Allen’s take on day 4

As we pulled into Papkullsfontain Guest Farm on the evening of March 11, we sensed the history. Our host Marietta Von Wyk was gracious and gave us a great history of the farm and the family. The farm has been in the hands of the von Wyk family (Afrikaners) for six generations. We were treated to a meal of braised lamb shanks from their farm, complete with home grown beans and carrots with mashed potatoes. It’s a tough life.

Breakfast was a 7km ride down the road to to the Von Wyk’s son’s farm named Waenhais Farm and were greeted by Annelize, Marietta’s daughter in law. The history goes back to the 1700’s and the old farm house has a magnificent setting. We were treated to a delicious four course breakfast: Local fruit, muesli and yoghurt, Afrikaans porridge (tasted like semolina!),and bacon, eggs with mushrooms and tomatoes that would put a “full English” to shame. I think we decided to skip lunch!

j

We stopped at a stunning Kloff or Canyon that sunk deep into the land.

We re-traced our route of the previous day, past quaint homesteads from years gone by and down the twisties of the escarpment where whoopees from the general direction of Brian were heard across the veld. The terrain got more and more interesting as the high glacially scoured high ridges were interspersed will piles of massive weathered mounds from an ancient era. Our next stop is our accommodation for the night near Springbok, some cozy thatched cabins nettled far into the hills.

The entry track into the cottages challenged our riding skills to an unprecedented degree. Deep soft sand may be OK for four wheels but not so for two… At least the distance down was short and the landings soft!

Some reflections so far;

1. We are lucky to have chosen Andrew as our guide. His choice of accommodations (so far) has been superb, his routes excellent and I swear that if given a box of parts, he’d build us another bike.

2. Our group of motley riders have meshed so well. Whew!

3. As we travelled through S. Africa we have seen homes ranging from those that would rival the wealthiest of Vancouver’s mansions to the shantytown dwellings around Cape Town. We saw how nature does not discriminate as the January fire that ravaged the east side of False Bay would destroy one lovely weekend home, but skip the neighbours and completely avoid the densely populated shantytown a few hundred meters down the road.

Posting from Allen

All of us finally got togetherness today.

Thursday, our first day together as a group, started at the Zeitz Mocha museum on the water front. The structure is a magnificently re-purposed grain silos and the exhibition telling the story of Zimbabwe through eyes of artists.

The planned boat trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were kept in confinement, was cancelled due to strong winds and rough seas. Such a disappointment as we were all looking forward to this visit, which by all accounts is very interesting and tells the story of apartheid (on the drive back to Camps Bay we could see the swell and white caps). We settled on a very nice cold beer on the waterfront to discuss our options.

Brian and Gary went off exploring the Victoria & Alfred docks which is a very tastefully refurbished tourist area full of local craft shops, restaurants and stores of great variety. The rest of us Ubered back to Camps Bay to rest and ready ourselves tomorrow’s adventure as we set out to explore the Cape on our bikes with Andrew our guide keeping us on the correct side of the road and a time for us to get used to the bikes (750cc Africa Twin).

It would have been in the mid 1970’s when Allen discovered the photography of Freeman Patterson (below) and especially his pictures taken in Namibia. He vowed then to one day visit this remote part of SW Africa but little did he know it would be over 40 years before realizing this goal. As we plan, pack and ready ourselves for our big adventure one wonders whether the land has changed and whether expectations will be met.

It was Don who urged me on and said he’d love to be part of the trip. After numerous searches for the right guiding outfitter, most wanted to accommodate us in 5 star hotels, Don and I found an outfitter that seemed to fill the needs column admirably. Ride Down South is run by an adventurer named Andrew Vaughan based out of Cape Town. We emailed and eventually Skyped and the story began.

Our trip itinerary was based upon seeing as many of the hotspots as we could without spending long days in the saddle. Andrew helped us avoid duplication and made recommendations on accommodation.

Our travellers are Don Eadie, a fellow Mayne Islander and a friend that I have enjoyed riding with, especially our epic trip to Alaska and the Yukon in 2017.

Morrie Trautman is a friend of some 35 years. We worked together in the outdoor industry but this will be our first big trip together. He is based out of Everett Wa.

Brian Henry is another outdoor industry friend who recently purchased a house on Saturna and owns OceanRiver sports in Victoria. This will be our first major trip together as well.

Gary Caroline is my part time neighbour here on Mayne and one day he asked if I had any rides planned, I told him about Africa and he signed up “on the spot”.