f I have learnt anything in the travel journalism game, it’s this: If there is even the sniff of a chance to travel, grab it with both hands! ‘You know that the Agri Mega Week Expo is on at Bredasdorp next week?’ I said to my editor. And, for good measure, I added: ‘I have heard a rumour that J.W. Swart of Infanta Trailers will be showing the prototype of a massive new doubleaxle off-road trailer − the first of its kind in the country.’
Francois, who is quick on the uptake, replied, ‘Okay, Richard; take your Landy and go to the Expo. Check out the Infanta we’ve been waiting for… And do some camping in the area at the same time so that you come back with a good story!’
Francois, who is quick on the uptake, replied, ‘Okay, Richard; take your Landy and go to the Expo. Check out the Infanta we’ve been waiting for… And do some camping in the area at the same time so that you come back with a good story!’
Greyton to Robertson
I’ve always prided myself on knowing the Overberg well. After all, I have lived here on and off since I was a boy of 13! But I was recently given a Peter Slingsby map of the Overberg which is a work of genius, and showed me that I actually know very little.
So, with my new gift on the seat of my old Landy, I headed out for Bredasdorp, taking a gravel road out to where the railway line runs parallel to the road at Jongensklip. Sadly, the old station building has now been dismantled, but close by is the historical corrugatediron CJV Saal which dates back to 1933, and the view of the verdant green wheat fields interspersed with fields of golden yellow canola had me stopping frequently to jump out with the camera.
The small roads interconnecting the farms of the Overberg suited my old Landy just fine. We trundled along at roughly 60 kilometres per hour with the blue cranes oblivious to the burble of the V8, but the guinea fowl running along the road before taking off with a hurried flap of wings. These are experiences we have forgotten now that we hurry along in our air-conditioned coffins, from which the surrounding countryside is a blur.
I found that, without my having planned it, the back roads had brought me straight into the Bredasdorp Agri Mega Week Expo. Bakkies and cars by the hundreds, banners, people, and huge farm machinery filled the landscape. I had arrived at the biggest agricultural expo in the southern parts of South Africa.
With my ticket in hand, I followed the crowd to the Toyota driving track. This was where a double cab was driving up seemingly impossible heights, then descending a dangerous switchback and reversing back up it again, while the crowd gasped.
