Down in the distance, on the other side of the valley, came the noise of a motorbike.

When it reached me, the driver pulled over and introduced himself as Neil.

He too was travelling around the mountain kingdom.

We offered to take pictures of one another beside the signboard showing that we were at 3222 metres.

“Give me your email address and I’ll send you a pic,” I said.

“No, I don’t have computer,” he replied.

“My life is my bike. I don’t spend anything on anything else. I would prefer to spend money on a spare tyre to take on a trip like this, through Lesotho, rather than have email.

“I don’t need to have it just because other people have it.” I liked his attitude and I told him that.

He said of me: “It’s good to see you in your cotton shorts and your vellies on a normal old bike.

“So many of these over-the-top cyclists think they can’t even go around the block if they don’t have the best bike, the best kit!”

Over-the-top cyclists would hate to hear this. When I packed my panniers at home I suddenly found I was short of a rope with which to strap on the copies of National Geographic, wrapped in my thick, heavy coat.

I grabbed the cord off my dressing gown and it worked as well as any state-of-the-art equipment one might buy!

There’s something about travelling. You make good friends with special people, even if you see them for only a few minutes at some way out place, like high on a mountain in Lesotho!

Image: Duncan Guy, CC-BY-SA

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Do you need to have the latest things and wear the latest fashions?