Trip to Barrydale
1 October 2001
I have been trying for the last three weeks to get a day off to take the bike and cruise off into the sunrise..... today was the day!! Even if the weather was not great, this could not wait any longer, so I SMS'ed my boss to let him know I was not going to be at the grindstone that day.
The plan was to leave Cape Town and go via Hermanus, through Caledon, over Tradouw Pass and down to Barrydale, and about 20km past there to visit a friend of mine who has an interesting pub along the wayside (more on that later). I took with my Garmin eTrex Legend GPS to assist with navigation via the back roads. This GPS has a moving map so I would always know where I am and could track my progress. I left at 10:00 and arrived home at 18:00 after travelling 603km (377mi) and circuiting an area 7746kmē. To view the actual tracklog you will either need to have a GPS to import this file, or AutoCAD to view this file.
When I left Cape Town the weather was cool and overcast. As I rode up Sir Lowry's Pass I entered low wet cloud and the temperature dropped somewhat. This was a chilly ride and I was thankful when I dropped down the other side. The last 30km into Hermanus dried me out a bit. The weather was still overcast but at least it was no longer wet. At Hermanus I stopped for a quick coffee, and as the annual whale festival was on, I looked around the stalls and tried to spot a whale!
View over bay - Official Whale Watcher with board on his back. He has a horn which he sounds when he spots a whale. The place was packed with tour coaches.
View left from same spot towards old harbour
I left Hermanus, and took a small gravel road from Onrus through to Caledon. The road was about 30km and I could go no faster than 60 - 80 km/h on the gravel. This part was very green and lots of friendly farm workers waved as I went by.
Still overcast - gravel road stretching on over the hill with pine forests on the side
After Caledon, I hit a long stretch of highway for about 120km and I made up for lost time. Here I saw some sunshine for the first time and it warmed up a bit.
Below, I had just turned off the N2 highway and saw the heavy cloud hanging over Tradouw Pass - hastily put on my wet weather gear
Below is the turn off on the R324 just after Suurbraak before you hit Tradouw Pass proper
On Tradouw Pass - guess what, the sun came out!! Note the old stone walls
View up the Pass
New bridge on way up Tradouw Pass
Old Bridge - only allowed single car at a time
This photo does not do justice! The Pass stretches on up along the river with steep gorges on either side. In the foreground is a small waterfall.
The "Klein Karoo" ("Karoo" is the Khoi word for "dry thirst land". It is an ancient, fossil-rich landscape with the largest variety of succulent plants found anywhere on earth) is a large area stretching through the Southern Cape area. It is very dry and is covered by small bushes about 30cm high. Mainly sheep and cattle survive here, but where there is water to irrigate it can yield fruit as well as wine vineyards. On my route is started just after Tradouw Pass and I was headed on to Barrydale on road which would take you to Ladysmith and Oudtshoorn (home of Ostrich farming at the Klein Karoo Arts Festival).
View over town (hamlet?) of Barrydale - very green now as they had some rain
The straight stretch of about 20km after Barrydale towards Ron's place.
Close up of the Karoo bushes - note the loose stone and the purple flowers that come out after a short rain (sometimes does not rain for years)
Journey's End was Ronnies Sex Shop. Ron was an old friend of mine who left the city lights for the peace and quiet of Barrydale during the 1990's. He wanted to open a farm stall next to the road, and as a joke one night his friends changed the sign on the shop from "Ronnies Shop" to "Ronnies Sex Shop". People kept stopping to look, so Ron turned it into a pub. It is now world famous and is featured on post cards as well as numerous magazines. When I arrived, the place was deserted (Ron always works to his own times!!) however there was a couple that had just arrived. They had some beers in their car and offered me one, so I sat there with them and enjoyed a cold beer (after all that is what I rode out there for). It turned out that they were on their honeymoon and were staying at various country places overnight. At least we could take photo's of each other.
Ronnies Sex Shop pub at S33° 46.749' E20° 55.954' at 363m elevation using WGS84 datum
Click here to open in Google Earth
So I dropped in at Ron's Farm next door to say hi
By now it was just after 15:00 and I had to fetch the Nanny at home and drop her off at the station by 17:00 so I hot-footed it back to Cape Town. Problem was there was a very strong head wind, and what with road works along the way, an increased fuel consumption due to the wind which necessitated a drop in speed to make a fill up, I only arrived home at 18:00. All in all though, a good day's ride. Now when is the next one..........