I had a good nights sleep at the police station – apart from one incident. I awoke in the middle of the night to find a man standing at the foot of my bed. I leapt from the bed with a “What the….?” And then realised it was one of the policeman offering me some dinner. The shift had changed and dinner was served. When I had calmed down a bit I had my dinner and then immediately fell asleep again – nice midnight feast!
Well, I was right to be doubtful about claims regarding the improvement of road conditions from Quetta – if anything the roads are worse today than yesterday. Really, I spent most of the day worrying about how much more of the banging, jolting and general abuse either XS or I could put up with. It felt like a MotoCross which someone had forgotten to give any finish line to – so it just went on and on for hour after hour. The 219 miles done today felt much harder on me and XS than the 500+ miles done between England and Germany.Then, when I did get onto some tarmac I rushed a bit and killed a small Sparrow-like bird. That made me feel really bad and for some miles I rode along wondering if this is really such a good idea.
I saw a small cluster of stalls by the road and stopped for something to eat. The only people present were 6 or 7 teenagers looking after these stalls and at first they seemed friendly enough. But the cooking facilities were not just a health risk, they were an ill-health certainty, so I went to get ready to move on and see what was on the road ahead. The boys then became much more unfriendly and started grabbing at things on XS like my sunglasses and so I also became a bit rough with them, pushing one away and restraining anothers hand. They backed off long enough for me to get on XS and ride away, but then stones came and one hit XS on her tank – I was pleased to have my riding clothes + helmet on, I can tell you.
But the day ended nicely, with me finding a very strange hotel made with just one large room for
beds, luggage etc. and a long veranda out front for eating, drinking and chatting. The whole affair was very relaxed and they even brought the office chair to the veranda for the Britisher to sit upon. I was told to bring XS inside the large room and so she stayed beside my bed during the night (I should probably mention that the whole building is on the ground floor).So, a bit of a crappy and hard day, but nice at the end at least.
(Note: The next morning I got a long bill for my stay which included several cups of tea, a couple of glasses of fizzy pop, dinner, staying the night and breakfast. It all came to 2 pounds 80 pence!) (Jonny Krause)
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