Day 456 South Africa 02/02/2012, Simon's Town – Big Blue backpacker's, Cape Town!!!! 30.94miles/50.23km, 3hr28minutes, Av8.9mph.

It felt quite strange this morning setting off knowing that, barring a brief ride across Cape Town, this would be our last proper journey in the saddle. No matter the conditions we were going to make it to the city today, but it was nice to be setting off in sunshine with a tailwind.

We dispatched the first hill of three with ease, Debs having given her injured limbs a good talking to, and headed down towards Chapman's Peak Drive. The drive is a famous, winding and narrow ocean road that hugs the cliff side for about 10km between Noordhoek and Hout Bay. It is also prone to being closed if the weather is too bad, which fortunately today it wasn't. Our ride into Cape Town wouldn't have been quite the same if we had had to take a detour.

The views along the road are pretty spectacular and not for the faint hearted, as the vertiginous sheer sides make for treacherous cycling; especially when the wind is buffeting you. An earlier sign may have declared the road conditions as good, but a strong south easterly being funnelled down by the mountains meant that it was tough going.

Upon reaching the peak, our proposed photo shoot was cut short by the strong winds. Debs refused to go too close to the edge for fear of being blown over!

Fortunately we found a sheltered spot later, as in a moment of terrific timing, we passed the 8000 mile mark!

Arriving in Hout Bay, we stopped for a well earned drink and then tackled what was to be our final hill of the day. From then on it was a straight ride along the coast to Cape Town.

Passing through the fashionable coastal suburbs of Camps Bay, Clifton and Bantry Bay, we continued to be buffeted by the wind; which we have since learnt is funnelled through the Twelve Apostles (17 peaks, so why 12 Apostles is anyone's guess) and onto the road. The coastal towns were all very attractive but sadly the Twelve Apostles were covered in cloud, as was, rather disappointingly, Table Mountain.

Following the beach road we arrived at the V & A waterfront and headed for the clock tower. After 16 months, 12,950km, 8000miles, 20 countries, varying landscapes, temperatures and cultures, not to mention more than a few beers, we had made it!

Even now I am still not sure how to feel about getting here. There have been times when we could easily have stopped and yet increasingly as we continued, there has been less and less doubt about actually making it.

Having found someone to take a photo of us, we sat down to a celebratory glass of wine. This was swiftly followed by another and then a cocktail and then when Debs' friend Russell arrived, a beer. The rest of our day, left us little time to reflect too much on our achievements, as having checked into our hostel; the, to put it frankly, pretty awful Big Blue Backpackers. We headed off with Russell for a tour of the city.

Our first stop was in the suburb of Milnerton for a view of Table Mountain. The weather had changed little since earlier, so the beach was very wind swept and the mountain was still covered by cloud.

Next we went to Bloubergstrand where many of the postcard shots of Table Mountain and Cape Town are taken from. Instead of looking at the still obscured mountain, we watched the many kite surfers risking their limbs in the strong winds and shark infested waters. Despite staying for a couple of beers, we didn't see anyone eaten so perhaps the waters aren't as shark infested as we were told. Russell did mention that there had been a few incidents in this area in the past though. Sailing through the air on a kite board and coming down on top of a shark, must be pretty traumatic for both the surfer and the shark!

Leaving the beach behind, we stopped for some dinner before heading to Russell's apartment for some more drinks. It was two very tired people that arrived back at the hostel just before midnight. It has been a brilliant, but very long day. We owe a big thanks to Russell for making our arrival in Cape Town so memorable.

We have the next week ahead of us to get everything ready for journey home. For now though, good night all and thanks for all the support.

Day 455 South Africa 01/02/2012, Simon's Town – Cape Point – Simon's Town 31.21miles/50.57km, 2hr58minutes, Av10.4mph.

Minus our luggage, we set off just before 8am to ride to Cape Point. We had both had a good night's sleep and were feeling good about the day. Riding into a gentle headwind, we wound our way along the coast and up to the national park entrance; passing plenty of 'beware of the baboons' signs along the way. By the time we reached the entrance gate we had encountered all of two baboons. Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to be riding up a hill screaming, with an irate troop of baboons hanging off my bike; but having been warned about their presence, I expected to see a few more!

Having had no baboon related 'you've been framed' moments, we paid our entrance fee, a rather steep 85 rand each (£7), and set off up yet another hill. Riding through the beautiful national park we had another baboon encounter. Two adult females, carrying their very sweet and somewhat funny offspring, brought our baboon quota to six. Shortly afterwards we arrived at the car park, which helpfully had cycle parking.

