The MATJIESVLEI TOUR

There are few times I feel unsafe on a bike. But put me in a heavy bank of mist, when my glasses and the inside of the visor mist-up, then I feel about as safe as a bleeding surfer with a Great White shark circling me. It was a miracle I made it across the N2 and onto the Dassiesfontein dirt track to Caledon. I could see virtually nothing and just hoped anybody coming the other way would be travelling slowly and have their lights on.

- Nick Yell

Yes there are Pinlock shield systems (my Arai helmet came with one, but I didn’t find it to be that effective after a while), anti-fog sprays and home remedies like cleaning the inside and outside of your visor with sunlight liquid or toothpaste (both have some effect) but, of course, I had none of these with me and paid the price —it took me nearly three hours to make it to Swellendam, a distance of only 140 kilometres, albeit it mostly on dirt.

“Are you feeling a little warmer and more relaxed?” Annette asks me over a cup of flask coffee in the car park of the Buffeljagsrivier petrol station.

Grunting a “Ja, thanks”, I secretly wish I’d added some cockle-warming whisky to our coffee back home. To add fuel to my chagrin, I discover my side-stand’s ‘rhino foot’ has detached itself en route somewhere and my hand sanitizer has also gone AWOL. Perfect!

But my mood settles as the coffee and marmalade bran muffins work their magic on my frigid body and lagging serotonin levels. Annette and I are on our way to Matjiesvlei, a weir-dammed bend on the Gamka River near Calitzdorp, surrounded by mountains and saturated with anecdotal stories from this valley’s own history and that of its interaction with the enigmatic crowd up river in a parallel valley called Gamkaskloof, better known as Die Hel.