And then Table Mountain

We've arrived in Cape Town! After a long eight days on the road making the run from Nairobi to Joburg we took a day's rest. We then climbed into the Kingdom of Lesotho for a night. After that it was two days of racing through some of the most beautiful countryside I've ever imagined, let alone seen. And then last night, after a pass, Table Mountain in the distance. We've not yet made the trip to Cape Point, but our trip has reached it's effective end. We've achieved our goal.

This has been a trip full of great moments. Watching the surf in Alexandria and waiting for our bikes; racing through the heat in Aswan to catch a ferry to the Sudan; digging our bikes out of that talcum sand in the desert along the Nile; crashing in the same sand, it was all great. Racing through a canyon in southern Tanzania was worth a lifetime of straight roads across repeating plains. And coming over the mountains in the Eastern Cape at night and seeing massive forest fires burn in massive circles was like seeing another world. All of these things were worth a trip alone, and we'd be rich men to have experienced any of them. But to finish it in such beauty and to do it despite some hardships and challenge makes it all better. So, we're much richer men to have made it to Cape Town. Now we celebrate, which we'll be sure to document fully in the coming days. And we do so with many thoughts of friends and family at home and abroad.

As a final note, if you've been inspired by our trip, we'd love it if you made a donation to the cause we are supporting, Spread the Net. Many people have been very generous, but we're still some way from our ambitious goal, so no donation is too small (and none is certainly too large). You can read about the cause here and make a donation here.

The Fast Week

I write from Joburg. We arrived here yesterday afternoon after a hectic eight days on the road. We left Nairobi early on Friday, August 1. We spent two nights in Tanzania, two in Malawi, two in Zambia (including one great night on a huge farm) and one night in Botswana. We then crossed into South Africa and landed in Joburg. All told, we covered some 4000 kms. I can't be certain as my odometer has not worked since Ethiopia.

We leave tomorrow for Lesotho and then for Cape Town. It's been an exhilirating if exhausting week, and both Sam and I are a little under the weather. But on balance we're great. We are staying with a great friend of Sam's and we've received a welcome which is worthy of the famous South African hospitality. I shall write more about the last leg of the trip in the coming days. In the meantime it's back to catching up on sleep!