Day 440 South Africa 17/01/2012, Milkwood Farm – Mossel Bay Backpackers. 32.56miles/52.83km, 3hr12minutes, Av 10.1mph.

If anything I woke feeling even worse this morning, fortunately we had a shortish day ahead of us. Before setting off we had a two stage farewell, as Georgie left early for a meeting and Phil didn't get back from milking until 9am. It has been lovely seeing them again and we have to say yet another big thank you. Not forgetting to mention Phil's parents, John and Mary who put us up in a room in their house.

Having said our goodbyes, we set off into a cloudy morning bound for Mossel Bay. Instead of taking the N2 highway we stayed on the old road, which had a nice wide shoulder to ride in. The route may have been rolling rather than hilly, but there was still the odd climb to trouble, a by now avian flu suffering, me!

Struggling to concentrate and in a thoroughly miserable mood, I helped matters no end by leading us down the wrong road with a detour ensuing. Having found our way back to the correct road, we opted to rejoin the N2 so as to avoid any more directional challenges. Via a couple of long dragging hills, we soon descended into the very industrial looking Mossel Bay. First impressions weren't that good as we pressed on towards the centre. Five kilometres later and we arrived in a small seaside town, which was a bit more like we expected.

Despite the fact that it would have been pretty cool to stay in, we opted not to stop in the hotel made up of railway carriages; instead heading for the backpackers near the point. The train looks great, but bike storage and the possible lack of self catering facilities rather ruled it out. We will have to save it for another trip!

Mossel Bay Backpackers seems pretty nice, although it is a little further from the town centre than we would have liked. To give me the chance of recovering from my illness we will be staying two nights. We had originally planned to move straight on, but Debs is not feeling 100% either. We have also elected to have a private room, thinking that a dorm may not be the best way of guaranteeing a decent night's sleep.

The distance to the supermarket from the backpackers, was highlighted when we went for a stroll this afternoon. Getting there wasn't too bad, we stopped for some lunch and browsed a few shops. The journey back in the full heat of the day, was about all I could manage though. While Debs unpacked our shopping, I caught a few hours of sleep and woke feeling a little better.

Dinner and a few medicinal whiskeys, Debs stuck to the beer, ended a tiring day. With luck I will be feeling better tomorrow and Debs will not be any worse.

Day 438 & 439 South Africa 15/01/2012 & 16/01/2012, Milkwood Farm, George. A big tree, para-gliders, a map of Africa, caves and a lot of ostriches.

After Phil had finished his morning work in the dairy and Tom had failed to have a nap, we set off to have a walk in a nearby forest. Having stopped to look at the giant yellowwood tree which is reported to be 600 years old, we set off on a short loop through the beautiful forest. Although often spotted in the area we sadly didn't see any Knysna louries, which was a shame. We will be keeping our eyes peeled for some as we continue along our way.

From the forest we headed to the hills behind Wilderness and watched the para-gliders taking off. We then had a look at the 'Map of Africa', a natural land formation that resembles the continent of Africa when viewed from above.

From there, it was down into Wilderness for lunch and then back to the farm for a heat avoiding rest. After yesterday's clouds it was back to very dry scorching temperatures. Which thankfully cooled down a bit by evening, when we finished an enjoyable day with a braai.

On our second day, we were able to borrow one of the farm bakkies (pick-up trucks), so that we could drive to the Cango caves and see the ostriches in Oudtshoorn (pronounced oats-horn, sort of). It was already a hot day in George when we left. By the time we had driven over the mountains to Oudsthoorn, situated in the little Karoo (an arid dry area), it was even hotter. Making full use of our vehicles air-conditioning (drive above 30km/h with the window open!) we arrived at the Cango Caves. The caves were refreshingly cool, with an informative tour that explained many of the fantastic rock formations.

