Day 423 South Africa 30/12/2011, Kidd's Beach - Fish River Mouth. 46.87miles/76.43km, 5hr42minutes, Av 8.2mph.

It was certainly pretty warm when we set off this morning. After a gentle climb from the camp-site to the main road, we settled down to a comfortable pace. Fortunately we had a large hard shoulder to ride in so we were largely untroubled by the traffic. Or at least we were until we reached the end of the two long climbs. Having got to the summit for the second time, the hard shoulder ended and the traffic seemingly got heavier.

As we hadn't been able to get any supplies for the road at Kidd's Beach, we were very pleased to come across a restaurant and craft shop just in time for lunch. Just having a light lunch and a break from the traffic, had us feeling much better able to tackle the rest of the journey. What we hadn't allowed for, was the very strong south westerly wind that had got up while we were at lunch. Wind, heavy traffic and no hard shoulder didn't make for ideal cycling conditions and we still had a reasonable distance to go.

Having pressed on for a while a car stopped and signalled us. It turned out to be Larry and Sharon, who we would be staying with. They had seen that the wind had gotten up and decided to come and see if they could find us. Kindly taking our luggage off us, we carried on along the road unencumbered by our heavy gear. It certainly helped and we started to make progress against the wind. Right up until the moment when Larry returned with his pick-up, to give us a lift the final 15km to their cottage.

We are now settled into their very rustic cottage, set amongst the dunes and vegetation of the very pretty Fish River Mouth. The sea is only a short walk away, the beer is cold, the company good and we are already nicely relaxed.

Later on we met Larrys' brother Sean and his two children James and Adrian who are staying as well. New Year may not turn out to be as quiet as we had been told!

Day 422 South Africa 29/12/2011, East London - Kidd's Beach. 20.35miles/33.41km, 1hr57minutes, Av 10.3mph.

Today was a pretty good way of getting back into the cycling after a lay off. The route out of East London was very straightforward, with minimal traffic, and for the main part the terrain was fairly rolling. Even the humid weather that we had woken up to eased and we had a warm yet entirely comfortable ride to Kidd's Beach.

Having been told that the camp-site was full, we were to be staying at the local primary school. The site is opened to campers for the holiday season. It looked pretty closed up when we rode past, but a quick phone call had someone down to let us in and we currently have the playing field to ourselves. Shade is a bit of a problem though, so we will be hoping that it cools down considerably during the evening!

Leaving our oven-like tent behind, we headed down to the very nice beach. A stroll along the water wading in the rock pools, was followed by a dip in the salt water pool. We haven't spent a great deal of our time on the beach since we arrived on the coast, so it was nice to get here early and have a wander.

Assuming the service is better than it was at lunchtime, we will probably have dinner at the local restaurant and then have an early night. We have a longer day with a couple of biggish climbs ahead of us tomorrow.