We were woken up during the night by the rumble of the train heading back to Sishen. Having no moon was a nuisance, but for both of us the stars were the most amazing we had ever seen. We woke up to a cold crisp morning, but soon the sun reached us and started warming things up. Soon we had a fire going and kettle boiled in no time. We had our first chance to look around properly and found the dam was full of perfectly clear, but slightly "brak" water and that we had three long dead sheep for company. The bird life around the dam was also amazing. We were so impressed by the way the wood we had found burnt that we collected a bag, not knowing what lay in store for us. Another train passed as we were leaving. Two locos up front, then two more a third back, one at two thirds and one at the back. A total of six. This corresponded with the flashes we had seen last night. We drove slowly back to the main road. It had been a memorable campsite. The main gravel road was in good condition and we got to the tar in no time at all, without any significant pass. At Loeriesfontein we went straight to the Windpompmuseum. The building was closed, but it was possible to walk about amongst the windmills. Remarkably the old PE firm Mangolds Brothers had also left their mark on one of the windmills. Most interesting was an old borehole drilling machine mounted on the back of a 1930's Dodge truck. The drilling rig also carried the Mangolds Brothers label. The truck looked quite restorable. It was certainly complete. It was lovely to be at this remarkable museum with its 23 turning wind mills again. We chatted to a couple of women who were also wandering around the windmills and one took a picture of us. Then it was time to buy some essential supplies before closing time. It was weekend in the Platteland. The Spar was well stocked and we bought bread and two packets of boerewors. The United Reform Church grounds on the edge of town seemed a good place for morning coffee. From here we had a lovely view over the hills to the west and back to the town. There was water pouring out of pipes at the church - copper pipes having been stolen. I went to the house adjacent to the church, which was most likely the minister's house. But there was no one at home. The water was useful for washing our coffee cups, but in a world where water is so scarce, it hurts to see all that water run away. We were both keen to go to the Quiver Tree forest near Nieuwoudtville and we headed south down the tar (it felt quite strange). The sign at the turn off is new and it has obviously become a popular tourist destination. It is reputedly larger than the famous one near Keetmanshop in Namibia. The strange trees are dotted all over the hills and stand out against the skyline. There were lots of yellow flowers about and it was really a remarkable sight. We stopped at the first forest and then went on a kilometer or so to the second. Here we walked up to a couple of solar panels powering a pump and found a dry well quite close to it. Rather than going back to the tar we continued on the gravel and followed it through the hills, passing several patches of flowers roughly following the course of the Klein Doring river and passing another historic farmstead, Gannabos which offers upmarket self catering cottages. We got back to the tar about 10 km east of Nieuwouldtville. We headed straight to the bakery at the southern end of the village where we had bought some super fresh roosterkoek before. Sadly they were completely sold out! We had been looking forward to roosterkoek and wors. We decided to have our lunch next to the church hall. It was strange to not have the tannies sell soup and roosterkoek at the normally active church hall venue, but the dominee had decided that it would be too dangerous for the ladies in corona time. Marianne was keen to have a look at another historic farm, Groenriver. This farm also offers accommodation and it is just at the back of the village. It looked very full and we decided to just photograph the attractive ruins. It was now getting very busy in town, with Capetonians flooding in to see the flowers. It was time for us to get out! We had two choices - or start to head south and do a slow drive back to PE via the Tanqua and Karoo Hoogland or make a beeline for Kamieskroon and do drive through the Namaqua National Park the next day. We went for the latter and we got going quickly down the Vanrhyns Pass . In Vanrhynsdorp Marianne dived into the OK Foods and came back with a surprise - a milk tart!! The route north on the N7 was relatively quiet and we could move quickly. There were signs of good flowers next to the road, but it was getting late and they had already gone to sleep. Marianne phoned ahead to check if the Verbe camp site in Kamieskroon was open, and we we relieved to hear that it had just opened. We had camped there before and had memories of waking up in the rooftop tent with loud buzzing all around the tent. The bees had started early and were enjoying the blooms next to our tent. It took some courage to open our tent that morning! We drove straight there and chose a camp site furthest away from all the other campers. There were only a few sites occupied, close together near the ablutions, but we have been so spoilt with always having camping spots to ourselves and it felt quite crowded. The camp site sits in a lovely spot in the hills on the edge of town and there were lots of flowers and even some quiver trees. The facilities were still immaculate . They had just opened and the lady seemed so grateful to receive some money. They had not yet got to our side of the site to clean the sticks and leaves lying around after having been closed since March, but we used this for our fire! The Kamieskroon peak looked lovely in the glow of the evening light and Marianne quickly captured the image. We had a pleasant evening around the fire. The Loeriesfontein wors tasted good and we had the Namaqua National Park to look forward to the next day. Marianne has been coming to Skilpad every year with her flower tours and has always seen the road continue down the pass, but the "4x4 only" sign had stopped her from going any further!

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