Day 424 – 427 South Africa 31/12/2011 – 03/01/2012, Fish River Mouth. A Big Pineapple, New Year and a lot of time on the beach.

Once again the time has gone past quicker than expected. We are also still here, struggling to drag ourselves away. Our original plan had been to leave yesterday, but we will definitely be on our way tomorrow. We have had a great time over New Year and enjoyed some wonderful hospitality.

Sean, James and Adrian took us to see the 'Big Pineapple' in Bathurst on New Years eve. We then went to the Pig and Whistle pub in Bathhurst for a beer and onto Port Alfred for lunch.

The night of New Years eve was celebrated over a Braai and quite a lot of beer and wine. We were joined by Larry and Sharon's friends, Don and his wife Claudia, who are definitely the life of the party. This was shown the following evening when Don brought over his dominoes and there then ensued a very rowdy game complete with vodka shot forfeits! Fortunately our mornings have been late ones, as it has taken a bit of time for our fuzzy heads to clear.

The weather has been beautiful, perhaps summer is now actually here, and we have spent plenty of time cooling off in the sea. We have been on a long walk along the beach from the nearby lighthouse and have visited a small game reserve. It has all been a lot of fun and we couldn't wish for a better place to have continued our Christmas break. Many thanks to Larry and Sharon; we hope to see you again in the future.

We hope everyone had a terrific new year and are looking forward to the year ahead. It is certainly going to be a bit different for us, than our last year has been. We still of course have the small matter of about 1000km of road between us and Cape Town to negotiate first!

Day 104 Turkey 31/12/2010, Fethiye–Kayaköy–Fethiye. 10.98miles/17.9km, 1hr44minutes, Av 6.2mph.

We had a really nice meal last night and my stomach survived, so recovery is well and truly under way. Debs meanwhile must have slept in a peculiar way and has hurt her neck and shoulder, pretty much like I did a week or so ago.

Clearly the best thing for us, is to unlock our bikes and ride nearly 9km to the ghost town of Kayaköy. Just to make sure that two crocked up people get the full benefit of some exercise, we will make the route climb up to nearly 400m from sea level descend 300m then have them turn round and go back. Sounds foolish? Well at the time it seemed perfectly sensible.

The kill or cure approach must have worked, for me at least, as by the time we got to the village I felt pretty good.

After the treaty of Lausanne was signed and the borders of the modern Turkish republic were drawn up, a religious status based population exchange took place between Turkey and Greece. During this exchange the Christian based population of Kayakoy were exiled to Greece and the town was left deserted. For some reason the village was never repopulated and you can walk around what is left. Some of the buildings, mainly the two churches, are largely intact. Quite a lot of the village though, is slowly returning to nature. It makes for a strange experience wandering through a town that seemingly was abandoned overnight.

As we hadn't descended as far as we had climbed the return journey to Fethiye was slightly quicker. After riding the bikes fully laden for so long, they feel really strange with no luggage. The 4km descent should have been fun, but the road was very bumpy with lots of hairpin bends. Without the weight of the luggage the bikes are a lot less springy, which makes for quite a jarring ride. Plus like a fool I had left my gloves behind; gripping the bars with hot sweaty hands while you are rapidly heading downwards isn't a lot of fun. Neither is having an injured shoulder that you feel every bump through!

Having survived the morning's exertions it was time for a rest, to get us ready for a night on the town. In truth we had no idea what we were going to do to celebrate the New Year, past going for a nice meal.

Leaving going for dinner as late as we could, two already tired people wandered into the town to find a restaurant. People walking round carrying presents (the Turks give these at New Year) was a good sign, as at least it meant the New Year was being celebrated. It would have been a little disappointing if we had stayed in a larger town for New Year, only to find out that no one celebrated it.

We eventually decided on a Indian/Turkish restaurant as neither of us have had a curry for a while. I think the owners would have liked us to have the New Years Eve special menu, but it was quite expensive and consisted of far too much food. The curries were delicious and were swiftly washed down with some Efes.

That rather set the tone for the night, as soon we were being dragged into Turkish dances, plied with gateau and generally joining the celebrations of our hosts, their family and friends.

We never did get to see any fireworks, but we had a lovely night. Moving on tomorrow looks unlikely!