Bo-Swaarmoed

November 11, 2025

Another day, another hill to climb, this time in the heat. Foolishly we had delayed our start until after seven o'clock so that we could buy fresh bread from the local supermarket before leaving town. The risk was that all that would be available at seven in the morning would be yesterday's bread and so it was. The forecast for Prince Alfred's was for a maximum of thirty four degrees and by the time we reached the start of the main climb it was already a scorcher.

We took our time, stopping often to catch our breath and to let the tailwind cool us a bit. The route took us out of the valley and up towards a high ridge below the Matroosberg. Thankfully the higher we climb the cooler it got and it was at least five degrees cooler once we reached the campground at Klondike Cherry Farm than it was down in the valley. The farm lies just below the Matroosberg. At twelve hundred meters above sea level this is the highest we have been on this trip.

The top of the Matroosberg is two thousand two hundred and forty nine meters above sea level and is the second highest in the Western Cape after Seweweekspoortpiek which reaches to two thousand three hundred and thirty five (we might pass close by it depending on which route we take in a few days time).

The Matroosberg in the background with cherry orchids in the foreground.

It's more than 900 meters above us yet it looks like a small hill.

Halfway up the climb we disturbed a troop of Chacma Baboons (Papio ursinus) in the road. They are amongst the largest of monkeys and the males, who can weigh up to forty five kilograms (about eighty percent of my body weight) and have fangs up to 4 cm long (much longer than mine) are worth avoiding if they have become used to humans and associate them with food. However, away from urban areas they are far more nervous of humans and the troop quickly scarpered up the mountain giving us an open road.

We head to Touws River tomorrow. A dire little town on the N1 highway that runs from Cape Town northwards to Beit Bridge on the border with Zimbabwe. We had no desire to spend a night there so we have booked accomodation on a farm three kilometers before the town. The only issue is I will now have to cycle into town to buy groceries and then back to the farm. Nonetheless it's the lesser of two evils.

We'll be stuck on the N1 for at least two days before we can escape towards the Little Karoo. How bad it will be will probably determine our route back home.

Today's ride: 29 km (18 miles)
Total: 1,156 km (718 miles)

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