bronkhorstspruit, 64.27km
Skhule Sonke Guest House R400.00

"Hands off our police - say NO to police killings" is not an injunction you see in many countries. The above notice board was on display at Bapsfontein's BP garage where we stopped for our first break of the day. 
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We're both exhausted and both have a touch of sunburn.
Although the terrain was considerably easier today (around 250m elevation gain as opposed to yesterday's 900m), the 64km between Kempton Park and Bronkhorstspruit proved tough going following our tiring Monday. 
Bronkhorstspruit was well signposted, so getting out of town was easy. Initially the R25 was narrow and too busy for ease of mind. A simple but life-saving lesson is not being imparted to learner drivers, especially truckers: indicate when overtaking a cyclist. This warns those behind you that something untoward is happening ahead and you won't find yourself being overtaken by a minibus taxi at the crucial moment, leaving a very narrow margin for error. 
From Bapsfontein, the R25 widened slightly and a shoulder was added, sometimes sizeable, but mainly a narrow strip of tar to the left of the yellow line, adding just enough breathing space for a stress-free ride. 
A strong cool breeze from the left and intermittent cloud cover helped keep the heat somewhat at bay. And we enjoyed the Bontebok, including an albino, eyeing us over a fence at the turnoff to Klip Kop (Stone Head). 
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We had pre-booked cheap accommodation but were shocked on arrival to find they had given away our Booking.com upgrade room and, because we had missed their email asking that we pay via EFT rather than via the usual credit card deduction, they wanted to charge us more than double the rate. We had a lengthy chat with the owner, Bafana, who explained that a shocking 70% of his bookings are late cancellations or no-shows and because his bank, FNB, will not allow virtual card payments via Booking.com, he never recovers his money from these. While we were sympathetic, we did not think he should make his problems ours and persuaded him to assign us a room at the original price. He put us in a room so tiny we have to edge around the bed, but it fronts onto the pool in which we swam and has an en suite with five condoms available for guest use. What more can one ask? 
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Our neighbour, Wayne Baker, is a boilermaker so in demand he travels the world and is seldom home much to the dismay of his wife and his two dogs.