thur- on the road

'Call me Ishmael.........' is the opening line to Moby Dick in case you were wondering.


Thursday morning was the big drive up to Oudshoorn and my next overnight. The road was great, long periods of mile munching through the desert punctuated by the occasional mountain pass where the roads twisted and turned like a twisty turny thing.

Ever since renting the motorbike in Cape Town I had the feeling I was doing this whole thing on 2 too many wheels and it was eating away at me. Every now and then I would see a BMW GS or KTM with European plates and resolved to do it properly next time. This place with smooth roads and limited law enforcemant is made for biking.

Having said that, my trusty VW Golf was pretty good and where else can you rent a brand new car for twenty quid a day? Then again when was the last time you saw a car without a stereo and when was the last time you had to heave a steering wheel which wasn't power assisted or fettle a choke in the morning. Yep, as you can see this particular car was a brand new MkI Golf that we had 25 years ago but they make brand new over here- it was like a trip down memory lane.

I passed through some mildly interesting places and charmed some old ladies when I stopped for a scone and tea. I stopped for a coke and the World famous 'Ron's Sex Shop' which is actually a pub/shop in the middle of nowhere.It used to say Ron's Shop on the wall until somebody with some spare paint wrote 'sex' on the wall and made it famous- not much happens in these parts as you can tell.

After about six hours of fast driving- cruising at 95 I was still overtaken by a pick up with 10 people sitting in the back, which is normal here, I arrived at Backpackers paradise. I immediately subscribed to the Ostrich Braai for R50 having learned my lesson and grabbed a well earned beer and my Wilbur Smith. It was then I realised I had left it behind. Doh! A wander into town and another 2 quid and I had a second copy- which was OK.

It was a very sociable evening sitting around the braai fire and I had the pick of the company. I was also the only guy in the dorm and (quite rightly) threatened with thrown shoes should I snore. When I woke up my bed space was free of footwear which has given me the confidence to say 'it's ok, I don't snore' when finding myself in similar circumstances.