I departed from Home with a laden bike that included a bottle of good Anura red wine and delicious Christmas Cake that my wife made.

I drove via the Swazi Sandlane Border post (near Amsterdam) to avoid the busy and time consuming Osshoek border post. It took me 15 minutes to get through. The extra distance resulted in a 1.5 hour detour but it was worth the ride – I prefer to keep moving than stand in queues.

I refueled at the petrol station just inside the Swazi Border as fuel is cheaper in Swaziland than South Africa. The road from the border to Mbabane is tar with serious potholes in some sections. The mist had set in and I had to take in easy along the winding roads.

A GPS system error caused part of the tracks to be lost between Carolina and R33 turnoff.