None of us were looking forward to the road out of Coffee Bay but fortunately the owner of the place we were staying at gave us an alternative route which (while longer) cut off the worst 30 kms of potholes. We headed out at about 8:30am knowing the drive was around 5.5 hours (if we didn’t stop). The road was definitely better even though it was dirt road for most of the way. We could generally drive at 60 km/h except for one or two spots. Fortunately the weather was beautiful getting up into the mid 20s.

We then took the N2 to Kokstad. It was only just under 300 kms but the road is quite slow as you pass through a number of towns. The first major place is Mthatha (used to be called Umtata) which is more like a city than a town. The traffic was very heavy – it seems almost everyone with a car was out on the roads. It took us about 30 minutes to get through – fortunately there was no loadshedding as I would hate to know how what all the traffic light chaos would look like when that occurs. It was bad enough with taxis just behaving as if a red traffic light was a suggestion to stop.

We passed through a place called Tsolo. There it was chaotic – don’t think that is even a fitting description. The traffic was at a standstill, people wandering over the road pushing trolleys and wheelbarrows. One person almost pushed his trolley into A’s car (I witnessed it in the rear view mirror). One guy had a trolley with a number plate on it – clearly thought that made it a car and he could be on the road. The queues at the bank ATMs were 20-30 people regardless of bank. We inched forward and eventually cleared the town. You wondered what was causing the traffic jam as there are no traffic lights or stop signs even. I think it was just the significant number of people ambling in and across the road.

At some point, some of the group started to stretch their bladders but we struggled to find a petrol station with reasonable facilities. We eventually found an Engen 1-stop just outside Mount Frere and it too was teaming with people. We refueled the vehicles and everyone used the toilet. H had to drive from that point as I had to do a work meeting. We stopped at Kokstad to get groceries from the Woolworths for the next few days. I stayed in the car doing my meeting. I was amazed that for a fairly sizeable and organised town, the roads in Kokstad were a disaster. The tar roads in the town have become dirt roads and clearly no maintenance has been done for some time.

H continued to drive after Kokstad as I was still in my meeting but eventually the signal disconnected and I could not get back into the meeting. The tar road from Kokstad heading to Underberg was very poor in places with deep potholes. The type that if you hit them you could easily shred a tyre. We all concluded that road was far worse than the one to Coffee Bay because it looks like a good road, you’re traveling at 100 km/h and then suddenly there is a deep pothole. It definitely was more dangerous.

We made it to the place we are staying – The Lodge at Valley Lakes – just after 3pm. It is one house with 4 bedrooms and overlooks (unsurprisingly) the lake. After unloading we did a bird walk before the sunset. There is a suspension (pedestrian) bridge over the river which takes you into the fields on the other side and so we all braved the bridge (with varying confidence). Some water birds added to the trip list as well (we have been lacking so far). My trip list is at 80 birds now.

Dinner last night was a braai and we all headed to bed at before 9pm as we thought there was going to be loadshedding from 9pm. Turned out that no loadshedding happened at all and hasn’t again this morning either. However, if you’re wondering why I never posted a blog it is because the WiFi is terrible (and at some points unusable) and there is no cellphone signal either. Will try to add a few photos but a good chance that I won’t be able to do that given the weakness of the signal.

Until later today …

P, H (for driving yesterday while I had a meeting), B (he did the braaiing yesterday), S, O, A, R (never sent the photos until yesterday evening for Coffee Bay which is too late because I had already posted the blog), J (she said she likes being last so I’ve left her there)

If you didn’t know, Coffee Bay takes it name from a ship that run aground nearby and it was carrying coffee. It seems the area is known for ships running aground because not far from here (5kms only) the Oceanos sank in 1991 (if you were alive then you will remember it). All the passengers and crew survived,

Some of the group went on an early morning run while the rest of us didn’t. I did go out later for a bird walk and managed to add a few birds to the trip list (which for me is now at 68 birds at the end of today).