With our bicycles secured, we walked up the hill to the lighthouse and a view of Cape Point. The point itself is very dramatically set, with waves crashing against its rugged steep sides. The lighthouse and surrounding area, came as a bit of a disappointment though. The lighthouse, stone walls and large boulder were completely covered in graffiti, which didn't add to our experience and the footpath signposting is pretty terrible. There is no doubt that the view is worthwhile, but our Cape Agulhas experience was much better.

Back at the car park it seemed that the restaurant and snack bar were suffering from the same mismanagement that had allowed the lighthouse to become so run down. The snack bar was closed for stock taking until 10:30am, but still looked closed at 11am and the restaurant had no water and so couldn't even make a cup of coffee. At the very least you would have expected to be able to buy an albeit overpriced drink, while you visited one of the cape's famous landmarks.

If it wasn't for the fact that we could hardly ride all this way without visiting, I would say that it isn't worth the effort. Luckily we arrived before all of the tour parties, or the trip may have been even more disappointing. In the end it was the ride that turned out to be the best bit.

After an enjoyable 50km round trip, we were back in Simon's Town in time for lunch. Having spotted it yesterday, we stopped for a drink at the wholly unexpected Tibetan café, where I had a cup of butter tea (not rancid yak butter though). Debs opted for the less adventurous option of filter coffee and chocolate cake. That said, as it was a vegan café the cake was pretty adventurous!

After picking up a few snacks for the journey tomorrow we headed back to the hostel. Dinner in a restaurant later this evening rounded off another good day.

Unbelievably tomorrow is our last full cycling day as we finally ride into Cape Town. At the moment it feels very strange to think that we have just about made it to our final destination. Perhaps tomorrow our achievements will sink in, but for now we will just concentrate on arriving unscathed!

Day 454 South Africa 31/01/2012, Somerset West – Simon's Town backpackers. 34.26miles/55.59km, 3hr10minutes, Av10.7mph

As Paul and Penny were off to work and the kids were off to school/University early, we said a fond farewell and then set off up the road. We have had a terrific couple of days and once again have to offer our heartfelt thanks to a lovely family who have shown us great hospitality.

Today, as it turned out, was never going to be the most picturesque of days. Leaving the majority of the traffic behind after the first 5km, we first headed through a rough looking area that we had been warned to be careful in. In typical fashion the back of my bike started to wiggle about beneath me and I looked down to discover a puncture. Great, it couldn't have happened in a better place! With no choice but to fix it, I got down to repairing the puncture as quick as possible.

To make matters a little more worrying, a van then swung round and stopped in front of us. Without all the warnings we probably wouldn't have been remotely concerned, but we couldn't help feeling a little paranoid. Fortunately it was a couple of guys who were making a film in the area. They had seen us as they passed and thought that they had better stop to make sure we were alright. We were once again told that we were in a very bad area and really shouldn't be stopped. With help from the two guys, I soon got the inner tube replaced and we were ready to get back under-way. In the meantime another car pulled up to make sure we were alright as well. This was clearly not the best place to have a puncture! Thanking our good Samaritans, we set off once again passing an enormous township along the road.

Breathing a sigh of relief when we were past the supposedly bad area, we then had to contend with a headwind and a narrow, hard shoulder-less road. By now we were riding along the coast, but the dirty looking beaches and myriad of dead things that lined the road assaulted both our eyes and our noses. Things took a turn for the better after we turned south towards the cape. Even if the coastline didn't seem that special, the cape with its backdrop of mountains is stunning. The pretty towns that we passed through, added a bit of much needed variety as well.

Having made really good time we stopped for a coffee and second breakfast/lunch in the attractive town of Kalk Bay. While waiting for our breakfast, Debs bought a wire and bead bicycle from a street vendor. We hope that we will succeed in keeping this one in one piece. Toad's wooden one is in a few bits and will require some glueing on our return!

From Kalk Bay it was a short ride to Simon's Town and the backpackers. To save a bit of money we are staying in a four person dorm. So far we are the only occupants, so fingers crossed it remains that way.

As we arrived in good time, we settled in and then wandered down to the Boulder's Beach penguin colony. The area is home to several thousand African penguins, which are the only penguin to breed in South Africa. At the time we visited, it also seemed to be home to several thousand Chinese tourists. When they had finished taking pictures of each other using ridiculously expensive cameras (yes I am jealous) they fortuitously for us, had to leave to board their respective buses. At last we had the place almost to ourselves, so we got to watch the penguins in relative quiet.

With the lack of a decent supermarket in Simon's Town, we eventually had a nice meal in a nearby restaurant. I say eventually, because our waiter somehow managed to get our order 100% wrong, which is quite an achievement! The error was kindly corrected by the kitchen staff and made up for by two free beers.

It has been another good day and as we are still the only occupants of the dorm, it should be a restful night.