Eurekaness!!! After staggering through an internet desert for days on end, I have a semblance of connection! It’s trickling in at the speed of a unicyclist rather than, say, the infamous Winston the Pigeon but I’m not grumbling.

OK. So I have a backlog of about 1,000 pictures and dozens of weird and wondrous anecdotes on The Heart & Sole Tour… but I’ll do my best to get our loyal “Heartpeople” up to speed with our slow but sure progress. First, a picture. Look. It may be nothing more than what we old newspaper hacks term a “boring handshake pic” but, for The Heartman and I, it captures the spirit in which South Africans have received our crazy unicycle ride…

Where's a doctor when you need one? On the road between Matatiele and Mount Fletcher is the answer! This wonderful man, one Doctor Joe Thusi, stopped his car when he saw us taking a quick rest stop, crossed the road and gave us R900 cash to help with our fuel, food and airtime costs! Just like that!

This was beautifulness on an out-of-this-world scale! Heartie and I were simply blown away by Dr Thusi’s generosity and it took us a while to get going again. South Africans of every ethnic background are known for their generosity of spirit and nowhere more so than out in the sticks, where life generally is very challenging to say the least. Out of the basic dynamics of what is deemed newsworthiness, we often get a distorted view of what is happening in our beautiful country. What is generally happening in South Africa, my fellow countrymen, is a whole lot of good stuff. And, after more than two weeks on the road, straining our guts out on behalf of landmine victims, the Heartman and I are well placed to tell you that!

Right. Quick update on our mind-bogglingly beautiful road trip before I take you into a series of pictures taken over the past few internet-free days. We’ve made it to a point 12 kilometres beyond Mount Fletcher towards Maclear. The landscape is mutating into the drier, rockier and more stark terrain typical of the Cape. We have left behind the lush, green rolling topography of KwaZulu-Natal. But still the mountain passes come. The heat has been unbelievable. And we have been pushed to our limits. In fact, old Heartie and I “hit the wall” yesterday. Exhaustedness. The Heartman’s knees, heavily strapped to his physiotherapist’s requirements each day, were giving him pain. Even more exacting has been the emotional and psychological impact of getting a grip on the enormity of what we are doing. It has hit home. We have returned to the rehabilitative sanctuary that is the Matatiele home of Dr Rob and Maggie Mears.

“Doc Mears” and wife Maggie have been fantastic to us and we are resting today, restoring mind, body and soul in order to continue our quest for Cape Town. Enough said. Allow me to guide you through a pictorial tour of our recent Heart & Sole history…

This truckload of young initiates passed us somewhere between Matatiele and Mount Fletcher. It is a Sotho custom that boys, once 16 years of age, are smeared head to toe in red clay and circumcised in a ritual that takes place up in the mountains

We found this dapper young fellow adopting a distinctly Chaplinesque pose beside the road. A definite shoo-in for the Matatiele Fashionista of the Year title?

Introducing you to the sweetness of Mieke Chapman, beautiful but feisty young daughter of Keith and Mandy Chapman, who looked after Heartie and I so well in Kokstad. We overnighted with their neighbours, Vaughan "Neighbour" Raw and his wife Meryl and were spoiled rotten by both families. Thanks guys!

Time for a gentle change of scenery. And it doesn't get any more pastoral than this, does it?

Look. I can't remember where I took this pic. I just know it depicts The Heartman at his classic best!

Aah, yes. We've been stopped by the cops (traffic police) just once. And they rushed over to wish us a safe journey! They were also totally chuffed to receive a couple of ice-cold cooldrinks from our cooler box on a stinker of a day!

OK. I’m pushing my luck with this intermittent internet connection. I could be cut off at any moment. It’s a rollercoaster ride, I tell you! Let’s see if I may regale you with any further snaps…

Oh, yes. The mother of all storms hit us as were preparing to roll out of Mt Fletcher. Torrential rain. And hail too. Let’s see if I can find the pic I tried to take of that little baby…

Some locals are totally unfazed by a storm. Not surprising. It happens every afternoon in summer in this neck of the woods!

But all of the locals are united in their bemusement towards a man riding a bicycle which has lost a wheel! These Sotho ladies are wearing their traditional Sotho blankets. The temperature can drop 15 degrees in an instant!

Yes. I’ve made a meal of this post because I cannot be sure when I’ll be able to get online again. So it seems appropriate to close with a shot of me old Heartie riding off into the sunset…

And a pretty glorious one at that, eh? All pix: Hatman

Yowzerness! This post has been a rare old rollercoaster ride! Pretty much like our 1,700km Heart & Sole unicycle tour from Durban to Cape Town. Hang on! Stop the presses! News just in is that good friends Shane and Netty (she who made the origami cranes to be sold in aid of the Heart & Sole Tour) have driven out from Durban to surprise us. And they most certainly have!

Awesomeness overload! The plan is to camp in their tent on the side of the road near to where we stopped yesterday. I hope they brought a braai (barbecue) and some top-notch steaks! Not to mention beer! Then Heartie and I will set off again in search of Maclear (the next stop on our magical mystery tour to Cape Town) and a man they call Mr Mountain… I will explain all the next time I find the most elusive of holy grails – an internet connection! Toodlepip!