Photograph: Harley-Davidson explorer

Once that pass had been conquered and I was on flatter ground I kept stopping; not always for rests but also to photograph the flowers among the fynbos.

At one point I met two brothers on Harley-Davidson motorbikes with Cape Town registrations. They said they were exploring the mountain passes between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. They asked what I knew about the Bloukrans Pass. I told them I had seen road signs indicating that it was closed to traffic but I hadn’t established the reason.

While I had naively thought Jeffrey’s Bay would be a humble surfing hang-out I had no expectation of Plettenberg Bay being anything other than the wealthy northern suburbs of Johannesburg-by-the-sea.

It was indeed that, and very built up, but with beautiful beach scenery.

COMMENT: If you had to explore the mountain passes between Cape Town and PE, would you prefer to do it on a bicycle or a motorbike?