Worcester, in the Western Cape, is the largest town in the Breede River Valley and the traditional beginning of the Route 62 for many travellers, a place of about a hundred and twenty-seven thousand people at the foot of the Hex River Mountains. It sits at the edge of the Cape winelands and it feels it. Vineyards climb the slopes behind the town, irrigated fields spread across the valley floor, and the peaks above turn pink and purple at sunset. In winter they carry snow, a surprise to anyone who thinks of South Africa as permanently warm.
The town is a centre of the brandy industry and of fruit and wine farming, and its streets hold Cape Dutch buildings, old churches and a number of museums. The Kleinplasie Living Open-Air Museum shows how Afrikaner farmers lived in the nineteenth century, with working demonstrations of bread baking and soap making, and the Karoo National Botanical Garden, on the edge of town, displays the extraordinary succulents and wildflowers of the dry interior, which burst into colour after spring rains.
Route 62 is the alternative to the N2, a long, quiet road that runs east through Robertson, Montagu, Barrydale, Ladismith and Oudtshoorn, tracing the line of the Little Karoo between two mountain ranges. It has a reputation as one of the finest roads in the country, and it earns it. The bends are gentle, the views are huge, and the little towns have a character that has been preserved through distance and neglect. On the way you cross rocky passes, cut through red-walled kloofs and pass farm stalls selling dried fruit, biltong and fresh figs. Take care with livestock, which wander across the road, and with the blinding sun, which can make the afternoon glare hard on the eyes.
With a population this size, Worcester has all the fuel, food and accommodation you could want, so use it, because the next town of any size is a long way off. Late spring and early autumn are the best times to ride, when the weather is mild and the wildflowers are out. Summer is hot and dry, with temperatures that regularly pass thirty-five degrees, and the mountains can be stormy in winter. Leave early and keep water on board.