It’s about the journey…

24 AUGUST 2020

Andre has the tendency to charge from one location to the next destination, hardly even stopping for a bathroom-break, whilst I want to stop at every farmstall or little shoppie along the way. We decided to use the journey back home from Strandfontein as a trial run to find a happy equilibrium for our future travels.

After hearing that the wildflowers were exceptionally beautiful in the Biedouw Valley, Andre steered Marius (our 2×4 Isuzu-bakkie) in that direction. We travelled south-east on a small gravel road towards Graafwater. As we drove into town, we saw a butchery on the left and stopped for some biltong. Unfortunately, the butchery was empty (not closed) and we were directed to the general store next door. On top of one of the fridges, they had a weird contraption spinning around with pieces of biltong (probably to keep off the flies). We were not brave enough to buy some!

We stopped at the Veldskoendraai Farmstall just as you enter Clanwilliam on the R364, where we bought a tasty homemade pepper steak pie, a fresh croissant and some cooldrinks for a picnic next to Clanwilliam Dam. Obviously, the angler had to wet his line a few times before we continued our journey on the R364 up the Pakhuis Pass towards the Biedouw Valley. I was in awe of the rock formations of the Cederberg Mountains.

About 50km from Clanwilliam, we turned right onto a gravel road and began our ascent of the Uitkyk Pass. From the top, we had a spectacular view of the Biedouw Valley beneath. The wildflowers did not disappoint! I felt like a proper model sitting amongst the flowers whilst Andre took photos.

From the Biedouw Valley, we traversed a steep descent down Kleinhoogte into the Moravian mission village of Wupperthal.

What a sad sight! At the end of 2018, a devastating wildfire destroyed most of the historic town. Frenzied building activity is evident at the communal buildings, but the residents are still living in a prefab village.

Google Maps then told us we could travel from Wupperthal to Ceres. And we believed Sannie (the GPS voice). After an initial wrong turn onto a farm road, the road started climbing very steeply. There was a faded sign which recommended the road for 4×4 vehicles only, but Sannie said this was the road to Ceres, and there really was no other alternative but going back all the way to Clanwilliam – so on we went! The road alternated between a few sharp hairpin bends and hair-raisingly steep inclines. The view was breath-taking, but there was no chance to stop for a photo or two, because Andre did not think he would get Marius going again. (And going back down would be even more dangerous, because it would be in reverse!) You cannot believe our relief when we finally reached the summit of what we now know is called the Eselbank Pass! The road surface was still extremely bad, but at least it was on a horizontal level.

When we started off in Wupperthal, Google Maps estimated that it would take us 2 hours and 20 minutes to reach Ceres. As we continued, this changed to 4 hours, then to 4 hours 15 minutes after about two kilometres and then to 5 hours after a few more kilometres. We could just giggle nervously at this strange phenomenon – it seemed as though we were stuck in a time warp! We passed through another Moravian mission village called Eselbank, but in 4 hours of travelling, we did not pass a single other vehicle.

Luckily, the descent towards Matjiesrivier Nature Reserve sloped more gradually and the road became more driveable. I cannot remember when last I had been as happy to see a restaurant as I was when we happened upon the Cederberg Oasis just after 6 o’clock. I made a mad dash for the bathroom! Then we ate delicious hamburgers at a very reasonable price, washed down with something cold from the honesty bar (how refreshing in our day and age).

We declined their offer of accommodation and pushed through to get home before curfew started.

Maybe this was more journey than I could handle!