Baksheesh and Grease on a slippery morning (lesotho part1)

I woke up early to make a move for Lesotho. Karoo mornings are fresh - perfect for driving. I dropped in at the local truck stop and filled up with petrol and coffee... Just passed Bethuile I passed a car that had rolled some time the previous evening. The car belonged to the provincial traffic department. The driver was lucky to escape unharmed as the car had rolled at high speed for about 150m, jumped a fence and missed a few trees. Needless to say the VW Polo was a right off. I stopped and chatted to the lone policeman on the scene. He had been dropped off by the local station to 'observe' the scene. We both observed and speculated as to cause. My suspicion was that the driver fell asleep... There were practically no skid marks.

I pulled up to the border and put on my efficient guise. The Border I go through (Van Rooyens Hek) is pretty chilled and I didn't expect anything untoward. Well. What do you know? The previous time that I had been to Lesotho I had neglected to get the necessary stamp when I exited the country... Now the officials were getting difficult. They called me into the office and I knew that they were waiting for the 'offer'... I offered: "what can I do to 'fix' the problem"? We came to an arrangement and money passed hands. The missing stamp was inserted, as was the entry stamp. I left knowing that I had contributed/conspired to the age-old problem of corruption. I wasn't too distressed. R150 isn't a lot of money to ease the way in a sticky situation.

Before I left the immigration official gave me the nudge nudge wink wink say no more look and whispered that this 'matter' was between us. I didn't argue and left on my merry way.

Poppies van die Platteland - the dolls of the flatlands (sic)

I pulled into Colesburg and went straight to my accommodation for the night - Toverberg Backpackers and Guest House. Jurie the owner is an interesting fellow having worked for many years in Malawi and Zambia as a theological lecturer at their respective national universities. His mom lives in Colesburg and subsequently Jurie and his wife moved there to be closer to family. I have stayed at Toverberg on a few occasions and enjoy my stay there every time. Toverberg isn't your usual backpackers. Its a quiet place that serves its purpose well as a layover on the long road between everywhere...

On this occasion I stayed in one Toverberg's Guest Houses. I was impressed with the quaintness of the cobbled road and the old platteland architecture. The house has wonderful old yellowood floors and some nice pieces of Karoo furniture.

After settling I went to my usual haunt - The Plattelander restaurant. The Plattelander is a family run affair and has a nice warm friendly feel to it… Just what a lone traveller like myself enjoys. OK – lets be honest, it also helps that the daughters are pretty! There is always the allure of the fantasy of the 'untouched - untainted' innocent country girl. All fantasy of course... In the real world the daughters and friends couldn't peel themselves away from the couch and MTV. The main hostess of the restaurant is well turned out and dresses as if she were on her way to Sandton - a little out of place in the Karoo. But perhaps that's just my stereotyped perception on how a person should dress for the Karoo? I couldn't help but look at her and wonder if she longed for the big city and all its trappings. The program flickering on the box was about spoilt 16-year-old American teenagers having little flaps and fits over the prom.... If I could slap wireless I would!

I love the irony. Big city people longing to become 20th century refugees in a small town where they can again get in touch with themselves and turn their attention to making jam and milking the cow... versus small town people who feel the pull of the big city where they can expand their horizons and find a new less constrained life. Humans. Were never satisfied.

All roads lead to Fraserberg

It's amazing how some obscure little towns have so many roads leading to them yet few people go there. Fraserberg is one of those towns. For about 200km on the N1 heading from Cape Town there must have been 4 turn offs going to Fraserberg. By turnoff number 4 I was tempted but alas schedules and time dictated that Colesburg it was going to be for the night.

The beginning of every trip is always accompanied by the desire to get past the city limits as soon as possible. This trip is no different and I was anxious to get past Belleville and out of Cape Town. Driving past the winelands the smell of rotting grape skins was strong. A couple of the farms I drove past one could see the piles of grape skins and stalks being loaded onto tractor trailers ready to be taken out to the fields to become compost. I have always wondered if there is no other use for the leftovers other than compost...

Slowly the road climbs until you come to face to face with Du Toitskloof mountains that separate Paarl from Worcester. In late January I was coming in the opposite direction and there was an oppressive berg wind blowing with the outside temperatures ranging in the late 30's to early 40's. Today it was mild and pleasant. I used the Huguenot Tunnel and stopped in Worcester for a cup of coffee and a snack.

Other than the frequent Fraserberg signs the rest of the leg was pretty uneventful..

Accidents (1)

• A rolled BMW 3 series on the death stretch between Laingsburg and Beaufort West – Picture from Flickr

Speed Traps and Speed Cameras

• On the Worcester side of the Huguenot Tunnel look out for the bloke who tries to hide behind the armco on the centre island. Speed limit 100km. Chances that you will be going faster - moderate (nice sweeping bends and good condition road)
• All little towns have cameras either when you enter or when you leave or both. Speed limit 60km. Chances that you will be going faster - High (60 seems positively stationary when you have been watching the scenery fly past at 120 for the last 2 hours... never speed through little dorpies)

Introduction

So here we are in 2007 and I eventually get my blog on the road... To give you a little background I started a (advertorial) guide to backpacking in 2003 called The Alternative Route. Since last year I have had help with AR and no longer do it by myself. Sadia is now a partner in Alternative Route and together we aim to grow the book further. Each edition of AR goes through a similar production cycle.

1. Get the marketing material together and start collating a hit list of potential clients
2. Do a road trip around the country doing some face to face marketing and topping up existing distributors with more books. Sadia stays in the office and gets the layout and design ball rolling.
3. Get back from the trip and start a calling regime to confirm commitments I have received from potential advertisers out on the road.
4. Design and layout the book.
5. Go to print and start updating the website
6. Release of the new book and getting back out on the road to distribute the book to the +- 250 distribution points
7. Get back from the trip and start from number one again...

So where am I now? I am at point 2 in the process and started my trip in Cape Town on 27th of March 2007.