Paardeberg Road and a small patch of sand

As I am always trying to take the scenic route, no matter where I am going, I did the same when I went to go fetch my passport in Malmesbury. I wasn't planning on taking the day off, so I left early with the hope of being back at the office early as well. I left at 7 am and knew that if I take the shortest route that I could be back shortly after 8. But I was hoping to get at least some gravel roads in, and to do that one has to do quite a bit of zigzag riding to Malmesbury and back. The temperature was around 14 deg C, but I think that 14 degrees in summer is different from 14 degrees in winter. I never once got cold and it was rather pleasant riding in warmer weather again.

The first gravel road was Malanshoogte, and after that Occultdale Road. Both of these roads I have done many times now and even though I nowadays ride them with the same enthusiasm than the road to work, it still beats taking the N7 to Malmesbury. From the Occultdale Road I came back to the Kalbaskraal Road, a tarred road but very bumpy. The bumpiness makes up for another boring stretch of tarred road.

When I arrived in Malmesbury and after thinking to myself that I can surely do better than this, I decided to head towards Riebeeck-Wes with the hope of finding other "yet-to-be-discovered" gravel roads. I was hardly out of Malmesbury, just past the Riebeeck-Wes turn-off when I saw a sign saying Paardeberg ("Horse Mountain"). Because I've always wanted to see what Paardeberg really looks like (compared to Table Mountain you cannot really call it more than a molehill), I decided to turn off not knowing where this  road was going to take me. All I knew was that I wasn't going to mess around too much as I wanted to get back to work. This road was heading in the right direction, back towards Table Mountain and Cape Town.



Paardeberg Road with Paardeberg in the background

Table Mountain in the distance


The Paardeberg Road started off well, the road was well kept and hard, so it was basically just a repeat of Malanshoogte and Occultdale road. The nice thing though is that I have never been there before and I had the opportunity to explore a new area. I was doing around 100km/h on the road with enough confidence to look around at the farms and vineyards. Every now and then a farm worker greeted me from the fields and I was thinking how nice it must be working and living there. Maybe they were thinking how nice it must be going for an early morning bike ride? Before too long the road started getting narrower and with some bends and up and downs. It didn't bother me much until I hit a patch of sand. What a way to raise your heart beat and lose bladder control. Fortunately the latter didn't happen, but I really got a fright when my front wheels started slipping around like on a wet floor feeling as if I had lost all control of my steering abilities. I immediately slowed down, wondering if that was the right thing to do. I guess hitting the ground at a lower speed will cause less damage to myself and the bike, but fortunately none of this happened. I did however realized that I still haven't fully recovered after my last fall in the sand and that my confidence when it comes to sand is still very low. I can manage the gravel roads pretty well now, but sand still seems to be a problem.

I'll swop my motorbike for this farm ;-)

After reaching tar again I worked my way back towards Cape Town, back to Occultdale Road and Malanshoogte. At this point the wind started picking up and I was thinking that riding in cold weather is probably much better than riding in windy weather. I don't think this was one of my best or most memorable rides ever, but it was still a much nicer way to go fetch a passport in Malmesbury without having to face the long and boring N7 with its constant traffic. A round tour of 120km which took me less than 2 hours. Not a bad way to start the day.

When I arrived back at the office I quickly looked for the contact details of the next sand riding courses. I emailed for a go on the 13th, but it was fully booked. Guess I am not the only one who still nearly wets his pants when he hits sand. The only place available was for the 11th of December and then early next year, but unfortunately I already have something else planned for then. I guess I am in for some more hair raising experiences before I finally get an opportunity to do that course.

Applying for a Passport through SA's Dept of Home Affairs

My current passport was soon going to run out of blank pages, so it was time to apply for a new passport. Because I travel extensively, I had to go for the "Maxi" version which is basically double the amount of pages than the normal passport and obviously double the price. Because of the history of "poor service" from the Department of Home Affairs, I decided to keep track of this whole process to make a decision later whether the service was indeed poor or not.

August 24, 11h15

I phone the Dept of Home Affairs to find out what I need in the sense of documentation to apply for a maxi passport. NO ANSWER! The civil servants are on strike.

August 24, 12h15

I try the Dept of Home Affairs website. I don't know who designed and administrates the website, but in general it looks very good. I locate the application form for passports, but the web site seems to be slow and I cannot download the application form.

September 10, 15h00

I waited for the strike to end and start my process of applying for a passport again. The web site apparently is also back from the strike and I manage to download the papers.

September 13, 10h28

After getting all my documents, photo's etc together, I still cannot find the amount to pay for a Maxi passport. I phone the Malmesbury branch hoping that I would get better service than the Bellville branch who has a very bad reputation for poor service delivery (like most governmental offices). NO ANSWER. I tried a couple of times more but to no avail. The rumour that no-one ever picks up the phone at the Dept of Home affairs seems to be true!

September 13, 11h24

I phone two more offices in Cape Town - NO ANSWER. Wondering if there might be something wrong with my own line, I decide to phone the smallest town in the Western Cape with a Dept of Home Affairs, Beaufort-West. Amazingly someone answers. "Not yet aware that civil servants can earn a salary without having to do anything", I figured. The cost of a maxi passport is R380. Tomorrow I will take my application to the office in Malmesbury which, according to the web site, opens at 7.30. Wish me luck.

