Just photos mainly from here on as I got lazy and didn’t write up the notes for my blog every day – mea culpa!
Our next stop was the Agama Tented Camp at Garies – a lovely long drive across the veld from the main road.
We enjoyed our stay here – it was lovely, but it was enough to spend just one night. The way in and out gave me good practice on the sandy road to the gate with the landy.
I didn’t sleep all that well, a combination perhaps of digesting steak, hearing mosquitos buzzing me and baboons barking in the distance. So I was happy to jump up at 5.30am or so and after a shower I went and submerged most of myself in the plunge pool, this time sharing it with quite a lot of insect life including an overhead swarm of mosquitos. I was then disappointing several birds that were looking to bathe themselves but found a large semi-naked human already in situ.
The temperature was down to a normal level now – still balmy but no longer resembling a hot bath. Gerry and I gazed out into the distance, watching the rocks catch fire (or look like it) in the morning sun’s rising rays.
I read for a while – the book Heather had just finished about the forensic specialist. We packed, tidied the cottage and went via reception to settle the very reasonable bill and get on our way. Both of the black and white collies looked keen to join us. We had been looked after very nicely here and would happily return.
We rattled our way back along the farm track and rejoined the road towards Pakhuis pass, stopping at the Travellers Rest for a coffee ice cream milkshake and a walk along the Sevilla Art Trail. We were warned not to dally as it was getting hot and indeed it was- both of us wearing the larger hats so as to protect ourselves from the powerful sun.
We decided just to go as far as site number 6 of 9, keeping the walk to 90 minutes as opposed to the full 150. We saw plenty of great examples of San art along the way, so didn’t feel we had missed out at all.
Back at the travellers rest we were surrounded by Germans, some on motorbikes on what looked like impossibly hot leather outfits, the others in a minibus trailing a few offroad motorbikes. A cheese and tomato toasted sandwich, a fridge magnet, two rounds of alcohol free beer and dry cider and a pack of 16 beautifully ripe passion fruits (5 pence each) later and we had settled up our £12 bill and were on the road again.
Pakhuis pass didn’t seem such a white knuckle ride going back in this direction, or maybe I’m becoming acclimatised?
After filling up with diesel we had to detour to get to the Pick ‘n’ Pay in Clanwilliam as police were blocking the main road – not sure why, but we found our favourite wine and a few other essentials and were soon heading north and west and within fifty minutes or so we were crossing the border into the Northern Cape.
All on tarred roads – what a luxury! We arrived at the Melkbooms Drift Hotel and Conference Centre (not much evidence of that facility) a little later than planned at 3.20 or so and Stefan welcomed us warmly and camply – we are in one of four rooms in the old converted farm house – very charming with good views and a short stroll to the pool and boma for breakfast.
The resident cat (one of three) adopted us instantly and has among other mischiefs delayed the typing of this by rolling across the keyboard.
I swam – Heather brought a G&T down to the poolside and we gazed out over the green valley below. My memories of this part of the world go back to when David McMillan and I stayed with his uncle (the other brother to Frew) on a sheep farm somewhere between Klawer and Niewoudtville, where I created bags of fluid under sheep’s leg-pit by injecting them badly, then doused them with worming liquid which they spat back at me. I also remember I woke to a black ceiling completely covered with flies.
My memories summon a picture of a barren, dusty and short shrubbed landscape completely different to the verdant wine and fruit growing pastures stretching out in front of me. The irrigation via a series of channels from the Olifant river and other sources is working a treat and has transformed the area – I hadn’t appreciated so many wine farms were out here.
It is windy – and it seems to be a full time wind, not one that will lessen with the setting of the sun. But it is a lot cooler as a result – it did get to the mid 40’s in Enjo so this is a pleasure – almost a waste of the air-conditioning available!
We had opted not to eat the meals on offer here – reviews mentioned high prices and low quality, so we planned to eat the left over fillet braaied yesterday, but with no plates and cutlery we opted for cashew nuts and biltong instead of raiding the well stocked landy. Oh and I discovered that ripe passion fruit is an excellent addition to a G&T.
