Cycling down the South Coast

Posted on 19 August 2010

We eventually got away from Durban and made our way down the South Coast, passing all the small seaside towns dotted along the coastline, ending at uMzumbe. From there we made our way to Margate and the next day to Port Edward where we stayed at the beautiful Vuna Valley Backpackers.

The next morning we crossed into the Eastern Cape and headed inland into what was formerly the Transkei. What we found here is worlds apart from what we had experienced just a day before in Kwazulu Natal, with rural villages scattered between the mountains. It also made for very tough cycling conditions, climbing back up the plateau was not easy. We eventually reached the town of Flagstaff – not much to see there but at least we found a comfortable guesthouse to stay at. The next day we reached Port St John’s, which must be in one of the most beautiful settings in all of South Africa. We had grand plans to cycle the back road to Coffee Bay the next day, but by the time we reached the turnoff we realized that this was not going to happen. A terrible cold front has moved in and the cold was unbearable, especially on a bicycle on a gravel road. Our plans changed and we decided to rather get to Mtata where we were able to track down a backpackers to stay in. It was incidentally also the night of the World Cup final and booked in with us were two Dutch girls. We all gathered in front of the big screen in a state of excitement, but the only ones cheering for Holland were the three of us, the Dutch girls were bit boring considering the greatness of the occasion for their home country and did not make as much as a sound from where they were sitting in a corner.

We were planning to hit the road again the next morning, but the weather was awful and in the end we decided to stay in Umtata for the day – not exactly the kind of place we were planning to spend a day. To kill some time we visited the Nelson Mandela museum in town, a pleasant surprise and very informative. The following days we continued our journey through the old Transkei. A few days later we made it to Morgan’s Bay where we visited our friends the Wilken family at their holiday home. It turned into a marathon party and when we left there two days later none of us were in very good shape to cycle. To add to our misery we had a horrific headwind against us and life was not very good at that stage. We passed through East London (as one does) and just made it to the pretty little town of Kidd’s Beach where the owners of Breeze Inn guesthouse received us very warmly.

The following day we were in a better state and we continued with our journey down the Sunshine Coast past Port Elizabeth. We were cycling on the N2 when a metro police officer suddenly pulled up behind us. He got on his loudspeaker and shouted at me to get of the highway and take a turn to get on to the alternative route. I almost suffered a mild panic attack and was just about to throw my hands in the air when I realized this would cause me and my bike to fall down. So I just put on my best smile and explained to this guy, who in the meantime got out of his car, that we are just minding our own business and would be off his road in no time at all. I was lying of course and he was the stern but fair type and would not have any of this. He promptly made us take an alternative route which forced us to cycle through the whole of Port Elizabeth’s industrial area. But this is no advice column so I will not urge you to never take this most un-scenic of routes when ever visiting the Friendly City.

That evening we reached Humansdorp and the night after that we stayed at the beautiful little Stormsrivier Village. We continued down the Garden Route and stayed with Lodie’s sister in Plettenberg Bay, the day after that in George and finally reached Mossel Bay in time for Stefan’s mother’s 60th birthday party. Needless to say it turned out into a weekend of eating and then more eating and drinking, but very enjoyable to say the least.

Tomorrow we continue towards Riversdale on our way to Cape Agulhas, our time on the road now fast drawing towards an end.






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