I write this while ducking to evade the dive-bombing strikes of a highly perturbed swallow guarding its nest on the shady verandah of the Willowdale Lodge near Kokstad.

But this is the coolest spot I can find and, as much as I love and admire birds, I ain’t moving. Meanwhile, Geoff “Heartman” Brink, our intrepid unicyclist, is splayed out on a mattress under a stand of beautiful trees. He ain’t moving either. He’s not even snoring – which is a nice change. I suspect he is too exhausted. Good boy.

He’s just one-wheeled up a murderously steep pass – Brooke’s Neck I think the locals call it (Brooke had some neck!) – in body-sapping heat and we’re waiting for Madam Weather to chill a little before venturing further. But it isn’t all bad. Max of the Willowdale has picked up the tab for lunch (cheese platters and coffee) and also kindly offered us a room free of charge for tomorrow night.

This is how people are. Beautifulnesses wherever we go. I think that they are so gobsmacked that somebody has the gumption to ride on one wheel from Durban to Cape Town for a good cause that they can’t do enough to help. Like Dave and Gill of the lovely Greenacres B&B in Harding. They extended a very long arm of generosity and put us up in a beautiful room.

Heartie and I have been bowled over by peoples' generosity, such as that extended by Gill and Dave of Greenacres B&B in Harding

As did Brian and Naomi – along with manager Paul – of the superbly-appointed Ingeli Forest Lodge between Harding and Kokstad. The Heartman and I overnighted in a “double-decker” wooden chalet – aah, some much-desired private space for each of us! – overlooking a sumptuous valley and Brian waived all costs of lunch, dinner and a couple of beers to boot. Stunningness overload.

I'm always up at 5am... and this is what greeted me at Ingeli Forest Lodge this morning!

After a, erm, hearty breakfast The Heartman limbers up at Ingeli before we take to the road for Kokstad...

... stopping only briefly to snap this little beauty on the way out!

Support from bystanders alongside the road has brought us humungous chuffedness too. Local villagers stare in amazement at this man straining to get up yet another hill on one wheel before breaking out in an assortment of wide grins, clapping and cheering. We get stopped and asked questions and everybody, young and old, is fascinated by our strange road trip. Awareness of the scourge of landmines is reaching places where the far more pressing issue usually is how to put food on the table and find employment of some sort.

Drivers, many of whom I suspect have read about the Heart & Sole Tour in the newspapers or heard about it on the radio, hoot and lean out of windows to give us the thumbs-up. Whenever we’ve stopped on the roadside so that old Heartie may catch his breath, glug down a bottle of sponsored Glaceau Vitaminwater or be boosted by the Enduro sports nutritional mix provided by Gower Power, people will pull over and want to know what on earth is going on!

As did Jeff and Zanele Meth, parents of beautiful sisters Bonita and Bridget, who are from Phalaborwa in the Limpopo Province and were holidaying near Harding. Jeff was very curious about the unicycle and The Heartman never tires of explaining the delicate technique required to ride the monster!

I thought you might enjoy this portrait I did roadside of little Bridget. Now tell me you didn't enjoy that. You can't, can you? No. I thought as much!

Every word of support from the public gives us a huge psychological boost and, in the case of our unicyclist, a massive pick-up to enable him to tackle the next hill. The most common question we get is “Are you insane?” Fair question. We’ve asked ourselves that many times over the past 10 days. Our answer is that the Heart & Sole Tour is the most sane thing either of us have ever done. We think it is instead completely mad to spend two hours of every working day sitting in traffic… and between each of those two hours to stare at the same four walls of an office waiting for 5pm to come along!

So we are hugely privileged to be allowed to indulge ourselves this wild adventure, meeting wonderful people, accepting their kindnesses and, all the while, be raising awareness of an issue about which we both feel so passionately. And, as we trundle so slowly along, we are exposed to the most gorgeous natural beauty of South Africa, our beloved country. How fortunate we all are!

And here's a spot of South Africa's natural splendour... it certainly seemed to captivate The Heartman who found relief from his arduous ride in the scenery! Pix: Hatman

OK. So today’s ride was sheer madness. Steep uphills tackled in searing heat. But it beats being bored in an air-conditioned office, hey? Mmmm. Easy for me to say… I wasn’t the poor soul riding a unicycle in that lot!

* Today’s back-up truck playlist: Donny Hathaway, Gil Scott-Heron, David Bowie, Jethro Tull, Just Jinger, Toni Rowland, Nicola Conte, The Quantic Soul Orchestra, Jazzanova, Mr Scruff, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse and Alice Russell.

* Pierre Brink, proud dad of The Heartman, is challenging other businessmen or women to boost our dwindling funds by matching his pledge to sponsor The Heart & Sole Tour at a rand per kilometre covered. If we make it to Cape Town – and we will! – that will be a cool R1,700. Anybody up for that? If so, please e-mail me at redh...@gmail.com and give me your name and contact details. You will be indirectly supporting our objective of raising awareness of the devastation caused by landmines. Thank you!