After eating nearly my own body weight in cashew nuts and having a few glasses of wine, our evening was brought to an abrupt end by Eskom cutting the hotel’s electricity off at 9pm. It then came back on at 1am in order to wake us up in a blaze of lights and a whirling of the ceiling fan.
I slept fitfully with strange dreams about trying to get back home on a flight from Edinburgh until I woke a 5.15am with the cat sitting outside the door wailing at me to be let in against a backdrop of the rumbling of the hotel generator and a strong scent of grenadilla.
Up at 5.15 and enjoyed the coolness of the morning which also brought a fairly heavy dew. It was already very light and there were a variety of interesting bird calls. I watched the swallows swoop on unsuspecting insects and the mice were scurrying about rapidly.
It looked like it was going to be a very warm day with a cloudless sky and after a brief shower I got the drone airborne for a successful flight, possibly even capturing some footage of an unusually early rising Heather in her dressing gown.
I finished the left over garlic bread and hummus for breakfast and after a few cups of tea Heather tried showering but there was no cold water, only hot.
We walked the 1.5k to the reception before it got too hot and after a short spell on the wifi to download mail and kindle books we went up to the dam to see if we might swim but it was too deep for Heather and had too many critters in it for me.
We reported the lack of cold water and stopped in on another cottage to try and use the shower thinking the Afrikaans family we had seen at reception had left permanently but their luggage was still in their room so we beat a hasty retreat.
We walked back accompanied by the youngest of the collies who was happy to share our company whilst occasionally chasing lizards. She stopped and waded in the other dam on the way past – not sure what the endangered clanwilliam sandfish made of that…
We gave her a bowl of water from the landy tank and she lay in the shade. It was already getting hot.
It then became a very lazy day. As I write this at 5pm the water pipe has been fixed (it must have taken about four hours work out in the boiling sun) and I’ve filled the plunge pool.
I went up to see if the tank was filling up to discover the pipe from it was gushing all over the ground. We couldn’t find the cork from
yesterday’s shiraz but opened the cab sav and with a stroke of luck it fitted perfectly and saved the day!
Remarkably the water is all coming out really hot right to the full level – too hot by far to sit in, so that just shows the distance to the mountain stream that the water must be travelling in black overground pipes.
Apparently the porcupines and the baboons tear the pipes open – the baboons possibly wreaking revenge for being relentlessly chased away.
We did nothing all day apart from read and shelter in the shade, have lunch (left over chicken kebabs avocado and tomato) and rehydrate. The heat does stint one’s appetite so we may struggle to finish the half fillet when we braai later.
Whether the plunge pool will cool down sufficiently to get into later we will have to see.
No wind today so the flies are out in force – we will smoke them out with a second bag of wood later.
Heather finished her book lent by mum on the life story of a SA forensic pathologist and I’ve started it now having finished a book Faye recommended to me two years ago – shows how often I use my kindle!
And the plunge pool did cool down sufficiently to sit in it and luxuriously soak up the view of the sunset, and afterwards we braaied the fillet which was delicious although there was plenty left over as expected.
Shame, poor Patrick tried to get a replacement cap for the cooling system in Clanwilliam and Piketberg but without any luck. So his plan was now to drive all the way up here again from home with two spare caps which he did – leaving Noordhoek at 3.45 and arriving at 6.45. I made him breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and tea and thanked him profusely admiring his stamina – what a lot of driving! He kindly also provided a letter to assure anyone that asked that we hadn’t stolen the landy… Safe trip back Patrick – he has to be back to pick Andrew up at Bishops at 12 noon, otherwise he could have stayed the night with us to break the 600km round trip.
We on the other hand only have about 38km to travel to Enjo today, so don’t want to leave too early. It was a cool start to the day and we agreed with the owner that while we would check out at 10am as per requirements, we would stay by the pool and use the wifi facilities as we were going off the grid later today.
Chatting to Patrick he thought a trip to Wupperthal would be worthwhile, so we factored that in and spent the morning charging the drone batteries, all the devices, loading what seemed like a ton of luggage and food up, cleaning the cottage and getting ready to depart by about 11am. We will see whether we have the appetite for the Eselbank Pass when we get near there although it is quite cloudy so that might rule it out anyhow.
We set off at just after ten, but didn’t get far before we heard a loud whistle. Had we left without paying? No, but the owner had fortunately spotted that we had left the tailgate door of the landy open and we were about to reduce our luggage significantly.
