The plane landed in Cape Town at 13:55. We hopped in a taxi and went straight to the Triumph dealer. Kevin Swanson, one of the owners, welcomed us. Are you from Dar? Do you know Andrew Stanley? Of course I do. Well, he's staying with me tomorrow. What a small world. He called Andfrew on the phone, “Guess who is here?”. Well Andrew was at Chris Keeping's (another friend I know from Dar) house in Port Beafort and Chris asked us to come and visit.Meanwhile Hans and the mechanics were fitting the racks on the bike and I started mounting GPS.Just before 4 the bikes were ready, paperwork sorted, lugged on the back and off we went.
We first rode to Cape Point, which actually is in a really nice nature reserve. A beautiful ride. Also a good test for the GPS, as the Chapman's Peak drive was closed so it had to find an alternative route for us (and did well).When we returned to Cape Town to check into the Hotel we've done our first 200km.Next was dinner, We took a taxi to Church street where Senait Mekonnen, who used to run Addis in Dar, now has a beautiful new restaurant: Addis in Cape. The food was delicious and it was very nice to have a chat with Senait,
The City Lodge at the Waterfront is a very nice hotel and the location couldn't be better. After an enormous breakfast we set off for Cape Agulhas. We took the coastal route via Strand an Betty's Bay to Hermanus for our first stop. We tried to catch Andrew there, but he was still in Bredasdorp. So we continued our journey via Gansbaai and Die Dam to hit our first gravel road. The Scramblers handle the gravel very well and on these perfectly graded road we can do 80km/hour easily.
Next was Cape Agulhas, the Southern most point of Africa. We took the bike right to the sign, for a good picture. Back on the gravel road at Kars Rivier to Malagas where we took a hand operated ferry across the Breede Rivier. Originally we planned to stay at the Malagas Hotel, but the river flooded the hotel recently (6m above it's normal level!), so the hotel was closed. From there we continued to Port Beafort where we were welcomed by the Keeping family. They used to live in Dar es Salaam, but moved back to SA a few years ago. We spent a very pleasant evening there and Chris prepared a delicious 'braai' for dinner. Next morning we took there daughters around the block and the moved on, again on gravel, via Gouritzmond to Bochums Bay where the Aunt and Uncle of Els have there holiday home. We had a coffee there and continued our journey, on tarmac again, to Knysna where we were planning to have lunch. Once we reached Knysna, dark clouds were brewing up and we though we better stay ahead of the weather. So we quickly pushed on to Plettenberg Bay. Just before reaching Plett the rain started. We found shelter at Alan and Delai's place (cousins of Els) and were offered lunch there. We hoped for the weather to improve, but it didn't. So it was time to test our rain gear. All the way to Jeffrey's Bay we had rain. But the rain gear held well, and when we reached Jeffreys Bay, the sun started shining again.Jeffrey's Bay is a popular holiday spot and is well know for it's surf. It also has a great choice of restaurants and we had a delicious dinner there. We stayed at the, somewhat old fashioned, Savoy Hotel, and the bikes were safely parked in the back yard.We set off early again next morning and soon reached Port Elisabeth. I showed Hans the place I used to live at 7 Havelock street and continued for the long haul to East London. This time it was the N2 and we did 120km/h all the way. At 15:00 we reached Buffalo Motors where our bikes would have their first service. They directed us to a fancy bed and breakfast and we agreed to bring the bikes at 7:30 next morning. Tired of the long ride we went to bed early.
Next morning the bikes were service, washed and polished and looked new again. At 10:00 we hit the road again, to Port St. Johns in the Transkei. Biking doesn't get better than this, beautiful scenery, smooth tarmac, nice long curves and hardly any traffic. By 2:30 we got to the Jungle Monkey Backpackers where we will crash on a dorm bed tonight.Enjoying the good food and music here it is nice to have 'an afternoon off'.It's Christmas Eve and soon we will start singing our Christmas Carols.
Well, the Christmas Carols didn't really happen. Hans and I were the only ones keen, the rest of the crowd was more in to R&B and Hip Hop. Shame because we were planning to sing the typical Dutch song 'Vrouw Haverkamp'.
The party went on to well past our bed time, but surprisingly enough all the bar staff was already active when we got up at 7. Or didn't the bar close?
The winding road out of Port St' Johns was a nice one again. Good tarmac but one has to be careful as there are lots of animals on the road (cows, goats, dogs, donkeys and even horses).
Around Kokstad we wanted some coffee. On the GPS searched for a restaurant. It indicated a Steak Ranch just 10k outside town. So we followed it's instructions. At some stage it wanted us to turn of a tiny dirt road. No sign of restaurant whatsoever. This can't be right. Hans wanted to turn around, but we still deiced to go. And after a kilometer there was this beautiful little resort. They seemed to be as surprised as we were but offered us coffee and cake, at no charge. Typical South African hospitality!
From there we went to Underberg and Himeville and up the Sani Pass. The road got really bad with rocks and boulders. The scenery was beautiful though. At the bottom of the pass we turned around and the dirt road to Nottingham road. Quite a bit better than the the Sani pass road, still quite few rocks, so we really had to concentrate hard for 60km and averaged around 50km/hour. I din't envy the two cyclists on what we call in Dutch 'ligfietsen' (don't know the English word, you sit in a reclining position) who we saw half way this road with another 30km to go.But besides the road condition, this was probably the most beautiful stretch I ever rode. Amazing views of the Drakensberg throughout.
Another hour on tarmac and the we got to Champagne Castle where Mike and Paddy Behr live. I always used to stay at their B&B in Durban, but some three years ago they moved here. Again we experienced South African hospitality at its best. We were invited to stay at their place (the best hotel so far as Hans calls it) and were taken for a great Christmas Dinner.
Zo nu weer 's wat in het Nederlands,we zijn nu 4100 km onderweg en nog nooit heb ik zoveel verschillende soorten wegdek gezien,asfalt in alle kleuren,stenen,gravel en stukken van 50 km met alleen maar gaten!!!Dit lijkt een soort video spelletje met 1 strafpunt als je door een gat rijdt,en als bonus een lekke band.
From Amersfoort to Ermelo. This was quite an adventure as a sign said "road closed". Our GPS couldn't quickly work out an alternative, so we guessed our Scramblers wouldn't have problems getting through. I turned out they were rebuilding the road, so it wasn't too difficult at all. Some stretches there was only half a lane and they would only allow traffic in one direction, but that wasn't a problem for us.
In Massinga we thought of calling it day, so we turned off to Morrungulo, not realizing that we had to fight through another 13km of red clay. The ultimate test for the Scramblers and us.
