Notes from the end - Job Done!

200 days

17 countries

20 flat tyres

over 3,500,000 pedal rotations

38 stitches

6 tyres

3 rear wheels

34 other components changed

over 2,000,000 calories burnt

over 11,000 Pounds rasied for Malaria Consortium and counting

14,231km

JOB DONE!

After the long road ro Durban the last 1639 kilometres seemed like a breeze. I booked a flight on such a date that the last 3 weeks could be taken at a slightly slower pace and Greg and I could enjoy ourselves, that was the idea anyway. The ride to East London was anything but relaxing, though we were averaging just over a hundred kilometres a day the hills in the Transkei region were seemingly unending as we wound to and from the sea up into the mountains and back down again. We were warned time and again before getting there that though beautiful the area was dangerous. We were told to expect bad roads, potholes (some apparantly that you could fit a giraffe in), livestock and to be the only white people for miles around. Though this might be a worry for a South African from Johannesburg it seemed to me that this area was exactly like the rest of Africa and it was nice to go back to proper rural Africa for a few days. We got stuck just east of East London in a beautiful spot called Chintsa. We camped at a lodge overlooking the scenic bay and lagoon and what was supposed to be a two night stop quickly turned into a 5 nighter.

After East London was a fairly miserable, wet and windy few days to Port Elizabeth where we stayed with former South African olympic pole vaulter Okert Brits and his family, it was great fun to stay with a local celebrity, Okert had just been on the South African series of survivor a popular TV show and everyone we spoke to seemed to know him. From there we wound along the garden route towards Cape Town. Parts of this beautiful area between the jagged mountains and the Indian Ocean looked very similar to Switzerland in my eyes, a truely picturesque part of the world, it definitely wont be my last visit. Passing Storms River we came to the worlds highest bridge based bunji jump of 216 metres. It was my second visit so I was obliged to jump backwards which was horrible, to jump forwards is more natural, to let yourself fall backwards off a bridge is completely against even the most basic instincts! Luckily saying goodbye to the bridge was the hardest part and after that I was just a man thrilled to be in mid air, few things can top it for exhillaration.

Excitement mounted over our last few days into Cape Town untill after two days of big hills and mountain passes that left our legs begging for a day of rest we found ourselves in Somerset West a mere 80 kilometres from the Cape of Good Hope, my final destination. After 2 weeks of headwinds we thoughts the wind would be to our side as we arced toward the cape but of course not. The wind battered us like never before and what was supposed to be a 3 hour glory ride turned into a 5 hour battle against the wind, Africa wasnt going to let us off easily.

As we rounded the final headland and saw the cape the wind abated and we cruised down next to the sign marking the most south westerly point of the African continent. I had an exhillirating feeling not unlike the aftermath of the bunji and was grining like and idiot for hours afterwards. We decided against cycling back up the hill to lunch and caught a lift with some tourists and had an incredible lunch overlooking the cape bay, we headed into town to our accomodation for the night, had some dinner and set out into the night to celebrate furthur.

Though my head is ringing this morning and I can tell that something epic has come to an end it will take a few days to sink in, I feel deeply confused about the fact that I wont have to repack my life back onto the bike and head off tomorrow. Im thoroughly looking forward to getting back home and enjoying the english summer.
Thank you to all who have donated, all that have sent messages and encouraged and all who have followed, even in the darkest moments I knew that there were those who cared and it got me through.

I dont know whats next and if there will be a next in terms of mad adventure but if there is you'll be sure to hear about it.

Adam