Day 3, day 1 of big ride

This is now the 3rd attempt at my daily update. The rather dodgy hotel we staying does not have any form of Internet and my 3G card is barely making a connection. So this will be a quick update, tomorrow we arrive at our overnight stop mid morning so I can give my update a full go, pictures and all.
The 4am alarm jolted me out a very pleasant sleep and the gear all laid out reminded we that this was the first day of an epic adventure that I have been waiting and training for. After the usual last minute preparation and a boring energy bar for breakfast we headed for the start. Good lucks and safe riding wishes complete we rode 1,5hours into the spectacular morning country side arriving at the dreaded Melmoth pass that everyone talks about. The mother of a hill lived up to it's legendary reputation; 10km of the sleepiest climbing I have ever done, but heads down and determined peddling saw us reach the top and to our first official stop, a donation to a struggling pre-primary school. The thankful staff and prepared sandwiches for us which we gladly accepted before riding on to the local Engen Service station to hand over a donation to a shelter for abused children. Back on the bikes we arrived in Vryheid and made two more donations, one to an old age home, all the old dears were out to thank us and then to our final donation, a home for abandoned and abused children, most HIV positive. The kids csme along to the presentation making it quite an emotional affair. I realized there and then how privileged I was to be involved, thank you all soo much for your generous contributions, your money is making a real difference to these poor people and children.
So 85km and 4 donations later day 1 had ended, what a wonderful experience and a tired bunch of riders head for an early bed in anticipation of the 120km ride tomorrow.