Day 351 South Africa 19/10/2011, Bushpackers camp-site, Hazyview – Sabie Backpackers, Sabie. 26.59miles/42.67km, 3hr56minutes, Av 6.7mph.

Thankfully there was no repeat of the snake incident this morning, instead we were joined by a small non-threatening frog! Having guided him gently out of the tent, we breakfasted, packed up and hit the road by 7:30am.

Almost immediately we were into the hills although we weren't the only cyclists to be tackling them. Shortly after setting off we encountered two mountain bikers making their way slowly up the hills. As luck would have it they only got to see us screaming down the hill. Still I think we gave them some food for thought as they looked at us on our heavily laden bikes. Having taken our bikes through the hills to the shops yesterday, we know how much easier it is on an unladen bike!

The trade off of taking such a hilly route was the amazing scenery. Despite the effort involved there was always something to look at. Banana plantations and dense forestry were interspersed with beautiful valleys and macadamia nut orchards. It was terrain that reminded us, aside form the crop diversity, of our time in Europe and Turkey. It was definitely one of those days that reminds us why we are doing this. The only downside was the high humidity. The skies have been threatening to rain heavily for a few days, which will hopefully, when it comes, clear the air a little.

With a final push up the hill into the town of Sabie, we stopped at the tourist office to check where the hostels were located. Our plan had been to stay at Billy Bongos, but finding that it was a bit out of town led us to take a look at Sabie Backpackers. It is a bit depressing having to get back on your bike when you need food, having spent hours getting here.

Enquiring as to whether we could camp at Sabie backpackers (our books don't mention camping), we were told yes. Better still, we were then offered dorm beds in what would be a private dorm for the same price. We may like camping, but it was too good an offer to refuse, especially as we could take our bikes into the dorm with us.

The rest of the day was spent shopping, eating a huge takeaway, suffering from the huge aforementioned takeaway, having a snack dinner because of the huge takeaway and having an early night to sleep off our very full stomachs.