George is the capital of the Garden Route, a town of oak-lined streets and sleepy suburbs on a coastal shelf under the Outeniqua Mountains, and it feels more like a market town in the English countryside than something in Africa. It was founded in 1811 and named after King George III, which also explains the unusual number of old English oaks planted along its avenues. The sea is only ten minutes away, but the mountains are what define the place: a long, green, cloud-catching wall rising behind the town.
As a rider you come to George for two reasons: to refuel and to ride the passes. The town has plenty of fuel, food and workshops, and it is the natural place to regroup. From here, the road north climbs the Outeniqua Pass to Oudtshoorn, a modern pass with good tarmac and sweeping views, while the old Montagu Pass, built in the 1840s and still gravel, winds through fynbos and forest in a narrow, quiet ribbon. To the east, the Seven Passes Road follows an old wagon route toward Knysna, crossing a series of gorges and rivers on a narrow, twisty road through indigenous forest, with a surface that varies and a limit of patience. Rain is frequent on this coast, and mist can settle on the heights.
The area's history is tied to timber and trade. The forests around George once supplied yellowwood and stinkwood for wagons, houses and furniture, and the forests were heavily logged in the nineteenth century before conservation measures took hold. The Montagu Pass was named after a colonial secretary and built to link the coast with the interior, and its stone culverts and bridges are impressive. A small museum in town tells the story of the old wagon trade, and a collection of steam locomotives recalls a time when trains hauled timber down from the mountains.
Nature is generous. The coast is lined with lagoons and long beaches, the forests shelter rare birds such as the Knysna turaco, and the fynbos on the slopes is full of proteas and ericas, flowering year-round. Elephants survive in the Knysna forests, though only a handful, and you are far more likely to see baboons on the road. The air is mild and damp, smelling of wet leaves and sea.
Fill up here before the mountains, bring a rain jacket even in summer, and take the old passes slowly.