September14, 7h30

I stop at the Dept of Home Affairs in Malmesbury, 50 km from Cape Town. I came here knowing that the Bellville office is a nightmare; the queues are long, the whole process not working and the illegal immigrants looking for asylum crowds the place. What a surprize. The doors open at 7.30 sharp and I am second in line. The lady behind the counter is friendly and at 7.48 I am done. (The printer was jammed, so I had to wait about 7 minutes extra for my receipt). I am told that I will get a text message when I can come and collect my passport, they don't deliver. Also a phone number if I should have any queries, the same one I couldn't get through on yesterday. After querying the number she tells me that they only have one number and it rings the whole day. I've completed my application, now I only have to wait 5-6 weeks.

October 18, 13h56

I receive an sms telling me my passport is ready for collection at the Malmesbury Branch!

October 26, 7h45

I drive to Malmesbury to collect my passport. After waiting about 5 minutes , I sign for my passport and leave. Thirty-four days after my application my passport was ready. Do I have reason to complain? I guess not. Apart from the fact that the phones are never answered, I have to admit that the whole process was rather simple and straightforward. Waiting only 34 day is awesome. I know many people have had bad experiences with the Dept of Home Affairs, even myself with a birth certificate, but after this application I have to admit I was not only surprized, but feeling a bit ashamed for always expecting the worse.

Clocking 10 000 kilometres

It is a while since I did my last road trip on the bike. I had plans to do one the previous weekend, but never got that far...I was too busy trying out the macro lense a friend lend me. My bike has 9750km on the clock and I am taking it in on Thursday for its 10 000km service. Being a Virgo I wanted to get a little closer to that 10 000 mark before I take it in and the only way of doing that was to take a quick trip before work. So this morning my intention was to take a ride out into the country side, have coffee and return to work before anyone could even notice that I am a bit late. I was thinking of turning around at Darling and then riding straight back home, no plans to venture off onto dirt roads or anything.

Looking back towards Darling

I left at 7:15 and headed straight onto the West Coast Road towards the Darling turnoff. It was 11 degrees Celsius when I left, much better than my recent trips where the temperature fell all the way down to 2 degrees. This was just going to be a quick trip, so I wasn't really worried about the cold. All the traffic was coming from the front and I was wondering if these people realize that it is actually possible to go for a bike ride before you start your day's work. The section of the West Coast Road until you get to the Darling turnoff  (R315) is rather straight and very eventless. At this point I wasn't even thinking of posting anything on my blog about my ride. It was nearly 8am when I entered the sleepy town of Darling. Apart from a few earlybirders the town was very much asleep. I was checking my map to see if there was not a more interesting route to take back home as I was scared of falling asleep on my bike. I saw one or two other options, but they were actually leading further away from Cape Town. At least they would also eventually bring me back to the N7 which is the fast way  back to Cape Town. All of a sudden I was much more excited and eager to explore. So much that I didn't even stop for my coffee in Darling. I headed straight for what I thought was the road I saw on the map, but soon realized that I might be on the wrong road. What motivated me to go on and not turn around was the fact that the road became a gravel road after a couple of kilometers and I was determined to see where it was going to take me. Besides, how difficult could it be to get back to Cape Town from any road on this flat landscape?

Definitely not enough reason to turn around

Aah...gravel!

The road which was perculiarly red in colour (I thought there was only sand in this part of the country) was rather smooth with some soft sand on top. This wasn't really a problem, as I could feel that the bike was quite stable on the surface. A bigger concern came when I reached a shallow drift filled with water. It wasn't very deep, but I was wondering what might lay ahead. I really didn't want to get stuck in water further down the road or turn around. I decided to continue my journey into the unknown. I had no idea where I was going, so when I reached a fork in the road with no signs I decided to consult my unreliable GPS. Boy, was I surprized. Not only was it able to tell me where I was, but it did so within 30 seconds. The fastest it ever managed to find a satelite. It was still another 25 kilometers before I would get to the N7, but knowing where I was gave me enough relief to take it slower and to take time off for some pictures.

Evidence of last week's cold front

Time to take out the GPS

The wheatfields of The Swartland

So where was I? Somewhere on a farm road between Darling and Malmesbury. Not really lost by all means, but lost in the bauty of my surroundings. This was the wheatfields of the Swartland. The pictures I took will not bring justice to the beauty of this area and while chatting to some contruction workers that were repairing a damaged low water bridge I had to point out to them that working where they are now compared to working in an air-cooled office in a city is a privilege that they should never underestimate. All they lacked was coffee, or at least, that is what I was lacking at that point.

Spot the mighty mountain in the background, top right

After another 10 km I reached the R45 which would bring me onto the N7. From there on it was straight back to the office. I arrived a bit later than anticipated, but still managed to walk in without being noticed. What I do know was that I started my morning the best way I could. I did 180 kilometres, some on gravel road and although I didn't get my coffee I still got much more than what I bargained for. On Thursday I will take my bike in for that 10 000 km service and her much deserved shampoo & wax.

So this is what the sole of a tree's foot looks like?