At the top Table

Table Mountain, a Harley and Busta Rhymes' Hummer... Adam Leventhal blogs from South Africa.

Sky Sports News man blogs from South Africa

What do you get if you cross a cable car, a Harley Davidson and a Hummer? No, not a Cabley Hummerson, but my last week here in South Africa. Dancing on the table was all the rage in Johannesburg (see previous blog) and the same applies in Cape Town, only on a larger scale. Having been there in 2007 for the World Twenty20 and admired Table Mountain from afar, I decided this year I should go up to the top. It would be unfair to call our (cameraman Jamie and I) climb to the top an expedition, it simply involved an express trip in a cable car, there were no carabiners but there is always a sense of achievement when on the top of a mountain. The views (as you can see from the picture above) were fantastic and the size of the mountain really hit home. If it were a real table, it would be the one they use for UN summit meetings or the one Jesus used for his last supper spread. From the top you can see the Greenpoint 2010 World Cup Stadium, it's very impressive, I just hope the tournament is. There seems to be a lot of building work still to be done everywhere. Hopefully it will be fine, and the South African people can blow their own Vuvuzelas at the end! While we were mountaineering, the England team had a day off. Most of the players opted for the beach but there was one exception, Graeme Swann. He decided that the best cure for his side strain was a 300-mile Harley road trip, and to be fair to him it worked. There was of course a few hitches. He revealed on his Twitter page that he had sunburnt his hands. There was part of me that thought after Carlo Cudicini injured himself recently riding his motorbike that sportsmen would avoid the things, but hey it's their life, their problem if they come off them.

Room without a view

It wouldn't be my blog if there wasn't a little gripe included. This one concerns the view from my room in Cape Town. In 2007 we stayed in the same hotel and I had a wonderful view of Table Mountain, this time it was different. Due to the World Cup, they are building an extension and unfortunately I had the pleasure of facing the building works. I've included a picture, but I wouldn't expect any sympathy, I am very lucky to have been there. You should have heard the noise though. Whinge over.

Diving and driving

Some of the England coaching staff went diving with sharks whilst in Cape Town, (insert your own joke about print journalists here) we were unable to go because we were working. However, I was able to reminisce about Jaws when I arrived in Port Elizabeth because it reminded me of Amity, where the film was set. We went to do some filming down on the beach, but I felt uneasy as I thought any minute in the shrubby fringe that lined the sand, there was going to be a severed arm of midnight swimmer covered in crabs under my next step. For the record, Jaws is my favourite film of all time pretty much. Speaking of the beach, I've got a lot of sympathy for one of the photographers on tour, Tom Shaw from Getty Images. He was down there and lost his wedding ring in the sea. Unsurprisingly, he didn't find it but strangely there was a rumour that sales of metal detectors tripled in the hours after he left with his sandy tail between his legs. Chief Brody, Matt Hooper and Quint have been called upon to help with the search.

A rapper and a hummer

There was an unlikely guest in our hotel in PE, hip hop artist Busta Rhymes. His evening didn't go to plan though. He was due to play at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, however all did not go well, apparently there wasn't many people there. His vehicle was waiting patiently outside when I went to bed. Bumble should have tried to cheer him up by shouting, "Start the Hummer, Busta!"