Ed Sheeran gets away from it all in Cape Town with a good book

What better way to prepare for two concerts in front of tens of thousands of adoring fans than wandering up Table Mountain, sitting on a blanket and reading a book?

That's what Ed Sheeran did on Tuesday afternoon as the finishing touches were put to the stage at Cape Town Stadium, where he will perform two sold-out concerts on Wednesday and Thursday.

The British singer/songwriter posted photographs on Instagram shot by Kevin Myers, the bodyguard who refers to the superstar as "bae".

Writing to the 27.8m people who follow his @teddysphotos account, Sheeran said: "I went to read my book up Table Mountain today and @securitykev took some pictures of me without me knowing, so here they are."

The final photograph of the five Sheeran posted is a selfie of Myers, whose own @securitykev account describes him as a "Triple A rated protective security officer for a hobbit".

Sheeran fever in Cape Town is also expected to mean traffic chaos on Wednesday and Thursday evening. The city council has encouraged concert-goers to use free shuttles to the stadium from the Civic Centre or Thibault Square.

“Public transport services operating in Green Point and the CBD may be subject to localised deviations from 4pm until midnight on both days,” it said.