The signposts were for the B&B in Matatiele where we stayed the night for the KwaDuma leg, and for the sign to Tabase police station.
While Ghaz and Hobbit were trying out their 70km day, I decided to head into Lesotho to bag peaks there. I headed up Rhino Pass, to catch my first downpour by 6:20 (Ghaz and Hobbit were in sunshine, the bast nice guys). It never really dried up, and by about 10am, the heavens opened up again. This was the most impressive storm I have seen in the berg, and I was lucky to find a small shelter to stay dry. Lightning flashed all over, and enough hail was dumped to make it look like snow. Once again, it never really dried up, but at least the wet air kept the dogs inside the various kraals I passed, so I could tip-toe past them. I got about 7-10km along the Verkyker ridge from the escarpment. That part of the world is spectacular, especially looking west deeper into Lesotho - peaks rise out of nowhere and have a lot more prominence than your typical "ridge peak" closer to the escarpment.
Its a long way back to the escarpment!
I crossed the Mashai valley at about 2750m, and then started a great big grind.
I summited Ranketsi, and from there followed a lovely ridge up towards the Lequoa Ridge itself. I was by now mostly in mist and still in light rain, but every now and again the sky opened enough.
I reached the Lequoa ridge at a 3375m saddle. Needless to say, I bagged the summits on both sides of the saddle, although it is rather hard to find the actual summit on a table top 1000m long and 400m wide in thick mist. It is even harder to work out the names of the peaks on this ridge because every map I have shows a different name. I summited what I think is called Koma-li-hare, 3414m.
I would really like to follow the Lequoa ridge deeper into Lesotho one day, but time was running out, so I turned back towards the escarpment. I followed the ridge over both summits of Tsepeng and all the way to the saddle just before Mashai. By now, the clouds had vanished, and it was suddenly a beautiful day. The western slopes of Tsepeng.
I then bagged Mlambonjwa, Matebeng and Wilsons Peak, getting the saddles as well to measure their prominence. I admit that the hills seemed rather big and steep. My GPS explained that - by now, I had over 4000m gain for the day!
I finally dropped down Wilson Pass and returned to Swiman hut.
