At the tollbooth there were a couple of bikes in front of me. Naturally, a ciggie stop was in order after paying the toll.

"We're going to the Dragon Rally down the road."
"Can I come too, please?"
"'Course you can."So I went to the Dragon Rally not in Wales with snow. Christo, Victor, Quintin and all the others made me very welcome, dispensed large amounts of cold beer (Windhoek - jolly nice) and generally looked after me. Obviously, there was a man from Torquay as well (Chris). I even won the long-distance award (which was cheating really).

The Kingdom of Lesotho is a fine place. Like Laos it has three paved roads and dirt roads in good nick. Spectacular scenery, friendly people, highly recommended. Phone boxes are tin huts with 'Public Phone' in brightly-painted letters.

When I came back into SA the border chap looked at The Old Dear. "Can I have a ride?"

I looked him up and down.

"Nah, your legs are too short."

Collapse of stout official.

Ladysmith and Rorke's Drift were interesting, of course, and General Buller's Rest Lodge in Ladysmith can be recommended for an overnight stay or two.

The pair of us limped from East London to Port Elizabeth today. Me because crossing the Transkei yesterday was in a brutal crosswind of Patagonian proportions requiring a lot of heaving just to keep vaguely somewhere on the road, and She because not only has the oil leak got worse again but the charging system (yet again) went intermittent. It's also bloody cold.

We arrived in Port Elizabeth very close to the BMW dealer, and stopped in a car park to investigate. Chap in a 4x4 stopped next to me. Nigel, has an R1150GS, took me to the dealer, and is coming round for a G&T tonight. The dealer is brill. No mechanic who knows airheads (as usual), but they let me use a lift and general workshop facilities, providing help and excellent coffee where necessary. They even insisted on a nice 735 with a William to take me to an hotel (and Will will pick me up again tomorrow morning).

Robots are traffic lights. I kept seeing 'ROBOT' painted on the road and it took me ages to suss it. Doh.