Day 389 – 397 South Africa 26/11/2011 – 04/12/2011, Lion's River. Great company, great food and a goodly amount of wine.

We have had a bit of a rest from the blogging for the last week. It is not that nothing much has happened, just that we have been enjoying the terrific hospitality of Steph and Tim. While staying at their home, we have enjoyed some great food in fantastic company, while keeping our blood alcohol topped up at a suitably high level!

The weather has occasionally been against us (it has rained fairly consistently), but we have still managed to go and have a look round the very colonial Pietermaritzberg (Kwazulu Natal's capital).

We also had a very enjoyable trip into the Drakensberg mountains. The trip to the Drakensberg involved a walk through Giant's Castle national park, to have a look at some ancient cave art. The rain thankfully held off until we were going home and we were treated to some breathtaking views.

On a more practical note, the bikes have had a bit of a service courtesy of yours truly and I have also mended the tent zips. We managed to get some new zip sliders from a large needlecraft store and I have, with only a small amount of swearing and a little blood loss, replaced the worn ones. Should anyone require their tent zips repaired in the future, then for a fee, I could make my services available.

The repairs to the bikes and tent may have been successful, our attempt to extend our tourist visas was less so. The process seems straightforward enough, but we didn't realise that we would require bank statements and a personal letter stating our reasons for needing an extension. The whole process is further complicated by the fact that the extension may take several months to be granted and we will have to return to the issuing office to collect the stamp. This is obviously not particularly easy when you are travelling by bicycle and will be 2000km away from the issuing office by the time we leave!

We will apply for the extension when we get to Durban, keep hold of our receipt and then plead ignorance when we get to the airport. With any luck there will be no problem, our only consideration being that Debs may go back to work in travel and would rather not have a black mark on her passport regarding visiting South Africa.

With all the serious things taken care of, it has been back to the usual pattern of eating, chatting, napping and drinking. We were lucky enough to time our stay for when Dennis was coming down from Mozambique to see his partner Trish, Steph's neighbour. It was nice to see him again and great to hear about what he has been up to with the Barra and Tofo sites.

Watching the Dubai rugby sevens took up a large part of our final day. With obviously a certain amount of mixed loyalties when it came to the partaking teams. Toad happily exchanged jerseys with a Springbok and I am pleased to say that in the end England reigned supreme! While on the sporting subject, it should be known that I am the undisputed, retired unbeaten, South African edition no less, Trivial Pursuit champion. So jolly well go me!

For our final night in Lion's River we got invited, through Steph and Tim, to a 21^st birthday party at a neighbour's farm, where we felt rather under-dressed. We hadn't expected it to be such a formal affair, fortunately we were welcomed happily by the hosts. To be honest the night is a bit of a blur and rounding it off with a generous glass of whisky didn't help much. By the state of all four of us in the morning, it was obviously a good one though.

Saying goodbye to Steph and Tim was a very sad, as we have had such a good time. We can only thank them hugely for their hospitality and hope to see them again. Checking into an albeit nice city hostel wasn't the same as the warm friendly atmosphere we have become used to. Raging hangovers didn't make it any better either, although we did manage to drag ourselves out for lunch which made us feel a little better.

In the end it was all we could do to sit in our room and watch a movie, without falling asleep. Tomorrow we have an early start to go to the Home Affairs office to extend our visas. Assuming we aren't held up all day, we will be spending the afternoon at the nearby uShaka Marine World.

Day 388 South Africa 25/11/2011, Ballito – Durban – Lion's River. 30.37miles/48.80km, 3hr19minutes, Av 9.1mph.

The rain had stopped this morning which was good news, however yesterday's blustery wind still remained. Saying goodbye to Shaun and Louie we set off towards Durban at just before 8am.

The climb out of Ballito soon had our muscles warmed up and we were on our way. With only about 45km to go we were confident that we would reach the city by 12pm where we would meet Debs' friends, Steph and Tim.

The journey along the M4 was easy, although the headwind and the traffic made it bit more challenging. It was nice to be riding along the coast through generally attractive scenery though.

As we neared the outskirts of Durban, the road became less fun as we had to negotiate several slip roads. These are never fun when you have cars trying to leave the main carriageway at 100km/h when we are only doing 20km/h at best. The fact that hardly anyone indicates and most people seem to wait to the last minute to cut across, means that it is not for the faint hearted! We are of course by now old hands at dealing with busy roads, so we arrived in Durban without incident.

Leaving the main road behind we rode through the city along the beach promenade. It was thanks to Shaun and Louie that we knew it existed. The route was certainly nicer than our original plan would have been. Passing along the promenade we got to have a look at Durban's beach front and it looks like it will be a nice place to spend a few days when we return.

Having arrived in good time, we wended our way slowly to the fisherman's wharf and Café Fish where we were to be met by Steph and Tim. Despite them running late, having been stuck in traffic, we didn't have to wait long. We were soon having a beer and a nice lunch in the restaurant. Steph was Debbie's tetrathlon coach and good friend from her pony club days. She has been living with her husband Tim in Lion's River for some time. It was great for Debs to catch up and after lunch we were on our way to their home.

Lion's River is a beautiful part of South Africa and their home couldn't be in a nicer setting. After getting settled into a lovely room, we wandered down into the fields to inspect the cows. Tim and Steph breed Murray Grey cows, which they have been introducing into South Africa.

Having had a stroll through the fields and a look at the river, we returned to the house and had a welcome beer on the verandah. A lovely dinner was followed by wine, more chatting and eventually a port or two. It has been a terrific day and just what Debs needed to help her get over her ordeal. A few days rest in lovely company will be extremely welcome.