Heading back to town we stopped for lunch and then went to visit one of the many ostrich show farms. Oudsthoorn is billed as the ostrich capital of the world and even with continued avian flu problems it is easy to see why. We had been recommended 'Safari farm' as the one to see and soon arrived at their gates. The highlight of the tour is to ride an ostrich, assuming you aren't too heavy (below 75kg), and then watch an ostrich race with local jockeys. This is all fine provided the temperature is below 30°C, which of course it wasn't. Instead we had to content ourselves with a tour of the farm and a close encounter with the ostriches. It was nice to see, but we couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

By the time we got back to George, we were cooking in the car. It was a quick change and then run and jump in the very welcome pool. It had been a very good day and thanks to the generous loan of the vehicle, we hadn't had to endure what would have been a pretty unpleasant cycle.

Later that evening Debs joined Georgie while she hosted a book club. Whereas Phil and I headed over to his parents with a few beers in the knowledge that we weren't required. By the time the book clubbers had left, it was time for another early night. We head for the town of Mossel Bay tomorrow, which should be fun as I have developed a full blown cold. Fortunately it isn't too far as I feel pretty rubbish. Worse still, it looks like Debs is coming down with it as well.

Day 438 South Africa 14/01/2012, Knysna – Milkwood Farm, George. 49.58miles/80.33km, 5hr05minutes, Av 9.7mph.

We were presented with a little bit of everything along the road today. The overcast weather that we woke to was a relief after the heat of the last few days. As we approached the town of Sedgefield it even started to rain, which was nice until it started to get heavier. By the time we had dived into a local supermarket it had almost stopped, so we carried on to Sedgefield's farmers market to have a second breakfast.

Sufficiently full of Mexican wraps and hot dogs, we rejoined the road and had a rolling but brisk ride to the town of Wilderness. Here we were suddenly riding along the sea, watching a lone para-glider come in to land on the beach. The weather was still pretty overcast, but we had a beautiful view along the beach as we started to climb out of the town. In fact this was to be the last big climb along our route to George.

Having made it to the top, we continued along the N2 past George. Eventually turning off towards the airport, where we helpfully picked up a headwind. See, I mentioned that we had a bit of everything, the sun even started to push through the clouds. Pressing on, we found the turn off towards the farm and set off down the gravel road. I say we found the turn off, in truth I was hopelessly lost and Debs was the one who, once out of the wind, led the way at breakneck speed; this being a relative term when it come to a bicycle of course!

Having made good time, we arrived at the farm by about 2:30pm and were greeted by Georgie and baby Tom. A baby who is not quite as happy as we remembered at Christmas. It seems teething has turned him into a bit of a grump!

We soon got cleaned up and settled in our room, we aren't camping this time.When Phil arrived back from milking we enjoyed a nice meal, an evening of chatting and a few glasses of beer/wine.

It had been a pretty long day so we turned in early. We will be staying for a few days so will hopefully get to have a look round the area, before we head onwards down the coast.

Day 421 South Africa 28/12/2011 Milkwood Farm, George – East London. Reunited with the bikes!

Despite having to catch the bus at 12:20am, I can thankfully say that I have no need for another rant. It was still a pretty awful journey; we couldn't get a seat together, they played music all night and a force fed child threw up everywhere. It has to be said though that, perhaps through exhaustion, we did at least get some sleep.

Arriving back in East London at just after 11am, we went to get some lunch, checked back into the hostel and arranged to go and pick up the bikes. Kindly the hostel owner gave us a lift to the bikes, which saved us a taxi ride.

As it turned out, any concerns we may have had about our gear proved to be unfounded. It is difficult not to feel protective over our bikes, they have been our constant companions for such a long time! Everything had been safely stored in the garage and after fixing yet another puncture in my front tyre, we were heading back to the hostel.

A quick trip to the supermarket has been pretty much the extent of our exertions for the rest of the day. We have a shortish day ahead of us tomorrow and then ride onwards to meet up with Larry and Sharon (we met in Egypt) for New Years.

Day 416 – 420 South Africa 23/12/2011 – 27/12/2011, Milkwood Farm, George. Happy Christmas with Georgie, Phil, Thomas and their lovely family.

