We woke up to an overcast morning. It seemed to have got warmer during the night, but it was now looking as though the forecast cold front might be quite serious. We decided to skip Meiringspoort and go over the Swartberg Pass. We stopped for diesel at the Agri in Oudtshoorn. The weather was now very threatening and there was heavy cloud on the mountains. So we changed our minds and decided to go through Seweweekspoort. So we headed for Calitzdorp. The Klein Karoo is always beautiful, but it started to rain just as we got into the Huisrivier Pass. This is one of the most spectacular passes in the country, but it was a bit spoiled by the rain. We stopped at one of the viewpoints for morning coffee. Sitting in the back of the car in the rain reminded us of a certain day in northern Uganda! The rain soon petered out and after the pass we were turned off onto an unexpected detour along gravel back roads in Amalienstein. It was a short distance to the Seweweekspoort turnoff. This is another spectacular cut through the Swartberg mountains, but unlike Meiringspoort it is still gravel with many low level drifts. The rock formations are remarkable, often red, with incredible folding. There were plenty of roadworks with many of the drifts being upgraded. We stopped to explore a roadside cave. At the end of the pass we turned left to follow the gravel road to the N1. This was a road that Marianne had done many years ago, but was new to me. The road was very wet and slippery in places and we engaged four wheel drive for safety. Looking for a lunch stop we took a road that turned off to the left and got to a beautiful spot where it crossed a river. The sun was breaking through every now and then and we enjoyed exploring the area that would make an excellent wild camp as it was possible to get well off the road. We continued on this interesting back route to Laingsburg and crossed another series of high hills by means of two small passes, one being called Witnekkies, because of the quartzite outcrops. When we got to the N1, it was a short drive to Laingsburg. Looking at the marker that indicates the height of the floodwater in 1981 never fails to amaze. Over 100 people lost their lives with 72 bodies never being found. After Laingsburg, we continued to Matjiesfontein where we turned off onto the R354 to Sutherland. Our afternoon coffee stop was at a gravel turnoff just before the Northern Cape border. There was more traffic on this road than the main road. Taxis trying to sneak past border checks? But there was no check at the border and we drove on, noticing a new wind farm under construction. Then 30 km before Sutherland, it was up the Verlatekloof Pass to the Roggeveld escarpment. This attractive pass was set out by Thomas Baine and one ascends 1000 m onto the high plateau. It was now raining again and camping did not look like an attractive option. Phoning around, we found that most reasonably priced accommodation was being used by wind farm construction workers and Marianne was disgusted that the owner of the upmarket guest houses wanted to change us a ridiculous rate, despite the fact that she has brought him bus loads of business. He was obviously trying to make up for the lack of tourists for the past few months due to Covid. From Google we picked up the details of the guest farm, Blesfontein, 16 km from Sutherland and on our way down to the Tankwa Karoo the next day. They still had a rondavel available and we set off immediately since it was getting late and the weather was deteriorating. The farmer had asked us about our type of vehicle and thought that the road would be like a tar road for the Cruiser. We soon realized why he had checked on our vehicle. The road after the turn off from the main road was horrendous. Not only was it badly corrugated, it was slippery and full of water filled potholes. Marianne took over the driving and we slipped and shook as we made our way and actually passed the turn off without noticing the large sign board, because we were trying to not slide off the road. Fortunately our GPS indicated that we were driving away from the place and we quickly turned back. The track to the farm was no better and we were relieved to arrive just before dark. The attractive round stone hut was very welcoming and we soon had a fire going. We discovered that there was power and an electric blanket. We decided to supplement the heat of the fire with our own little blow heater. It was freezing and the wind was howling outside. We felt snug and warm and soon we sat down to enjoy our pre-made meal of soup and stew that we had brought along from home. We were wondering whether it was going to snow. After all, we were at 1375m altitude! And Sutherland is one of the coldest places in the country.

Geschreven door Leartravels