I don’t know where to start. We’ve been ill twice, weighed our bikes, stayed with some amazing people and cheated twice. It’s been an interesting couple of weeks but we’ve made it to Maun, the gateway to the Okavango Delta in Botswana.

After my last update we cycled to Mariental where Nick realised his feet weren’t quite working the way they were supposed to. After a small amount of deliberation, we decided that obviously our only option was to get a train to Windhoek and be pampered for nearly a week. What else would you expect? We did find out though that our bikes weigh above 60kg each. Which at least sounds almost as heavy as they feel.

After a pretty efficient train ride (we only had to wait three hours for them to open a door and give us our bikes back) we met up with the incredibly kind James and Roelene Cumming and their lovely children, Alex and Nina, who looked after us at their house in Windhoek.

When we were finally able to drag ourselves away we headed east towards Gobabis. This was where things started to go wrong (again). Some dodgy street food put us out of action for quite a while so we jumped at the opportunity to catch up some miles by getting a lift from somewhere near the border to Ghanzi.

Nick did take this opportunity to practice not getting up in the morning though, and he’s getting rather good at it. His policy is that he shouldn’t get up until the sun is up. The only issue is that he doesn’t consider it truly risen until his tent is bathed in sunshine. Bizarrely he’s been spending an awfully long time picking out the perfect spot for his tent…

From Ghanzi we made good progress and apart from running out of cash – ATMs are hard to come by – made it to Maun without incident. I’m currently at the stunning Old Bridge Backpackers looking at a gorgeous sunset. The only problem is what to do next.

Out next stop is Kasane on the way to Vic Falls but our most direct route is blocked by the Chobe National Park which boasts 50,000 elephants and one of the highest concentrations of game in Africa. Fortunately, the powers that be decree that bicyclists would be eaten so aren’t allowed in – this is good because I’m not sure I’d have trusted my own judgement. All we need to do now is find a way of getting there without cycling. Anyone fancy sponsoring us a chartered plane? Or a 4×4. We’re not fussy.

Unfortunately, our illness and issues (ie lifts and train) mean that Clive from Clover is off the hook. That being said, Clive, you’re still more than welcome to fly up anyway…