After breakfast we headed to Hole in the Wall which is a natural arch made by the waves. It is about 9 kms from where we are staying. We had been warned that the locals will offer to guide us to the natural phenomenon and would expect up to R200 payment for being our ‘guide’. If you don’t oblige then they damage your cars. It was recommended that we rather park at the hotel and walk from there (which is what we did). As it turned out, we had someone try to guide us anyway and we rejected his guiding and headed up the road and ended up where we would have if we had driven ourselves to the view. It is a real problem in the area as whenever you set foot out of where we are staying someone is trying to sell you something. Bead work, guiding, crayfish, walking stick, firewood – these were all offered to us at some point today.

If you can put aside the locals badgering you, the views are beautiful. R sent his drone out a few times and eventually plucked up enough courage to send it out past the ‘Hole in the Wall’ and take photos from the other side. The resultant photos were amazing!

We walked back to the hotel and had a drink (to ‘repay’ them for their free parking and protection of our cars) and then headed back to our accommodation for lunch. After lunch, some people rested and some caught up on some work. At 4pm some of us went on a birding walk but the birds were basically absent and we only managed to add one bird to our trip list and that was on a tree right in front of where we are staying.

We did a braai tonight for dinner (chicken skewers and potato bake). We finished at just after 9pm (now almost 10pm) and I am now ready for bed. Doesn’t seem like a full day (if you look at it from the length of the blog) but it certainly felt like one.

Until tomorrow

P, H, O (she is now firmly entrenched in this spot as the compliments keep flowing), A (did the braaiing tonight), R (for his drone footage), B (let us eat his chicken kebabs today), S & J (she took a few digs today!)

Today was a big travel day. Ganora Farm to Coffee Bay was 7.5 hours on Waze and that is not allowing for stops. 560 kms – which you would usually think would take 5-6 hours allowing for you traveling between 100-120 km/h. Read on to see why it takes 7.5 hours without stops.

Before breakfast, J managed to get to feed the lambs (see pic above). Little does she know that all she is doing is fattening up the little one for future guests to eat lamb pie for dinner. We had breakfast at 7:30am and already had our cars packed and ready to go as soon as we finished breakfast as we knew it was going to be a long day on the road. The first 25 km were on dirt road to get back on to the tar roads.

Our first stop was Cradock as I was dangerously close to running out of fuel. The Beast (aka my Toyota Landcruiser) is a bit of a diesel guzzler and the 4×4 route yesterday didn’t help as we were doing most of it in 1st or 2nd gear on the way up. A was in the lead and passed the first two petrol stations and I was wondering if he wanted to test the limits of my range until I found out he was looking for a BP so he could earn his Discovery points. Turns out the BP had become some other strange brand and so we then had to find another petrol station. By the time we found that I was down to a range of 45 kms.

The next stop was going to be Queenstown to buy groceries for the next few days as we knew where we would be staying had no shop whatsoever. When we arrived in Queenstown it was loadshedding and all the traffic lights were out and it seemed the whole population of Queenstown were either driving or walking in the roads. The place was teeming with people. You would have thought it was a Saturday morning. After negotiating around drivers, taxis and people we found the mall and went to P n P to so some shopping. Options were pretty limited. As an illustration, the poultry counter was half filled with chicken feet. After negotiating our way out of Queenstown we headed Butterworth and back onto the N2 (which is a main national road).

We refueled in Butterworth and again had to negotiate through masses of people to get out of Butterworth. By the time we turned off the N2, it was showing +- 70kms to Coffee Bay (our destination) but that it would take 1 hour 20 minutes. The navigation software was wrong – it took longer. The reason – the road. It is hard to explain how bad the road was. Besides navigating through goats, sheep, cows and people wandering over the road at random intervals, you had to navigate through potholes. I say ‘navigate through’ and while that sometimes could be ’round the potholes’, in many cases it was simply through. It is hard to describe 40-50kms of road with significant potholes. Sometimes you are only doing 10-20 km/h as you weave your way through the potholes driving from left to right and right to left. Sometimes it is actually better to leave the road entirely and drive on the gravel on the side of the road. Sometimes it is better to drive on the left and sometimes it better to drive on the right into oncoming traffic. Avoidance of the potholes is an impossibility. The photos (taken by H) hardly do it justice how bad the road was and for how long it was so bad.

