MARCH
At the beginning of March we took ourselves off on our what we hope to be one of our monthly exploring trips. Wait ….. some of you might be completely bored with our stories, specially if you know the Cape well … in that case, with absolutely no offence taken, please let us know to remove you from our mailing list.
Well, we set off for Barrydale, having checked the maps and liking the look of the mountains and hot mineral springs etc. We are constantly amazed at the wonderful world we live in, the mountain passes are so spectacular it is a wonder that SA has not been nominated as the most beautiful country. We both know that other countries have things to offer, but we live right here in the midst of such beauty and wonder. We crossed the Tradouw Pass going both ways, as we went into and left Barrydale. The pass was built by Thomas Bain and is known as the “womans way” – it is an incredible feat and completely unbelievable that a road can cut right into the mountain allowing us to view the splendiferous valleys, mountain peaks, glacial rocks and rock formations of the Langeberg Mountains. The Western Cape in total is really quite lovely, just travelling along the roads, whether main or dirt roads, one is blessed with the beautiful fynbos which is in abundance as well as the lush farming and vineyards.
We again pitched our little tent and slept over at a spa, which had lots and lots of peafowl, including tiny chicks, big chicks and cocks with no tail feathers (?) also feather-duster hens and chicks, the later too cute, with fluffy feathered wings. Neither of us actually felt like the water on this trip, so we spent a quiet evening playing cards, well almost, we couldn’t quite remember the rules of most of the games we had taught our children, eventually going to bed early and enjoying the complete peace and quiet of the Klein Karoo. Well, pitching the tent is getting better, not perfect yet, but getting better. We have made a cover for the car as well, and only if you are really interested and ask for more information regarding this cover, we will spend some time trying to explain. Well the cover closes over the driver’s door and it is then difficult to move the car without removing the cover. Well “one of us” decided it would be easy to cross over the passenger seat, get into the drivers seat and move the car. That “one” got herself stuck, neither in the driver’s seat, nor able to get out. Legs, arms, b’s and tummy needed to be assisted amidst laughter. The timing we are therefore trying to perfect in this tent erection has not yet been correctly set.
After breakfast the next morning we started out for Swellendam, just a few kilometers along the dry dusty Karoo road, one comes upon a “small” square white washed slab sort of building, marked “Ronnies Sex Shop” quite a land mark on this road, and has been featured on numerous TV programmes - a pub and coffee shop actually.
Anyway, just a little further along the road, we came across what appeared to be a deserted farm, it had two little flat roof stone buildings, sort of Biblical looking, in the dry desert. Anyway, we got to thinking if we purchased this little farm that has an absolutely spectacular view of the mountains we could start an old age village for ex-hippies,. We would be able to make and probably sell a good amount of hooch, throw in a few sales of joints made from the lush fynbos and khaki weed, and even try our hand at a bit of fortune telling. Well, lets cut a long idle dream a bit short, our offer was turned down once the owner met us and found out what we were hoping to do.
We spent a good part of the day checking out Swellendam, a rather lovely little town, lots of old buildings – all very well looked after, very tourist orientated. We had tea at a cute little corner café that had an original “milestone” in the garden, this used to mark out the distance from C.T. and a delivery spot for the m |