At the time, it sounded like a really good idea. Get out of bed early, book a taxi to the foot of Table Mountain and get the cable car to the top to get a perfect view of Cape Town.

There was only one problem - I'm scared of heights. Actually, that's not strictly true. I'm utterly and totally terrified of heights to the extent that I wouldn't even climb up a ladder when water was pouring through our roof a couple of months ago. After much persuading, the wife popped up for a look instead.

I've been in a cable car before - Lightwater Valley, 1988 - and the experience still scars me to this day. It probably still scars my dad too, given that I threatened to call social services if he didn't stop rocking the bloody thing as it soared majestically over the entrance to The Rat.

More than 20 years have passed since though, so surely as a 31-year-old, I can handle a cable car ride up a mountain?

Oh no. While a group of Japanese tourists had great fun leaning over the sides of the car to take pictures of Table Mountain, I clung grimly on to the hand rail and refused to look over the side.

They must have thought I was an idiot. I couldn't speak, smile or take family pictures for them with their camera.

I'm pretty sure I let out a cry at one stage, but that's only because I thought the car was going to stop, requiring an evacuation that would have been both dangerous and even more terrifying.

Time seemed to stop still as the car crept to the top of its ascent, with the grinding sound of the pulley mechanism merely adding to the sense of impending doom.

Things did not improve once I was back on solid ground, primarily because that soild ground was about two feet away from a cliff face and a 1,000-metre drop.

Stretching in front of me was a vista that is widely accepted to be one of the most impressive and jaw-dropping in Africa.

Perhaps it is. I wouldn't know, because I was looking the other way at a wall. And, obviously, counting down the seconds until I could get back in the cable car and return to sea level.

Eventually, I plucked up the courage to have a look, and the view of the city crammed between mountain and sea was incredible.

It was nothing, though, compared to the view of the cable car exit once I returned to the base. Now that was worth the 140 Rand (£14) entrance fee alone.

** The rest of the Cape Town experience has been fantastic though.

After a week in Johannesburg, in which safety issues and a lack of public transport meant it was almost impossible to just head out of the door and wander around, it has been wonderful to walk aimlessly around Cape Town, taking the city in.

It's a vibrant, dynamic place, firmly established on the travellers' route which means its facilities tend to cater to a young and energetic crowd.

I've already lost count of the number of extreme sports outlets offering me a bungee jump, cage diving experience or abseiling adventure. If I can't handle a cable car, I'm pretty sure I won't be bothering with that.

Instead, I opted for a stroll around one of the numerous markets in Cape Town's centre, although my inability to say 'No' meant that was a really bad move.

Twenty minutes and 400 Rand (£40) later, and I'd been badgered into buying enough vaguely-ethnic tat to last a lifetime. I thought the street vendors in Beijing were something else, but even they could learn a thing or two from the South Africans.

** While wandering through Cape Town, I also came across the city's official FIFA Fan Fest. The free fan sites were first trialled in Germany, and were such a success that they have been transported to South Africa and set up in a number of different sites.

They're neither as big nor as popular as the ones from four years ago, but they appear to be providing a useful outlet for poorer South Africans whose inability to afford a match ticket means they might otherwise have missed out on the World Cup experience.

The Cape Town Fan Fest was around three-quarters full yesterday afternoon, with Argentina vs South Korea playing out on the big screen and African music blaring from the sound system.

FIFA get a lot wrong when it comes to staging World Cups, but the Fan Fest initiative is a step in the right direction.

A step that is accompanied by massive advertising hoardings proclaiming the virtues of Coca Cola and McDonalds of course, but a step nevertheless.

** IT'S hardly a fully-blown invasion, but there are definitely more England supporters in Cape Town than was the case in Rustenburg ahead of last weekend's game with Algeria.

The locals are delighted - "You English like to drink and call cabs at some crazy hours," said the taxi driver who took me to the Green Point Stadium last night - and top marks for ingenuity go to the owners of a convenience store on Long Street.

ENGLISH - WE SELL HP SAUCE said a sign in big letters in the window. Well, if you're going to have a bacon sandwich, you need something to go with it.