We had now come to "the end of the beginning" of the trip. From now on we would be exploring places we had never been to, or had visited so long ago that they were forgotten. But first we headed back to Willowmore to visit the old powder house and a cemetery that apparently had Anglo Boer War graves. It was strange to find an old cemetery linked to one still in use. We walked past the graves of those recently buried and then passed through a wall into a much older area. There were some graves relating to Boer war activities and as usual much of the history of the town could be read on the tombstones. (We later learned that the iron crosses on British graves had been stolen twice for their scrap value.) It was also notable that there seemed to a large proportion of child graves. While I was looking around, Marianne went to look at the powder house. Then we turned west towards Klaarstroom. This is a tiny village that Marianne had been to quite often, but always from the main tarred road with her tourists. Now we would be taking a minor gravel road (109 km). Gravel roads are always a gamble as their condition can vary from week to week, depending on when last they were graded, what usage they receive in terms of numbers and size of vehicles and when last it rained. We had no idea what to expect. The road surface turned out to be good with only a little corrugation and we cruised along. The veld was very, very dry and the rivers streams of sand. It was a beautiful drive with the impressive Groot Swartberg Mountains to the south of us and the wide expanse of the Karoo landscape dotted with undulating hills to the north. As usual we were looking for a coffee stop and this proved quite difficult as there weren't many features along the way, but then we got to Vondeling, a deserted railway siding. We turned in and stopped next to the ruined station building. There seemed to be no one about so we had coffee and explored. Some shouting in the distance proved to be men herding sheep along the road, followed by the farmer in his Landcruiser. The place had a sad and forlorn atmosphere with the once lovely old little railway station and station master's house stripped and the old rails now slowly rusting away. After a thought provoking half hour we set off again. The road remained the same, straight and dusty and we saw only two vehicles in the 100 odd kilometers. There were some interesting gates and turn offs to farms and hunting establishments. The clouds rolled away as we approached Klaarstroom. It was quite disappointing to get back onto tar and onto "busy" roads again. We drove through the little village with the only shop closed and had just turned back, when I saw some British graves behind the police station. We went to look at them and they were two members of the Brabant's Horse regiment. Then we went shopping at the Kwikshop, which was now open - the lady had just popped out to say goodbye to some friends - and we bought fresh bread and wors. The only restaurant in town, in an old shed was closed, but we did see some interesting old tractors that were crying out to be restored. Then it was onto the big tar road to Beaufort West. This road was boring. Very long and straight and very short of possible lunch stops. There are no trees in this part of the world and the areas near the road were almost featureless with only the occasional distant farmhouse. We needed to stop, but I decided to push on and luckily came across Scheurfontein, a roadside padstal (road side farm stall) closed down for Covid 19. It was hot and we decided to enjoy our lunch under the shade of the afdak (veranda). It was very comfortable and there was stuff to see - two old tractors at the back and various odds and ends used as decoration. We were keen to get to Beaufort West and the Karoo National Park and soon continued. Quite close to the N1we did find an open padstal. We stopped and went in to have a look around. It was filled with fascinating junk. What amazed me was a SA Cricket Annual from 1978 that featured a description of Dave Brickett, who was at school with me, match-winning performance for EP against old Rhodesia in Bulawayo. Memories of a long distant past. When we got to the big road (N1) we turned left instead of right. Oops! The National Park was actually to the right. We needed some supplies anyway and so went to OK Food on the outskirts of Beaufort West. Marianne did some quick shopping in a brand new Mall and then it was back to the Park.
The wild card and midweek pensioner rates made the payment relatively painless and cheap, except that it took a very long time to get the admin done. Then we went to find the campsite. It was very different from when we were last there, but we found a pleasant corner site where we had lunch and left our chairs to reserve it. I was a bit shocked by the number of people there, but everyone seemed to be doing all the social distancing things correctly and there were sanitizing sprays at all the doors of the facilities. We only planned to do a short afternoon excursion and went up the newly tarred Klipspringer Pass. It was beautifully constructed with packed stone walls. We made a couple of stops at viewpoints and went as far as a hyena trap. There we turned and went back to camp. We did get to see mountain zebras and hartebeest. It was a beautiful late afternoon drive. I soon got a fire going and we had a lovely braai. Marianne's meat purchases had been excellent and the vegetables were perfectly done as well. After enjoying sitting outside in our relatively sheltered site - the wind was still blowing - we showered and got to bed at about 22h30. It had been an interesting day and we were looking forward to doing the 4x4 routes tomorrow.

Geschreven door Leartravels