Heading for the Coast

The previous days riding had taken it out of all of us as no one was in a rush to get out of bed.

So it took a while before the bikes were loaded up and we were ready to move on. Today was going to be an exciting ride as we were about to ride through the Baviaanskloof mountains.

But before leaving the Fairy Backpackers we had to have a group photo outside our Fairy accommodation.

We were soon back on the long dusty tracks heading towards the coast.

Our route took us towards Grahamstown....Needless to say Graham had to take a photo of his town!!

It was at this point that when I caught up with the guys there appeared to be a lot of activity around Peter’s KTM 790. I then found out that he had had a high speed front wheel wash out on the gravel bend before the Grahamstown sign. Luckily he was ok with only a few scratches on the tank protector and hand guards.

After a short stop for running repairs to Peter‘s bike we continued on to a small game reserve.We had to be particularly careful when traveling through the reserve as a Rhino or Antelope could wonder across the tracks at a moments notice. Hitting one of those large animals at 50 mph on a motorbike would not be a pleasant experience!!

The track through the game reserve took us over a small mountain with great views...

The temperature had crept up to 31 degrees whilst we were traveling through the game reserve, so once as soon as we arrived at the exit gate our next objective was to find somewhere to get get a drink. We soon managed to find a small bottle shop. It was a little different from the UK. The owner took security quite seriously!!

After downing a coke we continued on our way towards the coast. As we got closer the coast we could feel the temperature drop. Looking at the temperature gauge it was now reading 23 degrees, a 9 degree drop from 30 miles up the road.

We pulled in for fuel before arriving at Port Elizabeth only to find that the area we had stoped to refuel the bikes was called Colchester, the same name as my home town....spooky!

As we rode through Port Elizabeth, the first southern coastal town I had visited on my African Adventure, it was clear that it was a very vibrant and affluent town.

I was now feeling a sense of achievement, as I had now ridden my bike from Kenya to the south coast of Africa, so a photo was required to mark the occasion. As we parked our bikes I noticed that it was extremely windy. In fact the wind was so strong that when I got off my bike I had to move it to a more sheltered spot to prevent it from being blown over.

With the photo session over we headed for Jeffrey’s Bay to find some overnight accommodation.

After a quick search we managed to find a very nice self catering apartment overlooking the marina in Jeffrey’s bay. It’s even had a BBQ so with that we unloaded the bikes and then shot off to the supermarket to buy meat and beer.

It ended up being an entertaining evening once we got the BBQ going properly!!

Needless to say I was the first to go to bed due to overconsumption of alcohol. My colleagues were on a mission to finish the case of beer we had purchased so continued on to much later in the evening only to suffer the next morning with bad hangovers.