He doubts anyone really relishes getting soaked or freezing on the back of a bike. But spring is here, says Jim Freeman, so it is time to load up and start riding …
Being drenched in a sudden summer deluge during a biking roadtrip is one thing … being soaked by steady winter rains for the entire duration of the journey is quite another. Believe me, I know: I have experienced both.
You might call me a wuss but my aging body does not handle discomfort as well as it did thirty or even twenty years ago. Nonetheless, it was still with some sadness that I stripped the panniers off beloved The Betsy (my 10-year-old BMW F650GS Dakar adventure bike) at the beginning of what was to become a very wet Western Cape Winter.
Day runs and some urban commuting – that has been about it for me on two wheels since the beginning of April. But spring has sprung, the grass is rizz and I am wondering where my trickle-charger is. Oh, and I seem to have mislaid my bungee cords.
I am not quite ready to put away my thermal underwear because longjohns are as an important item of motorcycling gear as leathers, gloves, and a decent helmet when you are headed into the Klein Karoo during this change of season.
There is still snow on many of the mountain ranges and, while engine warmth and fairings might help for your calves and shins, they do sweet Fanny for your knees and thighs when you are employing a high riding position. (I never thought I would need them when I bought The Betsy, but the heated grips are an utter blessing in the cold; regular clutching and de-clutching with frozen fingers is a singularly unpleasant motorcycling experience!)
‘Gem’ destinations
There are any number of “gem” destinations in the Western Cape but, if you are any kind of a biker, Prince Albert has to be right up there near the top of the list. It is not too far from Cape Town (just under 400 km), the roads getting there and back are good, you have got a choice of routes and are a couple of really nice day-rides from the town.
When my destination is an important part of the road trip, I tend not to waste too much time getting there and so it is with my ride to Prince Albert. I leave Cape Town just before lunch and, without putting the hammer down, I make good time along the N1 in the direction of Beaufort West.
Just about 240 km into the trip, I need to take a bit of a break to stretch my legs. This need pretty much coincides with the appearance on my left-hand side of Matjiesfontein and the fabled Lord Milner Hotel. I had the pleasure a few years ago to spend an evening in the Laird’s Arms pub with Dr Dean Allen, who had then just authored a book called Empire, War and Cricket in South Africa.
Matjiesfontein
He told the story of the self-styled “Laird of Matjiesfontein”, James Douglas Logan, a Scottish entrepreneur and social climber of note. According to Dr Allen, he was a railwayman back in Scotland and his first job after arriving in South Africa in 1877 was porter on Cape Town station “though hard work, competence and ambition soon brought promotion”. It was not long before the young Scot was offered the position of district superintendent of the railway section between Hex River and Prince Albert in the Karoo. To cut a long story short, Logan became filthy rich and more British than the English with whom he so fervently curried favour that he virtually became the father of cricket in South Africa.
In his quest for social status and recognition, he personally underwrote a tour by the England national cricket team and it was at Matjiesfontein in 1892 that the first test match in what is now the Western Cape took place. The captain of that England team, George Lohmann, is buried not far from Matjiesfontein. The inscription on his headstone reads “one of the greatest all-round cricketers the world has ever seen”.
Not far from his grave is that of Major-General Andrew Gilbert Wauchope, certainly not one of the greatest British army officers the world has ever seen. Actually, Wauchope was wounded in all four campaigns in which he fought prior to being killed by the Boers 650 km away at Magersfontein in 1899.
He is pushing up the daisies at Matjiesfontein because Logan alleged the general had once confided that he loved spot so much it was there he chose to enjoy eternal rest. The good general was exhumed from where he fell and reinterred in the Klein Karoo. Logan even got a letter of commendation for his efforts from Queen Victoria.
Prince Albert
Less than an hour from Matjiesfontein, about 100 km, one turns off the N1 at Prince Albert Road railway siding and it is a straight run through Big Sky country in to the town of the same name. You come in to the town from the North, past the home of Brian Finch … once partner of fellow guitarist Kenny Henson in the legendary rock duo Finch and Henson.
We have been mates for quite a few years now and invariably we get together for a few pints at the Swartberg Hotel after I have checked in there or at Mai’s Bed and Breakfast on the main road. Mai’s sign boasts the Gaelic slogan Céad míle fáilte (“a hundred thousand welcomes!”) and that is just what you get – not only at her establishment but throughout Prince Albert.
I am used to wee arty settlements such as Riebeeck Kasteel, Greyton, Stanford, McGregor, Barrydale, and others within a rough 200 km radius of Cape Town but such a murg en been cultural and epicurean hideaway as P.A. (as the locals call it) is rather hard to believe. It even has its own state-of-the-art multipurpose theatre.
I got invited to opening night there a couple of years ago just after arriving on The Betsy having ridden through two hours of incessant downpour: the delightful owners wanted to give me a front-row seat, but I slithered sideways nearer where the superb local soetwyn was being served. I’ve also been there for a witblits festival … I recall this dimly.
A bike like The Betsy is perfect for the area. You can head in just about any direction after a hearty soetwyn babbelaas-settling brekkie.
There is a fast, flat dirt-road that runs out past the Robert Gordon kopje, but the champion of champions’ ride is out the South of Prince Albert and onto the arse-kicking Swartberg Pass. Take your panniers off and wear good boots and leathers. It is a squeaky-bum ride but worth the clenching.
You will come out close to Oudtshoorn, which is definitely worth missing, but proceed to De Rust and return through Meiringspoort. You can do it fast or slow but, either way, you will love it. If you are up to it the next morning, do Swartberg Pass again, but with all your gear strapped on tightly. Turn the other way – towards Calitzdorp – and return to Cape Town via Barrydale and the Karoo Saloon on the R62. I mean, everyone’s done Ronnie’s Sex Shop …
