THE WILD SIDE OF THE WILD COAST

“The traveller that resolutely follows a rough and winding path will sooner reach the end of his journey than he that is always changing his direction, and wastes time in looking for smoother ground and shorter passages” Samuel Johnson

The wild coast was all about the riding! And some of the most picturesque roads, trails, paths and views! After a rainy day in Cintsa, I departed on Thursday under blue skies and made it my mission to try and get to Coffee Bay on as little tar road as possible. Armed with a fairly detailed map of the Transkei, featuring vital turn off coordinates, I made my way from village to village through some of the most spectacular gorges, forests and along what has to be some of the country’s most beautiful coastline. It took me the whole day with lots of stopping to appreciate my surroundings and I eventually arrived in Coffee Bay late that afternoon.

Whilst in Coffee Bay, I took a day trip to Hole in the wall over the grassy hills along parts of the hiking trail and even braved the waters with a swim out to the hole (in the wall). Coffee bay is a popular stop for the backpacking tourists and evenings in the Coffee Shack or Bomvu Paridise Backpackers are especially festive with lots of games, Xhosa dancers and locals jamming away on Jembe drums in the background. There are exciting daily activities on offer, including amazing hikes, cultural tours and drum making. The following day I joined a guided hike along the cliff edges dropping sharply into the ocean. We waded through rivers, up and down steep hills, through incredible caves and past the local villages to arrive at a spot known as the Jacuzzi where you jump off the 8 meter high cliffs straight into a bubbling pool in the ocean. The hike was pretty hairy at times with little in the way of safety measures but together with the 12 other foreigners, I made it through unscathed and enjoyed every second of it.

From Coffee bay I headed for Port St Johns, again trying to take gravels roads and tracks as much as possible. The 250km took me most of the day as I weaved through the valleys crossing no less than 30 bridges in the process. It was another spectacular day of riding. The Wild coast must definitely rank as one of SA’s top destinations for off road motorcycling as the network of lesser used tracks is endless and the views: breathtaking. The kids were definitely not used to seeing motorbikes zoom through their villages as they rushed out of their houses and ran towards the road whenever I approached, shouting and waving with massive grins on their faces. The petrol tanks were dry in Coffee Bay and this meant stretching my 460km range to the limit, I got to a point where I was stopping to ask anyone I saw for directions to the nearest petrol station, mostly to no avail but I was relieved when, out of nowhere, a small quarry town appeared and with it, the wonderful sight if a Caltex tower. I eventually came to a tar road and cruised along the last 40km into Port St Johns, relieved that the constant vibrations had come to an end. Riding along some of the corrugated gravels roads makes you feel as though you are riding a jack hammer at times and every time I take my computer out of its pannier case I turn it on with increasing anxiety. So far the pelican case pannier system has worked incredibly well and dust has managed to find its way into pretty much every nook and cranny on the bike but my pelican cases are performing perfectly.

My stay in Port St Johns was brief but nice, it is a much smaller town than I had anticipated and the Mzimvuba river gorge that snakes its way down to the town is no less beautiful than all the others in the Transkei but far more accessible. I left early after just one night in PSJ to try and make up some time on my rather sketchy schedule and headed for the KZN south coast. This involved navigating my way through the towns of Lusikisiki and Bizana, both of which make you feel as if you have just landed in deepest Africa. There are people and cars and donkeys and goats and sheep and chickens EVERYWHERE!!!! It was good practice for cities to come where traffic laws are more of a guideline than enforcement. I loved every second of the Wild Coast urge anyone with a bike and half an inkling of an urge to go and explore it for yourself.

AFRICA UNCUT BEGINS

“A man should know something of his own country, too, before he goes abroad” Laurence Stern

After a hectic few days of final preparations and some untimely delays I finally managed to depart on my great adventure. The above quote precisely depicts my view on travel; we have so much worth seeing in our own country that I thought it fitting to visit some of the places unknown to me before crossing the borders. My first day involved a straight forward stretch from Jo’burg to Clarens in the Free State. Even though I kept off the highways, the roads were still smooth sailing and the 350km past by fairly easily albeit without much in the way of interesting scenery until I got closer to the Drakensberg mountains. The approach into Clarens was spectacular. I took a dirt track over the mountains through the Golden Gate National Park and the views made it hard to keep my eyes on the road. Upon arrival in Clarens I met a chap called Andre, who runs the backpackers and learned that some of the country’s best white water flows down the nearby Ash River. Andre, who doubles up as a river rafting guide, organised for me to join a rafting trip the following day and I managed to rent a kayak from the rafting company. The rapids lived up to the big talk and are undoubtedly the best I have experienced within South African borders. It was a fantastic day and gave me the perfect opportunity to test out my new waterproof helmet camera... thanks Jigs, it is brilliant!

Just before leaving Clarens the following day I met another couple staying at the backpackers who were travelling around the country making short films and they kindly offered to give me a lesson on using my new film editing software as they use the same program and editing software takes some getting used to. Their hour long tutorial will probably save me days of teaching myself so thank you Roy and Leanne.

A last minute change in plan saw me deciding to traverse Lesotho en route to the coast so from Clarens I cruised up to Fiksburg and into the highland country with my 200cc engine struggling that much more with ever meter gained in altitude. Upon entering Lesotho, what struck me first was the extreme poverty, Lesotho is one of the poorest African countries and this is obvious immediately after crossing the border. Next I was severely struck by the cold as the clouds rolled in and hid the precious winter sun. The piecing cold was made worse by a sudden rain storm but luckily it hit as I arrived in Meseru so I managed to find cover at a petrol station. The last 40k’s to a lodge in Roma were tough with on-off hail making the roads extremely slippery and adding to my ever decreasing body temperature but I was met at the lodge by a warm fire and fantastic views of the snow covered mountains so I revelled in the fact that I didn’t have to venture outdoors in the near future, put my feet up and started to write this.

To be continued...

I have now arrived at Cintsa, a small coastal town at the southern end of the Wild Coast. I decided to move on from Lesotho after just one night there as the cold made for extremely uncomfortable riding and the route I had planned to take was snowed over so I thought it best to head south in search of warmer climates as soon as possible. I spent two days in Hogsback, which was like heading back in time. The ride into Hogsback over the mountains on a dirt track from Queenstown was nothing short of spectacular. I eventually arrived late in the afternoon after leaving Roma at eight that morning. I would have been there sooner but the incredible views forced me to stop and do a lot of filming en route. Luckily the weather took a turn for the better on my day off in Hogsback so I decided to take a hike through the enchanting forests to a couple waterfalls, which was brilliant. The hike took most of the day and I spent the rest digitising some of the footage I had filmed so far.

The ride from Hogsback to Cintsa was relatively easy apart from a little fall, my first and hopefully my last, luckily I came away completely unscathed thanks to my protective gear but it was a good little wake up call and I am glad that my panniers withstood the impact perfectly! Hopefully I will start my trek up the Wild Coast tomorrow if the rain subsides but it has been relentless all day long here and could make the river crossings a bit trickier. It is amazing to have ridden my bike to the sea and the next week or so will hopefully provide for some of the best riding imaginable!

Watch this space.

PS... SORRY FOR SUCH DELAY BUT I HAD NO INTERNET ALL THROUGH THE TRANSKEI, SHOULD PUT UP NEXT BLOG POST OF WILD COAST IN NEXT COUPLE DAYS