Ceres Karoo
We set of from Hout Bay at 0700hrs and drove along the coast into Cape Town then along the N1 to Worcester then turned left for Ceres. Once in Ceres a search for breakfast failed so we did a diesel top-up, and soon we're on the road to Prince Alfred Hamlet, a 9km stretch from Ceres along the R303, after which the road climbs steeply up the Gydo Pass.
On the top of which we stopped for our breakfast, hot coffee and sticky chery fruit cake. We leave the fertile Ceres valley - surrounded by snow-covered mountain peaks - behind us. At a lookout point near the summit of the pass, there's a camper with its blinds still tightly drawn. These people chose a great spot to wake up in - you'd have to travel far and wide to find a more beautiful view.
Our route veers to the right at Op-die-Berg, some 36km beyond Prince Alfred Hamlet, on the road that leads to the Ceres Karoo.
We passed Boplass Cottage a thatched dwelling with a plaque that reveals the estate was allotted to lzak Wilhelmus van der Menrve (ancestor of the Afrikaans poet Boerneef) in 1743 as grazing land. Next to the outbuildings is a memorial wall commemorating all the Van der Menrues who died on this acre of land. There are four with the initials l.W.
From here on the surroundings begin to change. Massive piles of rock decorate the veld, the perfect place for a game of cowboys and Indians. The strip of tar ends at a fork in the road; we proceed to the right as directed by the Kagga Kamma signpost and enter the Swartruggens conservation area. A little way on we come to a weird sandy patch in the veld that forms a couple of low dunes alongside the road, but there's no time to wonder about it because the bakkie suddenly pushes us into our backrests. Ah, the Katbakkies Pass... and surprisingly it's not a dirt road! Honestly, I was seldom as thankful for a strip of tar as this one. Who knows how people managed to slip and slide their way up the pass before it was tarred in 1999? The sheer edges grin with evil glee around every turn, so it's best to look into the distance (that's if you're not the driver, of course). It's a short but formidable pass (about 1.5km long). Like gargoyles on old cathedrals, phantom faces in the rocks keep watch over us the whole way. And your imagination freely takes flight.
Beyond the pass is the turn-off to the Kagga Kamma Reserve, and a few kilometers further on are two derelict cottages. An ideal place to stretch your legs in the sun, talking about the lives of long dead shepherds and farmers who may have lived here once.
Shortly thereafter we twist down the 3km of tight curves on the Peerboomkloof Pass. The sun is directly overhead and every flower has folded open to display beautiful colours. Sheets of vygies add dabs of purple to the ridges, and patches of afrikaners and marigolds intermingle in tufts of orange. Aloes burst from their seams and over their tops you see three, four, five shades of the distant blue ridges and mountains we still have to cross today. About 15kms beyond the ruins the road joins the wellknown R355 - apparently the longest gravel road in South Africa. The road has been described as rock hard and glossy, we found it dug up and full of construction workers and their lorries. After about 25klms we turn right towards the Tankwa Karoo National Park.
Aside from a few falcons, the veld has shown little sign of life. (Or should we count the little dead snake we saw?) We start seeing more and more flocks of sheep, their cloudy white bodies contrasted against the shrubbery like feta crumbs in a green salad. A high fence on the right indicates that there should also be wildlife, but we have not seen any. The veld grows increasingly parched and flat.
We drive through the Tankwa Karoo National Park and up and over the breath taking Gannaga Pass, before driving into Middelpos. Aside from the hotel, a forlorn tennis court, a yellowed golf, a post office , a shop and two diesel pumps, there isn't much in Middelpos. Yes. the SAPD has a presence here and the village has its own school, but the only citizens we encounter are the Van der Westhuizen family. Koos owns almost every propefty in Middelpos and that makes him the unofficial mayor. Long before him a Mr Tomlinson owned the general dealer and, at the turn of the previous century, the grandfather of the actor and writer Sir Anthony Sher also occupied the throne here.
The town grew slowly, and after 1970 it exchanged hands twice more before the Van der
Westhuizens took over on 1 August 1980.
At dinner in the hotel I start to apprecrate the current regime - the plate of country food Koos's wife, Helene, places in front of us is enough to make any mother-in-law weep with joy and approval: Roast potatoes, quince, chicken drumsticks, bobotie and rice, cabbage with cheese sauce... and malva pudding with custard for desert. I'd drive all the way to Middelpos just for this.
After finishing a bottle of red in front of the TV we went to bed. Early the next morning we visit Koos's boerbull enclosure he breeds the and has 27, all friendly types.
Before leaving for Sutherland, we observe a moment of silence at the graves of the English
soldiers who perished near here towards the end of the Anglo- Boer War.
The R354 between Middelpos and Sutherland is a badly corrugated road and unless your vehicle is heavily loaded, you'll have a jolly time bouncing and snaking around, fortunately we had the dogs in the back to keep us on the road. This is the heart of the Roggeveld, even though the wild rye which gives the area its name hasn't been seen here for decades. lt's hard to believe that this land once looked like the Swartland's waving wheat fields. The natural veld survived the assault of grazing, but not the wild rye.
Halfway, we pass Fransplaas where sheep's milk cheese is manufactured under the name Terra Nova. We bomb past as it looks to be a long way up an even more bumpy track. we continue on to where the Salt telescope and its companions await us on the hill.
Daylight and stargazing don't go together and night excursions to the Salt telescope are booked five months ahead in any event. We had managed to book a night visit but as luck would have it the weather was not going to play ball, so we opten for an afternnon visit which was facinating if for no other reason that the cloud formations.
Sutherland, named after visiting cleric Rev Henry Sutherland (1790-1879), has beautiful stone houses and a church that was used as a fort for eight months during the Anglo-Boer War. Vernon Marais, owner of one of the town's many guesthouses, tells us that the cornerstone of the church was laid in I899, but construction lasted only 18 months because first diphtheria hit the district and shorlly thereatter the British. This is why the church was repaired after the war and open 1903.
We spend a nice night at the Sutherland Hotel which is going through a massive refit under its new owner, a lad from Sutherland who spent 30 years as a finacial advisor in Worcester before buying the hotel and returning to his home town. Next day we set off for home first down the Verlatekloof Pass, It takes careful driving through the many fallen rocks in the left lane of the pass. Then something rare happened a thunderstorm dumped gallons of water and like a biblical miracle this parched desert sprang to life. Suddenly dents in the ground became streams and then rivers, even waterfall appears tumbling over the rock formations.
Before long we were back at the N1 where we turned right and drove back to Cape Town and Hout Bay. A round trip of 670 kilometers most of which was on gravel.
