South Africa 2007

The owner of Bucaco Sud in Betty's Baai advises us to skip the distance from Hermanus to Swellendam - and instead to ride the R62 via Barrydale and Ladismith to Oudtshoorn. It is easy to find a shuttle service in Hermanus and in the pouring rain we load the minibus in the morning. It seems like a good choice to take a ride on a rainy day - but we didn't know that this was just the start of some very bad weather. We have plans to ride our bikes from Swellendam to Barrydale over the Tradouws Pass, but because of continuous rain, the shuttle drops us off in Barrydale. And yes, there he is - the one and only baboon we see during our whole trip!

Still in the pouring rain, we arrive at The Barrydale - a landmark in downtown Barrydale. Quite a special place that comes highly recommended by the B&B owner in Betty's Baai. We are the only guests - so we have the whole place to ourselves.

When the rain calmes down a little bit, we go out to explore Barrydale. It is a very, very small town, but it has a few dining options, as well as a supermarket and several small B&Bs. Too bad the weather is so rainy, as the area looks very picturesque.

A fun place to go for coffee or lunch. Everything they serve is home-made.

This is what the river through Barrydale lookes like the next morning after torrential rains througout the evening and night. When we arrived the day before, it was still a small river - but not any longer.

And then more bad news. Not only will the rain continue for 2 more days, the Barrydale hotel is fully booked for the night - so no room to stay. Riding in the terrible weather is no option, so we pick up the phone again and start calling the tourism office in Oudtshoorn. They are able to find someone to pick us up in Barrydale (190km one-way!). All we have to do is wait.

We make it to Oudtshoorn by car. What a disappointment that we have to skip all of the Klein Karoo. It is very open semi-desert landscape, and it would have been fun to ride it. But the weather does not allow. We find rooms in Guesthouse Oakdene. A nice place, but along a major thru-road which causes quite a bit of traffic noise in some of the rooms. The next day, we wait out the rain and when it gets dry in the afternoon, we finally take out the bikes for a ride. For dinner we book a table at Jemima's - one of South Africa's best restaurants - and just across the road from our guesthouse. Wonderful dinner, highly recommended.

Oudtshoorn is famous for its Ostrich Farms. We try to visit one of them, but they are closed due to the heavy rain. Next we try a wildlife farm, but it is also closed.

The major attraction after three days of torrential rain is the river that crosses rights through Oudtshoorn. That is going to take a while before you can cross over this bridge again.