Instead of reclining into retirement when former physics professor, Richard Grant gave up teaching after
34 years, he gained momentum.
Instead of reclining into retirement when former physics professor, Richard Grant gave up teaching after
34 years, he gained momentum.
Between retiring and getting old, Grant reasoned he should do something to counteract the inertia. Having been a keen cyclist all his life, Grant decided there was still plenty of territory he hadn’t covered that was literally, “right down the road”, so he organised a trip from Knysna to Grahamstown.
Grant showcased photographs from his 700km ride mountain bike ride this week which took him and two companions from the lush coastlineof Knysna, through back roads and mountain passes of Baviaanskloof and home to rahamstown in 14 days.
Travelling this way exposed Grant and his crew to the quirks and the kindness of South Africans. It wasn’t uncommon for them to happen upon a friendly farmer who would invite them in for tea and biscuits.
It offered the chance of seeing off-beat, alternative lifestyles at their best (and worst). A highlight was spending two nights up a pepper tree at Peter Hatting’s treehouse guest house in Baviaanskloof.
The tree was furnished with every amenity, including a flushing toilet and a retractable roof for star-gazing. But the hippie commune down the road from the tree house was full of bitterness and back-biting, and were not such a delightful discovery.
“It was not a happy hippie farm,” Grant joked. By hauling their own camping equipment the group had the freedom to stop wherever they wanted.
“It frees you up to go a whole lot more places you wouldn’t be able to go otherwise,” said Grant who recommended mapping your own route and taking your own pannier (a bag designed to fit on a bike) to hiring an organised tour.
While a formal tour might relieve you of your baggage, it will weigh down your spontaneity and your budget. Grant hoped to highlight South Africa’s huge potential as a cycle- touring nation despite the relative scarcity as an option for tourism.
“Cycle touring is not very common here,” he said. But with the amount of less-travelled but decently maintained roads, the country holds infinite possibilities for cycling adventures.
The trip’s success proved it was possible to stick to the back roads and avoid major towns while still staying safe.
Although Grant mapped the route on Google and took a GPS to help guide the way, it wasn’t a military exercise.
A trip like this isn’t just for the hard-core. “Anybody can do it if you’re reasonably fit,” said Grant who calculated their average distance at 50km per day.
And far from being full of self denial and physical sacrifice, the group stopped whenever they liked, indulging in plenty of treats along the way a favourite was the marshmallow cheesecake from Chameleon restaurant in Kirkwood.
It seems that the perks of a self-guided cycletour are manifold. Besides making a minimal carbon footprint: “This is a healthy, inexpensive and safe way to have a vacation,” said Grant, who said they each spent approximately R200 per day.
So why Knysna to Grahamstown? Trust a former physics professor to factor in the prevailing winds, which tend to be more westerly in the winter, giving them an extra boost to their destination in the east.
