The bike is fuelled and pointed north out of St Helena Bay. My destination is Kamieskroon, in the gneiss-covered hills of the Kamiesberge in central Namaqualand. As usual, the plan is to mostly avoid the N-arterials and ride as many secondary roads and dirt tracks as I can.
The challenge with riding the back roads of the West Coast, though, is that many of them are covered in wheel-snatching sand in summer while the alternatives are surfaced with “potklei” and are slippery as bath soap in winter. But that’s why they call it adventure biking.
While technically prohibited unless you have a permit from Transnet, riding the Saldanha-Sishen railway service loops (they start outside Dwarskersbos and reach all the way to Doringbaai) is one of the great joys of back-roading in these parts. But the extent of my illicit ride will depend on whether Transnet’s boom police are in attendance anywhere today.
I hit the jackpot on Loop 1, not only is the normally sandy surface dampened down by recent rains, I meet one of the kilometres-long train-sets coming from the north. Besides being an impressive sight, it’s good to see Transnet does have some lines that actually work, and which spare some of our overloaded roads from additional heavy freight traffic.
After four engaging loops and passing Baboon Point, with its fascinating San rock-art imbued cave, I make for Elands Bay beach to eat my sandwiches. On the way I notice the railway service road to Lambert’s Bay is open — the boom is up and the derelict guardhouse empty.
But when I return from my epicurean tryst, full of egg mayonnaise and creamy coffee, the no-go “guards” are suddenly back. I’m all out of extemporary excuses, so I launch into an effete monologue of wasted tourist route opportunities and then turn around.
Instead I take the tar route to Lambert’s Bay and then the long dirt track to Vredendal. It’s a little slippery and corrugated in places, but it puts me in a meditative mien as I concentrate on my line and avoiding the wee beasties that often try to tango with my front wheel.
From Vredendal I head towards Nuwerus via the R363. It’s a pleasant meander through vine country and after about 60km of blacktop, I ease onto the last bit of dirt track of my outward journey, a wide and pleasant 29km stretch I’ve been looking forward to all day.
The N7 becomes more bearable from Nuwerus as it passes through the granitic mountains, and, with my head down, it’s not long until I arrive at my digs for the night, Die Storiekamer. It’s an old waenhuis on a smallholding and just as I kick my boots off and take a sip of a welcome drink, the sun sets and the full moon rises over the orange-coloured rocks of the enigmatic Kardouw Peak, known as the “Kroon” (Crown) to some.
Long-time visitor to his family’s nearby farm, Willem Steenkamp (author of Land of the Thirst King) describes it deftly as a “strange gnarled topknot”.
My host, Malinda Gardiner, invites me over later to brief me on the area. A community-based conservationist, she assists local farmers with efficient and eco-friendly farming techniques on the huge tracts of nearby communal land available to them. Gardiner is passionate about Namaqualand and after an illuminating chat I leave there with a pile of books, some hand-drawn maps plus a list of must-dos tomorrow.
Almost bang in the middle of Namaqualand, Kamieskroon is a good place to base yourself for the spring flower season. And with the amount of good rains they’ve had already this year, Malinda believes this spring should provide a bumper crop. But I’m here midwinter-winter and I’m more interested in exploring the local history and lesser routes of the Kamiesberge.
I set off for a walk into the Renosterveld at dawn the next day. Breaking off the main dirt track, I follow a “twee-spoor” towards some hills covered in quiver trees. A steenbok breaks cover up ahead, and I wonder whether the feline-like paw-prints I see a little further on could belong to the furtive Cape leopards that still inhabit these mountains.
A walk around town later reveals a few standout properties and buildings among the prevailing decrepitude, it looks like many old business properties were just left to decay when their proprietors abandoned them. The old NG Kerk is one such standout property, as is the 100-year-old Kamieskroon Hotel.
On my return to Die Storiekamer, I ruminate over the absence of any memorials in the church grounds to the Boers or Nama killed at Leliefontein mission station, strange when there are two Boer War memorials commemorating those who died in other nearby actions.
I leave early the next day and make for Leliefontein to see what I can uncover. The ride up the Kamiesberg Pass, rising over 300m in just over 5km on a steep and badly eroded track, and over the mystical plateau to the slightly less taxing Leliefontein Pass, is one of the most scenic and engaging journeys I’ve taken for a while.
When I get to the old Methodist Mission church, only a lone National Monument plaque greets me. The few passers-by I chat to can tell me nothing either, just that Sunday services are still held here.
In the last months of the war, the Boer commandos’ “bittereinders” sometimes took out their frustrations on the coloured town guardsmen of the Cape who were loyal to the Crown. While the accounts I later uncovered vary significantly, it seems when Gen Maritz arrived here on January 31 1902, and threatened any British sympathisers with violence and death, he and his retinue were unsurprisingly set on by the offended locals.
It’s not certain how many were killed or injured in that first skirmish (one report claims eight Nama were killed), but Maritz and his men escaped and returned the next day with a larger force, killing 35 Nama and injuring about 100 others, numbers of which had sought refuge in the mission’s church. After sacking the town and loading up all its grain and sheep, Maritz rounded up the survivors and marched them towards the Boer camp outside Okiep.
Leaving this tragedy behind, I ride down the wild and rutted track through the ancient-looking Langkloof, letting my troubled thoughts snag on the branches and barbs of the many quiver trees and euphorbia I pass. My head clears and the saga is again buried in the past.
Travel Notes
Getting there: It’s 495km on the N7 from Cape Town and 444km from Upington on the N14 and N7. For the more adventurous, take the R27 to Velddrif and then follow the route described in the article. For those with even more time on their hands, bypass Nuwerus and head for Kotzesrus (passing Landsplaas) and on to Garies, or take the coastal route from Brand-se-baai to Groenriviersmond, and then via Spoegrivier to the N7 north of Kharkams.
What sort of vehicle will I need: You can get to Kamieskroon in a normal sedan, but if you want to do any of the side routes and dirt tracks outlined, best take a high clearance AWD SUV, or safer still, a bakkie with diff-lock or a proper 4x4.
What to do here: Abundant spring flowers are the main reason to visit Kamieskroon, and with the Namaqua National Park and the Goegap Nature Reserve in easy striking distance, it’s a good base from which to explore. This sleepy and safe rural town is also the ideal place just to kick back and relax but other activities on offer are: visit the Kamieskroon Hotel for a drink in the characterful bar or have dinner and stay over in one of its rooms; drive to Leliefontein and enjoy traditional food and take in a performance of a traditional Nama riel dance; walk, mountain bike and stargaze to your heart’s content; have a meal at the well-rated Kliphuis kombuis and be sure to read one of Boerneef’s “Dirk Ligter” stories.
Where I stayed: Die Storiekamer — good midweek value. Call Malinda on 071 091 0464.
Suggested further reading: Land of the Thirst King; Life and Travels in the Northwest (1850-1899) by Arne Schaefer and Boerneef’s — ’Keer Uit sy Prosa.
Best time of year to go: July to September.
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