fect entry point for the start of our
African adventure. The only down
side which, lucky for us never hap-
pened again in the whole 7 months
we were away, we had our travel card
scammed. Our bank back home,
credited us the money without any
questions.
Finally, we packed the bike and
were ready to go. Marina mentioned
that she thought we were over loaded
and I confirmed that after I overbal-
anced and crashed into a tree outside
our accommodation. With a repack
and offloading of some unnecessary
items we finally left Cape Town.
Our first day of riding was short
to Stellenbosch where we stayed at a
youth hostel.
The next morning, we again rear-
ranged our luggage as I wasn’t quite
happy how the bike was feeling on
the road.
Cape Agulhas was our next stop
which is situated at the most South-
ern point in Africa. We were riding
through what is known as the West-
ern Cape District, a district known
for its barley and wheat farming. The
rolling hills of the farmland didn’t
offer much protection as we encoun-
tered a very strong crosswind that
made it difficult to ride. In fact, it
was the worst winds I’d ever ridden
in my 40 years of riding. Marina
even closed her eyes, she believed we
might be blown off the road.
On our way to the cape we noticed
in some of the smaller towns, men
sitting on the roadside with various
tools; some had a chainsaw, whipper
snipper or paint roller on an exten-
sion pole. These men we assumed
were looking for work.
Arriving at Cape Agulhas we rode
down to the official marker where the
Indian and Pacific Oceans meet and
got the mandatory photo. Lucky for
us our accommodation was nice and
cozy, I got food poisoning and we had
to stay an extra couple of days.
The next few days would find us
TRAVERSE 96
following the Garden Route along
the coast to Port Elizabeth travelling
through small coastal towns. The
road was not what we expected, in-
stead of hugging the coastline it took
us back inland before heading back to
the coast where a heavy fog rolled in
and spoilt the beach views.
Port Elizabeth is a very large
coastal town with some well-known
beaches but for us it held historical
significance for my family name
and that’s why we stopped here for a
couple of days. A British army officer
by the name of Sir Rufane Donkin
came to the port city of no name and
decided to name it after his beloved
wife Elizabeth.
Walking around the city we found
the inner streets very quiet; it was
only when we ventured down to the
port area it became chaotic. The
main street lined with shops selling
their items we noticed that each shop
specialised in only a few things, but
they had plenty of stock to choose.