Having spent last Christmas by a lake in Turkey, it was lovely to be invited and made so welcome by Georgie and her husband Philip's family. With a special mention going to Phil and Georgie's very cute and extremely mobile 13 month old son Thomas. His big smiles and impressive crawling have been quite a feature of our stay.

Spending Christmas when it is the middle of, an albeit wet, summer is still something of a novelty. To add balance we had the Danish traditions of Georgie's aunt Janchen, to give us a taste of the Christmas that we are more accustomed to. Having a proper tree with real candles was very special indeed. This was obviously offset by a braai (BBQ) and a generous amount of time spent in the pool.

The weather, although generally warm, hasn't always been conducive to getting out and about. We have still managed to visit a large farmer's market, swim in the Pepsi pools and enjoy a morning at the strawberry farm.

Everyone has been terrific and we are very glad that we made the decision to leave the bikes behind.

All that is left is for us to say a huge thank you to everyone and a very Merry Christmas and happy New Year to all of our friends and family wherever you are.

Take care all we hope you had a fantastic time love Matt, Debbie and a very Christmassy Toad.

Day 415 South Africa 22/12/2011, East London – Milkwood Farm, George. A long and slightly disturbing ride on the evangelical Intercape bus.

This morning was all about killing time before we boarded the bus bound for George. Having walked for what seemed like miles down the esplanade, we arrived outside the local Wimpy and had a hearty cooked breakfast to set us up for the journey ahead. By the time we had walked back and watched the hordes starting to gather for a street festival, it was time to board the bus.

It all started so well, the bus was a modern double-decker; we found ourselves a seat upstairs at the front with generous leg room and settled in for the 10 hour journey. What we hadn't expected, was that for the about seven hours of the ten we would be preached to incessantly. I have no problem with anyone choosing to be religious, if you feel that it brings something that is missing from your life, then good for you. What I cannot abide, is having it forced down my throat continually, especially when I am using a public service!

Under the banner of good, wholesome, family, entertainment, we got to watch a succession of programmes each more depressing than the last. Why not ignore the televisions you may say? Well, when the volume is set to such a level that trying to drown it out with your own music is impossible, it makes it very difficult to ignore.

Intercape make a big song and dance of their fine safety record, driver training programmes and continual vehicle maintenance and for that they should be applauded. Especially considering the safety record of most other African transport. But did they really need to effectively re-write the Lord's prayer to include “please protect our passengers as we travel along South Africa's roads” and then lead us in prayer? I personally would rather trust to the driving skill of our assigned driver, than consider that my fate is in the hands of a supposedly omnipotent being!

What made the journey especially offensive though was the subject matter of the supposedly family friendly films and programmes. We were treated to the tale of a young girl who self harmed and made multiple suicide attempts until she found Jesus. This was followed by the life story of a young gang member who having already shown himself to be a thoroughly unpleasant person, suddenly saw the light at the very point he was about to take the life of a rival. Neither of the stories had any great moral about repentance; in the case of the gang member, he seemingly took great delight in the telling of his antics.

Following the real life stories we had a movie about a woman suffering from early onset Alzheimer's; another with a cast of the most stereotypically bigoted people you could ever wish to encounter and a third about a young gang member who discovered he had a terrific voice which lifted him from the American mean streets. To be fair, the final one was at least a little uplifting! Obviously in each of the films somewhere along the line finding Jesus made everything alright.

Even more worrying was an advert for a film about the violent rape of a young woman who, upon falling pregnant from the assault, decides that with the help of her faith she will raise the child and redeem the rapist who she now bizarrely loves. Can anyone see anything wholesome and family friendly about the programming, because I certainly don't.

I could go on forever and to some it may seem that I have already. I will just leave it, that it has to be the most unpleasant, cringe worthy bus journey I have ever undertaken and we still have the return journey to look forward to!

Finally at 10pm they turned the “entertainment” off and we got a little rest before Debs friend Georgie met us at about 11:30pm. Pleased to have escaped the journey we had a brief chat and then hit our beds for the night. It has been a tiring, trying day.