Another week and another blog. We're sitting in East London with varsity friends Ulf and Jo-Anne Von Delft, reminising about the good old days.

A week ago we were in Port Elizabeth welcomed like heros and treated like kings. A busy weekend was to follow with 2 press interviews, 2 radio slots and a talk at the local hall for the youth. A special thank you needs to be said to Neela Naidoo, Kishor and Champa Narotam and Hansa Umley. We ate to our bellies were full and enjoyed every last bite after our meals of tinned food and dry bread. Ajit Bhagattjee, a local massage therapist, gave all 3 of us a brilliant massage to soothe our tired muscles.


Only expecting to have 1 rest day in P.E., we were sent off with a huge breakfast and ended up staying for another day. The extra day was just what we needed and we ended up leaving on Sunday 10th April.

With our laziness at it's peak we covered 45km and stayed at Colchester and on Monday covered 30km before finding a farm on the R72 owned by Chris de Villiers. Pitching up at his farm with failing light he graciously offered 3 strangers a B & B (bed and braai).

The next day with an early start we soon reached Kenton on Sea and stayed with the Shona and Migel Bell who took us to the beach were the three of us raced up dunes and soon found out that it is not that forgiving on the quads. On Wednesday we did a walk along the beach to Dias' Cross (highly recommended) and then cycled to the Great Fish River were Tia gave us a camp site were Riaan Manser stopped on his tour of Africa.



With a wet start and a good push we soon covered 85km to Kidd's Beach were we stayed at a local church. With only 35km to do we cycled into East London Cycles the next morning were Tim and Shirani Govender graciously offered us a free bicycle service before tacking Lesotho and a hearty Lunch. We also met with Andries and Nicky of Casa Castile, makers of Pete's extreme bum cream (an amazing bum salve that keeps the saddle sores at bay) and got a refill of this wonder cream.

For now, we're sitting on the bank of the river, chilling with the Von Delft's giving Imraan a chance to use his fishing rob and laughing because he has carried that thing for the last 1250km and has yet to catch anything.

With 3 weeks down and 1 250km covered, we have completed 10% of the journey and are slightly behind schedual (which is not a problem as the clock only starts ticking once we get our Ethiopian Visas) and loving every moment of this amazing adventure.

Jiten