The good news is that we finally managed to make it to Coffee Bay and it is beautiful. We had been warned that due to recent flooding in the area, the main bridge was washed away but we could take the diversion around and that we could get to our accommodation. We are staying in self catering apartments called Cottages @ 20. We have 3 separate apartments with have having 2 bedrooms. We drew lots (or something very similar) to see who got what rooms and A&O are sharing the 2-bedroom one with R&J and then B&S and ourselves have individual ones.

We had cleverly thought to bring ready made lasagna’s with us for dinner tonight knowing it was going to be a long drive so dinner was relatively hassle free. We had found that loadshedding was at 7pm (pretty inconvenient when it comes to eating dinner) especially since the sun is setting at 5:55pm here now. Turns out though that the apartments seem to continue to have power through loadshedding. We assume solar generated but haven’t entirely figured that out yet but pleased that is the case as it makes our lives much easier.

It is now 10pm so time for bed!

Until tomorrow

P, H, O (just generally being nice to me), A (some responsible driving even though Discovery don’t think so), R, J, S & B (some very dodgy driving which was apparently cheered on by S, R & J so we they are all appropriately demoted)

It rained heavily overnight. The tin roof of our accommodation no doubt made it sound like it was raining harder than it was but it really did sound like it was bucketing down. It woke us up at least twice during the night. The thought crossed my mind about flash flooding, crossing the low lying bridges and rivers on the way in and it seemed to cross a few others minds in the group as well. By early morning it was clear and crisp and so most of us headed off for a short walk along one of the farm roads. The bird life was prolific and it was actually quite hard to keep track of all the birds we were seeing. Managed to add a lifer (which was unexpected) of a black-throated canary.

Breakfast was at 8am and then we decided to use our 4x4s and headed up the mountains behind the farm. There was a route of 13.5 km to the beacon and slightly shorter back as it was more directly down the mountain. It was pretty rocky and steep in places I had had to engage Lo4 in a few places to make it easier to go up. The route was marked as between a 3 and 4 in terms of technical difficulty and I think that was pretty accurate. Toward the summit the road became less distinguishable but we found our way and enjoyed some coffee and rusks and biscuits at the beacon before heading back down. We did add a few birds on the way up and back again and we saw a wildebeest and springbok.

We got back late morning and then headed out to Nieu Betheseda itself for lunch at the mirco brewery in the town. Their beer isn’t available anyway except at their brewery and they had an option of a bitter ale, honey ale, pale ale or cider. They do a cheese and meat platter with homemade bread. The town of Nieu Betheseda was founded in 1875 and I think it hasn’t changed since then. It was really founded so that the farmers had a place to go to Church. It is now a tourist attraction because of the Owl House which is basically a house that became a work of art done by Helen Martins. It is a but freeky and strange – it has over 300 concrete statues and works of art of various things but obviously owls are a major theme.

This afternoon B, R & O went for a 5 km run and S, H and myself went for a birding walk. We added a few more to the trip list (for me that is on 56 now). Dinner this evening was lamb pie and vegetables followed by chocolate brownie or malva pudding. Loadshedding happening again at 9pm so trying to post the blog before the lights go out (it is now 8:30pm).

Until tomorrow …

P, S, H, B (he didn’t get lost today and he bought his table for our coffee), R, J, O & A

We went for a (bird) walk before breakfast at 7am and S & B added 2 lifers to their list. A coffee stop at the Lazy Lizard and then back to our guest house for breakfast, pack the cars and hit the road.

We took the Swartberg Pass which (not surprisingly) runs over the Swartberg mountain range. It was completed in 1888. The dry-stone retaining walls that are in place today are still the original ones so now over 130 years old. The pass is a dirt road but in good condition and easily navigated in our cars. The scenery was spectacular as you start almost immediately driving through the high rock faces (photo above). We stopped a few times on the way up and then again right at the top of the pass which is at 1575 meters above sea level. The scenery on the other side of the pass is farmlands and valleys and beautiful in a different way.