Feeling rather foolish, I mumbled something about my lack of experience and we set off again in search of the Travellers Rest, which was only a few kilometres down the R364.
We enjoyed a coffee milkshake and a cappuccino and decided we would return on our way back past in a couple of days to do the Sevila bushman art trail, and have lunch afterwards. No pizzas until the winter, you will have to come back then, the waitress told the disappointed looking Heather.
We paid and browsed in the little shop discovering a thing we didn’t know existed called a bakkie hakkie – a hook on the end of a pole to retrieve things too far away for you to reach in the back of your cabbed 4×4 vehicle.
Lots of weaver bird nests in the trees providing shade in the car park and a sign over a water feature proclaiming camino de compostella all added to the character.
We just missed the well signposted turnoff to Wupperthal and did a six point turn on the bend of the main road, luckily we didn’t see any other cars for most of our journey.
Gravel roads are an entirely different world and the landy came into its own. The key to keeping one’s teeth is to try and spot the heavily corrugated sections early and slow down before bumping across them.
We were averaging about 35 km an hour so it took a lot longer than Google Maps was suggesting to reach our destinations.
The pass up and over to Wupperthal was enough of a challenge for me and decided that the Eselbank pass where gradients of 1 in 2 were to be found, was going to be too tricky.
So we stopped in Wupperthal for a look around, and although a number of the buildings had been rebuilt in their 18th century style courtesy of financial assistance from Anton Rupert, there wasn’t much to see and we were chased up the road to the church by some pleased to see us donkeys and then waved onwards by some kids as we occupied their football pitch by driving through it along the main road into the town.
We headed back to the turning for Enjo farm and after an excruciatingly bad stretch of 11 miles of gravel we checked in, being greeted most convivially by the owners’ mum and dad.
We were directed towards the lonely planet cottage which involved taking a stretch of the 4×4 trail and resolved not to drive any more on the farm to preserve the now dusty landy and our remaining teeth.
Off the grid! The owner’s father came down in his Discovery with three collies in the back to change the window pane the two local wild horses had broken. Apparently they see their reflection in the window and push the glass in with their noses. This was just one of many panes that had been replaced in the two years since the current owners had been in place.
We were asked to water the lawn but the sprinkler would only run for a few seconds and then stop so we gave up and watered ourselves instead with a beer and g&t.
The katabatic wind was blowing quite strongly but it wasn’t that hot – only 31 degrees or so with hotter weather promised for the following day.
We braaied the chicken skewers and had garlic bread and hummus to start, with a greek salad accompanying the main course – bags of wood were available onsite for R30 so I put the extra wood on after we had eaten to enjoy the smoke and atmosphere.
As the sun set the sky went an amazingly turquoise blue colour unlike anything I had seen before. The photos don’t quite show it in its full beauty.
The stars were amazing despite the full moon and we enjoyed seeing satellites and shooting stars overhead.
I tried taking a few more shots of the moon but again wasn’t very happy with the results.
I kept the hyenas at bay with some tuneless guitar playing and drank some of the bottle of rugged rocks shiraz which was surprisingly good.
I must have dozed off on the big comfortable bench and waking up kicked over and broke a wine glass which was luckily empty.
Slept well until 5.15am, although it was quite warm in the room so no duvet required…
Up early again – 7am start to go back to the waterfall and use the drone. Heather had a lie in and Christine Patrick and I took the landy down to the nearby farm and parked in the official slot near the cafe – not that it was open on a weekday.
A shorter walk therefore so we were able to go up to the window in the rocks which was a bit of a clamber but nothing too serious. Patrick launched the drone. Wow. What amazing technology. I was a bit frightened to use it but after Patrick showed me the basics I gave it a small whirl. He then landed it and we carried on down to the main path after taking a load of photos.
And although I tried to move the others away from the established path by finding new cairns and paint marks, common sense prevailed and we ended up back at the top waterfall.
No time to dawdle and we were soon at the tricky section – Patrick persuaded me that it was ok after I tried to bottle out and we were soon making our way down to the lower waterfall and large pool. Christine was gazelle-like in her ability to cover the rock climbing with grace and ease. I was like a buffalo.
