For those of you who haven’t been tracking the progress, I strongly suggest to get tuned in, because it’s all about to come to a head. No, not that kind of head.

Seriously, after two months and nearly 2,000km, Geoff Brink will unicycle into Cape Town later this week to complete The Heart and Sole Tour, an initiative conceived to raise awareness in southern Africa of the continuing devastation caused by landmines.

Brink and Howard Donaldson, the tour’s back-up driver and official blogger (see www.fredhatman.co.za), left Durban on December 28, 2009, and have defied intense heat, thunderstorms, hail, rugged terrain and lack of funding to achieve their objective on behalf of The Sole of Africa, a South Africa-based NGO committed to the removal of landmines in southern Africa and the upliftment of those affected by landmine explosions.

Geoff Brink, giving it a full go

Brink and Donaldson left Heidelberg in the Western Cape yesterday morning (Monday, Feb 22) on the last leg of the journey which should see them arriving at the Clock Tower at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront on Friday afternoon (Feb 26) at the latest.

Brink, a freelance photographer based in Umdloti on the north coast of Kwazulu-Natal, has overcome severe knee pain, horrendous chafing of his upper thighs, occasional back spasms and broken “distance bars” (small handlebars used on long-distance unicycles), which have snapped three times to unicycle a record distance on a one-wheeled cycle in Africa.

He said: “This tour has been the most amazing thing I’ve ever done – and the hardest. This unicycle ride was far harder than doing my army training and that was hard enough! To be honest, I’m just hanging on at the moment and can’t wait to get finished to get back to Umdloti to my fiancee – we get married on May 8 – and our five dogs which I have missed terribly.”

“Yu, yu, yu!!”

The Heart and Sole Tour received funding from Rotary Umhlanga which also assisted in arranging accommodation in those towns where Rotary clubs exist. Although Brink and Donaldson were fairly well equipped to camp on the side of the road, not once did they have to do that. South Africans of every race and income group rallied behind them to provide free or discounted accommodation or food wherever they went.

“I’d like to thank all of those people who, when they found out what Howard and I were doing, went to such great lengths to help us find a bed and a good meal after a day’s riding. Not only is our country of South Africa unbelievably beautiful but so are our people. The generosity and support we received was just immense. I am proud to call myself a South African.”

“Apart from a couple of close shaves involving crazy drivers on the road, not once did we feel at risk of being harmed or affected by crime. What people should realise is that the vast majority of South Africans of every ethnic background are amazingly good people who will do anything to help others in need. I would never want to live anywhere else!”

Read more and spend time at one of my favourite local blogs, FredHatman.co.za