We then headed to Oudtshoorn where we filled up our cars and then headed to Willowmore in the Eastern Cape. On leaving Oudtshoorn we managed to lose B & S because their navigation software took them in the opposite direction. We all ended up in Willowmore for lunch at least though B & S arrived a little after the other 2 cars.

After lunch we headed to Aberdeen (quick detour through the town to find H’s Moms old house) then Graaff-Reinet and then onto our overnight stop being Ganora Guest Farm near Nieu Bethesda. The last 2 hours of driving were not the easiest because it started to rain and the wind was blowing. The final 20 kms were on a dirt road leading up to the farm. The navigation software had the speed limit on that road as 100 km/h but there is no way you could do that at all – even 40 km/h sometimes seemed too fast.

Before dinner we watched the owner feeding a lanner falcon and a cape eagle owl – both of them have broken wings and so they are caring for them. The lanner falcon has just been with them for a week but the owl has been with them for 3 years (and is unlikely to improve). They do dinner at the farm and we had ostrich steak (which seemed very fitting) plus veg & potatoes followed by malva pudding. Simple but very enjoyable.

Bird list up to 36 birds at the end of today for me – everyone on slightly different numbers as we have all seen slightly different things while driving.

Until tomorrow (trying to send quickly as loadshedding is at 9pm tonight)

P, S (she gets a rise by virtue of the other two falling), H (severely critical of the blog I wrote yesterday), B (kept getting lost today – maybe even worthy of two drops of places but he let me drink his wine last night so I saved him from a two person drop), R (did some excellent bird spotting including a Cape Rockjumper), J (she defended me a few times today so deserves a rise actually), O (some good quips over the walkie talkie today), A (just ended up here by virtue of the others rising above him)

In some ways it feels like a long time since our January Namibia trip but in others it feels like only the other day. It was only 2 months ago so you might be surprised that we are ‘on holiday’ again (my Dad asked me ‘How much leave do you get?’ with a surprise in his voice when I told him we were heading off on a road trip today). This was a long time planned road trip with our friends – B & S and J & R. We also have a new addition – A & O – that have joined us for this trip. They thanked us for inviting them at dinner tonight and I replied ‘You better wait to the end of the trip to make that judgement’.

We left Cape Town this morning at 8am heading for Prince Albert which is our first night stopover. J & R had their Toyota Fortuner stolen some time ago so they are sharing a ride in our cars for this road trip. It is only just over a 4-hour drive to Prince Albert and so we weren’t under any time pressure so we took it relatively easily including a couple of toilet stops to get rid of the morning coffee(s).

The weather got progressively warmer as we drove and by the time we arrived in Prince Albert (around 1pm) it was in the high 20s (C) already. We are staying at Karoo Lodge and our host graciously let us check in early. After check in we headed to the Lazy Lizard for lunch (recommended by our host). We were impressed by the quality of the lunch (and generous portions). Some people wanted to take on a horizontal pose after lunch and the others of us just enjoyed the clean air and gardens. A&O only arrived at 4pm because they couldn’t leave earlier from Cape Town. After they arrived we headed for a bird walk through the town. We didn’t see anything special but added to our trip list. Slowish start on the trip list – I am on 19 and some of the others are on 20 – the one bird advantage is the benefit of not driving and rather being a passenger.

Drinks at the Gin Bar after the walk followed by dinner at Karoo Kombuis (recommended by A as they had eaten there before). At Karoo Kombuis you could get chicken pie, babotie (google it if you don’t know what it is) and roast karoo lamb. You can choose all of them, one of them or two of them. Desert was a steamed lemon desert or malva pudding. Genuinely nice, simple and straight forward dinner complimented by our own wine. We were finished dinner by 8:30pm.

It is 9:30pm and we are all already in our rooms and heading to go to sleep. Loadshedding starts at 10pm so basically nothing to do from that point onwards anyway. I am typing furiously to ensure I finish before it goes dark!

Until tomorrow

P, H (just because she is my wife), B (because we drank his wine and he paid for drinks this evening), S (by virtue of the fact that she is tied to B), A (good recommendation on restaurant for tonight), R (for photo below from his drone), J (for her choc chip cookies) & O (she has some work to do)