The Sands of Malgas…

I was up early, determined to cancel out the “latest leaving” of yesterday, with the “earliest I’ve ever left”, today !! By 6.00am I was “locked and loaded” and ready to “rock and roll”… The Golf Inn had not yet risen to the challenges of this new day, and I had the minor complication of exiting through the electric gate using the remote control I had been given, and then getting the keys back inside…. My room was a good 50 metres from the gate, and the gate closed automatically after about 60 seconds…. I needed this kind of exercise first thing in the morning, like a hole in the head !!  I parked the bike right in front of the gate, pressed the remote button on my room key, then charged back to my room to throw the keys on the bed, shut the door, charged back to my bike, and rode it out onto the road, just as the gate was closing behind me…

By the time the sun came up, I was well on my way, having ridden over the Gourits River Bridge, and on past Albertina, where Aloes are grown commercially and their sap is extracted to make both health and beauty products, as well as a variety of other products used in medicines. The most commonly used species are the Aloe Vera and the Aloe Ferox.

“Did You Know…?” It takes 1000 kgs of Aloe sap to make just 3 kgs of Aloe Gel ?? Now you do !! So use it sparingly !!

At a steady clip, I rode on towards Riversdale. The Outeniqua Mountains had by now faded into the distance, and the Langeberg Mountain surrounding this sleepy little town, was shrouded in cloud… I have been told that you are able to make out the form of a sleeping lady on the mountain top above the town, but hanging onto a bike at 120 km/h does not afford one the opportunity to be looking up at the mountains… This is however a beautiful part of the Cape, with fields of lucerne, wheat and other cereals grown on lush farmlands.

I passed Heidelberg, with it’s many Ostrich farms, birds in huge flocks on either side of the highway, and stopped at the turnoff at Buffelsjagrivier, arriving there at 8.00am, marveling at the fact that I had already covered 160km of today’s ride… While I was in East London, I had received a call from a certain “Riaan” of Hermanus, who suggested I ride the back roads to Malgas, in order to get to Bredasdorp. He had heard about my ride from Rob Gush, and made contact with me to enquire about my route… I needed to get as comfortable on sand with this big bike, before I tackled the longer stretches that I intended to do in Namibia in a few days time, and decided to take his advice. I was further intrigued by his mention of the “Pont over the Breede River”…

The turnoff at Buffelsjagrivier lies just up ahead...

I interrupted an informal farmers meeting, which was taking place on the forecourt of the petrol station, and asked about the

The Big Fella takes the sand to Malgas in his stride....

condition of the road to Malgas. There followed a lengthy discussion that had me wondering if my choice to ride these roads was a wise one….!! One guy said the road was full of potholes and had a lot of sharp and dangerous turns which needed to be taken carefully… The other said I would have no problems as long as I kept the speed down to 80 km/h…!!  Finally, an older man said, “Ag fok man, julle maak die ou verniet bang !! Julle kan somer sien dat hy sy ding ken met all daai goeters op sy fiets !!” and then to me, ” Swarrie !! Ry daai perd van jou hierlangs… Dis a lekker pad !!”

And with that sage advice, I was off !!

This would be the longest stretch of off road I would tackle on my own, and at the end of it, I was glad that I did… The first section to Malgas was covered in loose bits of gravel, that had the back end misbehaving at times, but we got through it without any sphincter clenching moments at all !! After a few sharp turns that wound down to the valley where the Dipka River ran, we climbed back out onto a plateau where the views of the surrounding farms was breathtaking… Ostriches ran away from the fences they were walking along, startled by the growl from the Big Fella, their feathers flying… I passed straight through a farmstead, and stopped to watch a few border collies herding a large flock of sheep. I had inadvertently stopped in their path, but the dogs and the sheep paid me no heed, the flock splitting into two around me and continuing on behind me without so much as missing a beat…. It was an amazing experience….that I naturally did not capture on film… Fiddlesticks !!!!

The little settlement of Malgas, on the banks of the Breede River...

A few kilometres further on, I came over the brow of a hill and below me lay Malgas, on the Breede River. The road wound down a steep hill and ended on the banks of the river itself. The Pont, or ferry, was already halfway across to the far bank, delivering a pick-up filled with sheep. I waited while the two guys pulling the Pont brought it back across the river to collect the Big Fella and I.

I rode onto the Pont, parked the bike, and then engaged in some friendly banter with the guys, while they “walked” the Pont back over the river… This for the princely sum of R12.00….. It was an amazing experience, and after riding off the Pont, I parked on the top of the hill behind the little hotel and took a few more pictures of the village.

Onto the Pont....

The Pont is pulled across the river by these two guys, who wrap chains around the cable on the side, and then walk forward, propelling the Pont through the water...

I got the headcam set up and filmed the next 50 kms of sand, all the way to Bredasdorp. The road had recently been graded, and I was able to ride at an average of about 100 km/h, the bike handling the gentle bends without so much as a twitch…. Exhilirating stuff !! I was especially chuffed by the fact that I had ridden this section alone, without mishap, confident in the bike and my ability to ride this fully loaded machine through the sand…. Great preparation for Namibia !!

I stopped in Bredasdorp, and asked a passerby to take the picture below, on the exact spot I had taken one in December 2007, early on in my long ride to Dar es Salaam…. Not much had changed since then…

The same spiteful wind was blowing, and I still had to ride the last section to Aghulas….

Bredasdorp, last stop before Struisbaai and Cape Aghulas...

© GBWT 2010