Day 9 (Rest Day)

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The Europa Hof proved to be a chilly night's sleep, and the day was cold and bright. Strong sunshine meant you could warm up in the sun, but the air was around 14 degrees and blowing steadily.

I spent a good bit of the morning writing up the blog, keeping one eye on John who was kitting out the new support vehicles. The previous two had been found wanting so were replaced by shiny new ones.

A number of the keener riders decided to get new back tyres fitted at the local Yamaha dealership. For keener read more aggressive users of throttle and merciless abusers of rubber. Mine was looking pretty warn too, but in reality there was plenty enough to last us to Vic Falls.

In the meantime Pam had wandered round the town, establishing shops to be re-visited together. These were fortunately few in number, however the Lighthouse was supposedly a pleasant lunch spot, and so it proved to be. We had two very nice pizzas in the sheltered garden, washed down with some fizzy rose. We also watched/heard Sylvio (the Italian owner) blatt a KTM 1190 Adventure around the block in very handy way. After a walk on the beach watching the most athletic kite-surfers I've ever seen, it was back to the room for a kip.

Dinner would have been unremarkable in the Europa Hof's restaurant, had it not been for two important observations. The first was that the other diners were mainly locals who clearly understood the Hof's policy on heating - they were all sat down eating dinner in their outdoor coats. The other was that the two very large Namibian gentlemen sat to my left were eating something that was clearly not on my menu. And it was clearly a huge piece of meat with a bone in.

Discreet enquiries were made of the restaurant staff, who confirmed that the two farmers were tucking into a deep fried ham knuckle with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Each. After a moments hesitation, Peter and I ordered a pair too, much to Pam's horror. Masses of pork later, we crawled back to the room.

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