Down at the lower waterfall Patrick gave me control of the drone and I’m pleased to say after a false start getting it going, I flew it ok and landed it safely. Heaven only knows what the photos and video look like – very amateurish I’m sure but at least the kit survived.
I swam – cooler than the previous day but very refreshing.
It was an easy return and Patrick saw that the rock hand hold he had been using on the tricky section was moving and was about to give way, so with immense strength akin to Kong he tore it away and tossed it into the gully below – possibly saving some future visitors life in the process.
First Christine and then I fell foul of the drone like buzzy insect like a hornet which kept circling our heads – trying not to tease it I scampered off down the trail and eventually took my blue cap off at which point it lost interest – must remember that blue, like with tsetse flies – attracts these sorts of insects. Was it the same on the Glyndwyr Way with horseflies?
We ran the gauntlet of hounds on the way back – all of whom were either friendly or timid.
Back at base we pondered the dilemma of no coolant cap, which we had discovered while in learning mode about maintenance things to be remembered.
Scrambled eggs and bacon and the left over chakalaka kept the hunger at bay and after tea and a swim Christine and Patrick set off, leaving us with enough food to last a week. It was lovely to spend the time with them – they were great company. I got the impression Christine would have liked to stay another few days but work beckoned. They left at around midday.
Heather and I had a lazy afternoon in and out the pool and eventually had left over steak and salad for dinner – nothing too strenuous. The chickens were out as well as the the geese and Heather also battled the flies indoors. My u3a photography group started sharing photos of the moon, so I got the proper camera out on its tripod, but I wasn’t all that enamoured of the results.
It was lovely and warm – 23 degrees in the evening so I swam again and sat out listening to the insects. Oh and had some of the cheese mountain Patrick and Christine had left us. Happy days.
We felt an early start (7am) would be in order so that we would be walking in the cool of the day and our plan was to visit the local waterfall near the place we were staying – certainly we hoped it was in walking distance as we set off on foot. Soon we were asking for directions in my rusty Afrikaans – I asked two local characters where the waterfall was and was told the waterfront was further on behind some coloured cottages and then on the left.
We walked through a couple of informal settlements – small clusters of corrugated roofed houses, where dogs would rush out to bark at us and the inhabitants would wave us on encouragingly. Passing a fertile patch of mariuana plants we guessed productivity wasn’t always 100% around here.
We heard the sound of running water and were soon at the highest of the waterfalls – a small one but in a lovely spot and I was happy to stay there and swim in the warm brown mountain stream while my more adventurous brother set of further down the kloof (gorge) in search of the larger falls. I looked at his route and wasn’t convinced I was up to the climbing although he persuaded Christine while Heather and I set off back to the cottages.
Of course we found a more clearly marked trail to follow back, we though was better although it did eventually take us into the next door Alpha Exelsior farm, after spotting a mongoose running across the trail in front and avoiding being bitten by a playful staffie who sneaked up on us a pressed a wet nose on the back of my leg while I wasn’t watching.
We decided not to climb the barbed wire fence (Christine and Patrick did having followed our tracks back later) and walked the two legs of the sandy trail back to our cottage. It wasn’t too warm as the wind was quite strong.
Just before lunch Patrick and I went in search of wine tasting at the Alpha (needed to be booked in advance) but had a blackberry and kombucha gin instead on the veranda of the coffee shop, bing the only customers of what looked a hippy chic happy sort of place. I bought two bottles of Rugged Rocks wine, a Shiraz and a Cab Sav, both of which I suspect may live up to the brand name.
Toasted sandwiches and leftovers for lunch were followed by a game of banana tiles, a few drinks and plenty of swimming. A family staying at the nearby Skaapkraal (sheep shelter) campsite came and shared the pool with us in the afternoon, which wasn’t the most productive for me as I dozed and swam, relishing the lovely weather. Did I know David Wilde I was asked, once they found out I was from near London. Well I do know one…
I also learned more in the late afternoon about the amazing range of equipment in the Landy as some of its secrets were explained, unveiled and demonstrated. I hope I never have to use the dangerous sounding high jack…
By 6pm we were all back on parade and Patrick prepared a magnificent braai again like the previous evening, and we enjoyed a rump steak, rib eye steaks, chakalaka, baked potatoes and stuffed butternut at around 8pm all washed down with an exceptional Kleine Zalze Chenin Blanc, a gift to Patrick from Christine. The moon was almost full (98.5%) and was magnificent when the sun was going down, although it did put paid to my highly hoped for star encrusted skies I recall from our last visit. Maybe towards the end of the trip Patrick suggested.
