A night in police custody

Well Megan and I made it safely to Cape Town and after a couple of days of playing tourist picked up our very flash 4x4 camper which is to be home for the next month.

First stop,  Cape of Good Hope which we saw through mist and rain,  then onto a penguin filled beach - all good fun and exactly what we hoped for.

OK now to find a caravan park - ah the Cape Town area ones all shut to newcomers at 5pm, where are we to stay we ask? Don't know, don't care is the response. After driving around we end up beyond the outskirts of town considering a local beachside area but then the police turn up and say no. A bit of sweet talking,  and they agree we can stop and they say they'll even check on us every hour. A couple of hours later their back (just after we're fast asleep), a change of mind, no you can't stay here we're worried about your safety.  Any way long story short, we were asked to come back to the local police compound where we are invited to spend the night. Can't imagine the Australian police making that offer. Unfortunately they would not let me take their photo, but here is the car in the compound.

And finally a few more shots as we start to move north from Cape Agulhas,  Africa's southernmost point towards Namibia.

Messing about in boats

Ratty said in the book Wind in the Willows that "there is nothing as much fun as messing about in boats". That might be stretching the truth a bit,  but it is great fun. Just spent a very pleasant week cruising the Norfolk Broads on a hire boat with my girlfriend Megan,  my father, and my youngest son Duncan and his girlfriend Laura. Life at 3 miles per hour, alternating stopping at riverside pubs for lunch or dinner with meals cooked by Duncan and Laura is very relaxing.

A few photos to whet your appetite (sorry for bad pun).

Starting again.

Well after much talk I'm finally getting near to starting my trans-africa trip. The final plan is to do a "Cape to Cape" starting at Cape Town, South Africa and then meandering north on the bike to Egypt (and hopefully Israel if border politics permit) before heading back into Europe and heading up to North Cape in Norway. This will be a nice complement to the east-west I did across Russia and Europe in 2011.

So far the bike has been brought out of its hibernation in my father back garden, successfully test run around the UK and delivered to the shippers. All being well it will appear in Cape Town in late October.

In between now and then I have a week's boating holiday in the UK planned and then 4 weeks in a 4x4 driving around South Africa, Namibia and Botswana with my girl friend (a safer way of doing game parks than motor bike).