Road Trip Day 9 - Return to Port Alfred

Day 9 and I have to make it back to down-load my boarding pass. Fortunately everything is packed and travelling with me. I was hoping to have lunch and a guided tour of the more interesting places in East London but my contact was ill and could not make it. Having encountered major road works in the centre of the city at the start of my journey a brief stop at 'Kentucky Fried' was all I chanced on the way back and I was desperate to fill up the tank as it was between here and Port Alfred that Toby ran out of fuel on his trip. All of the gas stations seemed to be on the wrong side of the roadworks!



I will leave the exploration of East London till another time as it is a much bigger place than I thought from beach holidays and casinos, to a very busy port and airport, to car manufacturing plants. I carried on along the N72 back towards Port Alfred relaxing as the kilometres ticked away in good time. I pulled off the road to explore a couple of river mouths as this area was much quieter and undeveloped that the coast along to Fish river which I had explored before. It was quite relaxing at the end of the trip to sit eating a fresh orange whilst listening to the multitude of bird calls though I could only spot one or two amongst the foliage.




Arriving back I searched for a car valeting service as the truck, buggy, buckie, whatever was covered in dust both inside and out. Now for the drama …. after 2,660 km of motoring over 9 days I got out of the truck at 'NW Car Wash & Valet' on Campbell Street, Port Alfred and the lady said “Your front nearside tire is flat”. “*#%#*” I couldn't believe it especially when I could find the wheel brace and jack but not where the spare was hidden! 

 Fortunately I was directed to an exhaust and tire place on the next street who would come and take the wheel once their truck was back. They arrived as the outside of the buggy was being washed, jacked it up, removed the tire took it back to the shop, repaired it and attached it all before the exterior was clean. Excellent service for R50.00 and an excellent wash, valet and polish inside and out for R100.00 no less. Toby got his buggy back spotless and on four wheels.



The photographs from the road trip are included at the end of the album
Location: Peddie, South Africa

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