The retreat was sounded after a final swim and I kept the hyenas at bay with my guitar playing until 10.30pm or so. The owners came back at 2.30 am but otherwise I had a sound sleep having flung the beetles of various descriptions out of the bathroom window, having captured them on a bathmat. Africa is not for sissies someone I know once said!
Excitedly I was up at 6am and the first thing I saw was the smoke from the fire the day before which was still drifting sideways across the Cape Flats behind Muizenberg.
This would be one of the last days staying in number 47 as Mum was due to move shortly to her retirement cottage in the Silvermine Village after 48 years occupying the same house. Brother Adrian, sister in Law Inge and Heather and I had been helping to pack things up over the last ten days after Christmas and birthdays and had a good idea how Hercules had felt about the Augean stables.
Today however we were off – well we would be once packed and loaded into brother Patrick’s much loved and wonderfully equipped Landrover. I had driven it for the first time the day before, after dropping the hire car back to the airport, regretting the scrape to the plastic hubcap and fearing they might charge heavily for a replacement. (ed – they did charge but not heavily).
Patrick had been getting some rattles eliminated and whilst on the way to the airport after picking it up from the company dealing with them found that the temperature gauge was behaving erratically and so he pulled over to have a look at the coolant. I pulled up behind but couldn’t help so left him and Andrew to it, we were dropping Andrew at a friends palatial house in Constantia after we had finished with the hire car.
Once back in Noordhoek (the tree fellers at Patrick’s had finished and left things neatly, including a big pile of mulch) I drove through to Fish Hoek, mangling my gear changes in my first experience of driving a Landrover.
I had thought that 2022 would be an ideal year of “doing something new” every day and driving a landy was a perfect fit for today’s novelty activity. Patrick might have been close to a fit too putting up with my wretched driving but was consummately and typically patient although I did sense his jawline might be tightening slightly through clenched teeth…
I didn’t prang it and we spend a pleasant evening at Bertha’s later by way of a farewell dinner for Inge, although Adrian kindly and sneakily circumvented my attempts to pay by going above my waiter’s head and paying the manager instead. It was a fine meal in a fine location on one of those windless sunny warm Cape Town days which are without peer, when they occur – which isn’t a lot… Mum managed the walk to the furthest table in the restaurant, which might have been allocated to me for “my birthday celebration” – a birthday that was being extended for longer than people say “Happy New Year” to their customers in January.
Back to today. Having packed waaaay too much stuff (although worryingly leaving a huge bag and a smaller case behind too) Adi and Inge arrived for a short farewell before they headed off the the waterfront to give Inge at least a small taste of seeing Table Mountain and some r&r before her flight back. Adi was staying on a month, which Mum is extremely grateful for. I guess we possibly should have stayed although we had broken the back of the packing and it would perhaps have become a diminishing return. I just hoped we weren’t leaving Adi and Mum too much to do. We do however have a week at the end of our trip so hopefully can be of help then.
What’s a “doaba” you might be asking? In the same way that “Tiki” is the maori for a journey, so a doaba is the Khoekhoe word for a journey.
Patrick arrived, with the Landy all clean and ready to go, looking resplendent in the sunshine. We loaded and after a few photos with Gerry the Giraffe and us in our safari hats, we too were ready to go. Patrick drove us to Noordhoek to spare his cheek muscles and we set off from there.
Taking it gingerly over Ou Kaapse Weg pass, my first hill start was in Newlands, which went ok. This really is a magnificent vehicle and gradually my white knuckles started to go skin-coloured again as I settled into the experience. The aircon was a godsend, it was another hot day and with my nervousness about my lack of experience I would have been very hot under the collar without it.
