Day 10 - Kayser's Beach to Joubertina

Days 6 through 9 were spent visiting with friends and family in and around East London and Kayser's Beach and after a four day break I was looking forward to some more riding.

The day dawned grey and overcast but there was no rain, I had been worried about rain because we had ridden down an 8km dirt road to get to Kayser's on Monday afternoon and the big red machine is not a scrambler! Had it rained we would have been stuck there, which would not have been too bad as it is a lovely place.

After a slow and careful 8km of rutted and potholed dirt road we rejoined the N2 and pointed the machine in the direction of Port Elizabeth, from here on it would all be familiar contryside but still very enjoyable.

The road is in good condition and although it is fairly busy it is a relatively fast ride, I always enjoy riding over the Chalumna, a picturesque pass with long wide sweepers. Just after the turn off to Hamburg I pointed out the spot where we had spent a very uncomfortable night sleeping next to the bike after the third flat tire! Not the big red machine, that's another story from way back.

We crossed over the Fish River bridge where on another occasion a drunken police officer from the then Ciskei refused to let us pass through the Ciskei on our way home to Idutywa, with an armed policeman on either side of the car I was forced to do a U turn and "Go back the way I came." You don't argue with an armed drunk policeman, especially with your family in the car! Lots of memories on that road!

We refuelled in Port Alfred and carried on with the sky gradually clearing and brightening the day, we had really been lucky with the weather because as we crossed rivers the further south we got we could see evidence of how they had come down in flood just a week before.

We refuelled in Port Alfred and then did some high speed cruising along that lovely picturesque coastal road going through Kenton on Sea and up through Alexandria to rejoin the N2. From there into Port Elizabeth is pretty boring with lots of road construction under way, and as usual it gets pretty windy in that area.

After a good brunch stop at "Barney's Tavern" where we met an old friend; Dirk, we mounted up and headed west on the N2. From there the wind was blowing strong and it was quite uncomfortable, I was getting quite tired of hanging onto the handelbars with the wind pumping from the left and by the time we reached the R62 turn off I pulled over. We decided to head away from the wind and take the familiar R62.

We cruised along for the 35kms to Kareedouw and pulled off the road for a cup of coffee at "The Sweating Dutchman" coffee shop, a really good coffee and we stood around relieving sore saddle muscles for about three quaters of an hour.

Back on the bike, 45kms to Joubertina. The R62 is a lovely ride, but it is not a particularly fast road because it is narrow and quite bumpy but you ride through lovely countryside and most of the time we feel that we do not want to ride fast, we are not in any particular hurry and just want to enjoy the scenery.

By the time we reached Joubertina it was 1515 and we pulled into the garage to refuel, we had been there many times but had never been into the town. We discussed our options; we did not feel like doing another 180kms to Oudtshoorn, it was some 70kms to Uniondale but that was a bit of a dump so we decided to look for accommodation in Joubertina. It is actually a very pretty little village and after a beer in a little pub we were directed to a guest house back out on the R62, we settled into a very pretty and comfortable cottage. You can see the big red machine parked out front next to the door, there were a couple of occasions on this trip where she was not under cover!

We had a nice meal later in the country club, I had a delicious lamb shank and Janet had crumbed pork chops - I think by then I was pretty much "lambed out". The locals in the bar that night were very interested in our travels and in the motorbike and that was something we found in many places on the trip; lots of friendly people.

It is so good to travel on a motorbike!

470kms