It was fun waking up in the familiar camp site again. Everyone was now very happy, because they now had lots of hot water - thanks to Marianne! We packed up as quickly as possible and set off in the direction of Calvinia. We had to make a decision - or take the R355 in the direction of Ceres and then make our way back via the Tankwa Karoo again, this time going via the Gannagas Pass up to the Roggeveld Escarpment to Sutherland or use the R354 to Middelpos and then down to Sutherland. We opted for the latter for it would be a bit faster and we had not been to Middelpos for a long time. It was a beautiful day and we wished we could do some more flower exploration, but we really had to get home. We had arranged for David to come to work on the 27th and we therefore had to move. The road was quiet. We were enjoying the lovely vistas of the flat topped Hantam Mountains and wide open spaces. Calvina seemed to be asleep. There was very little activity as we drove past the familiar Hantam Huis and the big red postbox. We noticed two signs to camp sites and made mental notes for future trips. Shortly after Calvinia the R354 turns off south towards Sutherland. This is a gravel road and it appeared to be in good condition. It was coffee time and we turned off onto at a farm track. No sooner had we stopped and a friendly farmer appeared with his bakkie. We were most welcome on his land, but he could not resist mentioning that he had a guest house! The long straight road south has a strange allure to it. One initially travels through a world of flat topped hills and it seems as if the gravel stretches on into eternity. This part of the Karoo Hoogland did not appear to have had much rain and the river beds looked dry and the veld parched. There were the odd turn offs to distant farms, but the Bo-Visrivier saailande were now not cultivated. We had seen a lot of agriculture along the river on our previous trip past here a long time ago. We kept a lookout for lonely gravestones in the veld, but we did not spot any this time. We did come across a strange monument trying to look like a corbelled structure. It was very old and had been erected by a "Biduur" (prayer) Group in 1925. 64 kilometers beyond our turnoff, we arrived at Middelpos. This is a really remote and very tiny village in the middle of nowhere. But it must have played a vital role as a supply and service place in earlier years. It even saw action in the Anglo-Boer War and the graves of British soldiers can be seen in the back yard of the hotel. They were killed in a skirmish with General Smuts's men. We could not find anyone at the hotel, which looked cared for and was open. The little corner shop took one back in time. It serves as a grocery store, a post office and has a kind of home industry at the back. Five very friendly locals were hanging about. They all had masks around their neck and actually put them on when Marianne spoke to them! Apart from them, we only saw the shop assistant, a young white lady packing cookies for a project and one farmer who arrived in a cloud of dust in town with his very sweet, but barking dog on the back of his bakkie. The sign at the turnoff to Tankwa via the Gannagas Pass tempted us, but we continued towards Sutherland. Flowers started to appear now and this part obviously did get a bit of the heavy rain we had experienced at Sutherland a few days previously. It was time for lunch and we turned off on a road heading west. Not far from the main road we stopped at an attractive koppie for a quick bite to eat. As we got closer to Sutherland we were actually enjoying a "flower tour" again. On the last small pass dropping down to Sutherland we found the hills covered with yellow katsterte (cat tails, a Bulbine species). We thought they only grew around Nieuwoudtville! There were lots of other flowers too. In Sutherland we stopped at the new information center/coffee shop styled like a observatory. Marianne went inside to get information and was tempted coming out with two very good take away cappuccinos. I had been looking at the map and seen what looked like a very interesting route to Merweville that went down the Rammelkop Pass. Marianne did not need convincing and we set off along the road to the S A Astronomical Observatory, where the tar stopped and we turned off soon thereafter. The new road started off quite corrugated, but then actually improved. The route was very interesting, feeling very high and deserted, but there were a number of active farms. We got to the turnoff to the Rammelkop Pass and were shocked to find a notice saying it was closed. We turned off in any case, but came to a locked gate. So we went back to the nearest farm. Unfortunately the farmer, Ockie Muller, was not home and his daughter, visiting from the Eastern Cape, did not know the background to the locked gate. We did get Ockie's phone number (023 5712786) and plan to find out what is going on. We continued to the alternative route and found that that too was closed. So we went to another farm, Kromkolk, only to find two very friendly Border Collies and no one at home. Just down the road a farm "laaitie" said that he didn't know what was going on, but the farmers were closing the "nationale paaie." They had to drive via Fraserburg to get to Merweville - a very long detour! He assured us that the road ahead leading over the mountain was a public road without gates! So we could carry on and not suddenly come to a dead end with another closed gate! The road was most attractive and we stopped on a steep uphill section that could have been a pass. The views towards the south and the edge of the Nuweveld Escarpment were breathtaking. Down beyond that steep drop lay our planned destination - Merweville! There was a stone packed beacon and a monument to 9 men from the Marshall Highlanders Brigade and the Sutherland DMT, who died here towards the end of the Anglo Boer War. It was a lucky stop as a bakkie was coming up the hill behind us and Marianne stopped it to ask about the locked gate. This farmer had also heard about the locked gates, but knew nothing about it. She asked him if we could camp on his farm. He said no problem and his farm was "Hondefontein", about 40 km further on. We carried on and could now really enjoy the road, going past the Renoster Valley self-catering guest cottage where there was what looked like an excellent roadside camping site. Then we passed a grader and had a truly excellent road ahead of us. The attractive route took us through the hills just behind Nuweveld Escarpment and we would learn from Gert Maritz that the farmers call it the Rantepad. As Gert had said, one cannot miss Hondefontein. He was waiting for us in his Landcruiser 4.5 EFI bakkie and took us just past his house to a old small kraal that made an perfect campsite. A nasty wind was blowing, but we were wonderfully sheltered behind the hill. There was wood aplenty and we soon had a lovely fire going and were enjoying beers and braaiing wors. We were camping alongside a riverbed and thousands of birds were coming home to roots. As the sun set and the last rays touched the hills, we were very happy to be camping on the historic Hondefontein farm. Once the birds had settled in, an absolute silence descended on the farm. We found it strange not to hear any dogs barking on Hondefontein (dog's fountain!). The silence was briefly broken by the very loud noise of a huge empty truck coming down the gravel and and stopping at Hondefontein. This was obviously an ostrich transporter and they had probably brought ostriches to market. and now came home. The farmer had mentioned that he and his grandfather were farming with 30 000 ostriches! After supper we went for a walk up the road, thinking we would get to higher lands, but the road seemed to go on forever. The stars were bright and the air was brisk. Back at our kraal we soon got the bed ready and settled down to sleep after a really fun day that turned out very well after a forced change of plan!

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