Some chap waved us down on the Blue Route – and when we stopped just the the Alphen to talk to him he said that he had seen a lot of canvas flapping on the side of the vehicle. Concerned that we had broken her in the first hour of using her, we rang Patrick who reassured us that all was well – it was quite normal for the cover of the jack on the side to flap in the breeze.
We pressed on and kept a close eye on the temperature gauge, stopping at a service station to the admiring comments of a few locals and picked up a sandwich and some biltong for “padkos” (road food).
If we got to 94, or occasionally 95, I would shift down a gear and that would bring the temperature down. I soon found that at 100-110km/h the landy barrelled along like he was on rails (I must ask Patrick later if it is a she or a he – I suspect the latter – much too macho to be a female – a bit like seeing Bear Grylls in a dress.)
We stopped for half an hour in Clanwilliam after safely navigating the Piekenierskloof Pass to do some shopping – finding a very good Spar and bottle store while Heather stayed in the landy to look after things. Our 280 km journey therefore took us around 4hrs 30 mins including the stop.
Relieved, tired and elated after the adrenaline rush of the Pakhuis pass and the sensational scenery that reminded me why I love the Cedarberg so much, we arrived in de Pakhuys self catering farm which would be our home for the next three days. We parked up next to the Waboomhuis (Waggon Tree House) and dodged the sprinklers across the green lawn, having first gone into the owners garage by mistake.
Not long later Patrick and Christine arrived, staying just the other side of the pool in a cavernous three bedroom cottage – ours being also cavernous but the one bedroom open plan variety.
A swim, a beer, a g&t and a braai later we felt very relaxed and saw a fullish moon rise over the scarlet sandstone rocks of the cliffs surrounding our valley like a large amphitheatre.
What a day – brilliant.
| From | To | Via | Staying | Km | Driving Time | Cost (£) |
| Fish Hoek | Cederberg | Cape Town Airport | de Pakhuys | 300 | 3h 40m | 42 |
| Cederberg | Cederberg | de Pakhuys | 42 | |||
| Cederberg | Cederberg | de Pakhuys | 42 | |||
| Cederberg | Cederberg | Enjo Nature Farm | 40 | 35m | 40 | |
| Cederberg | Cederberg | Tankwa National Park | Enjo Nature Farm | 160 | 2h | 40 |
| Cederberg | Vredendal | Clawer | Melkboomsdrift | 158 | 2h | 85 |
| Nieuwoudtville | Garies | Knersvlakte | Agama Tented Camp | 211 | 2h 10m | 139 |
| Garies | Hondeklipbaai | Namaqua Park | Dogstone Cottage | 125 | 1h 40m | 84 |
| Hondeklipbaai | Goop | Namaqua Park | Naries Namakwa Retreat | 115 | 1h 40m | 99 |
| Goop | Sendelingsdrift | Port Nolloth | Sendelingsdrif | 265 | 3h 30m | 77 |
| Sendlingsdrift | Tatasberg | de Hoop | Tatasberg | 60 | 3h | 77 |
| Tatasberg | Gannakouriep | Gannakouriep | 30 | 2h | 77 | |
| Gannakouriep | Sendelingsdrift | Helskloof Pass | Sendelingsdrif | 60 | 3h | 77 |
| Sendlingsdrift | Springbok | Kliprand Guest House | 300 | 4h | 65 | |
| Springbok | Augrabies | Augrabies National Park | 300 | 3h 30m | 67 | |
| Augrabies | Augrabies | Augrabies National Park | 67 | |||
| Augrabies | Ashkam Kalahari | Kalahari Camelthorn | 300 | 3h 15m | 58 | |
| Ashkam | Nossob | Nossob Camp | 200 | 3h 20m | 76 | |
| Nossob | Mata Mata | Mata Mata | 130 | 2h | 76 | |
| Mata Mata | Mata Mata | Mata Mata | ||||
| Mata Mata | Ashkam Kalahari | Kalahari Camelthorn | 150 | 2h | 54 | |
| Ashkam | Kanoneiland | Bezalel Wine Estate | 203 | 2h | 24 | |
| KanonEiland | Calvinia | African Dawn | 387 | 3h 45m | 59 | |
| Calvinia | Tulbagh | 310 | 60 | |||
| Tulbagh | Fish Hoek | Cape Town Airport | 150 |
The Lawsons on the Loose 