East of the Hottentots Holland mountains the Cape softens into the Overberg: rolling wheat and canola country that runs down to the whale coast at Hermanus, the lazy loops of the Breede River, and the white fishing cottages of Arniston. It is gravel-riding heartland, home to some of the country's best-loved back roads.
Greyton is the gravel base — a Victorian village at the foot of the Riviersonderend mountains with farm roads spidering out across the wheatlands. To the south, Hermanus pairs sea-cliff tar with fynbos gravel in the hills above Walker Bay, and in season you watch southern right whales from the saddle. Further east the Breede River valley and the run down to Malgas and Arniston give you long, empty days where the biggest traffic event is a tractor. This is also race country: the Around the Pot gravel miler runs these Overberg roads.
Canola season, roughly July to September, turns the whole district luminous yellow and is worth planning a trip around. Whale season peaks June to November off Hermanus. Summer brings harvest golds and long evenings.