Eastern Cape Wild Coast Trip March Paul & Lin Fisher The Lostshepard

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1 Eastern Cape Wild Coast Trip March 2009 Paul & Lin Fisher The Lostshepard Set off at 5.00am, cold & miserable start from Cape Town, but at least got away down the N2 before the daily madness begins. Breakfast just past Swellendam welcome eggs & bacon only get this when away (mental note go away more!) and then onto George. Took the Old Montagu Pass, always a nice detour and wound our way to spend the night at Willowmore. WILLOWMORE Stayed at Finchley Farm adequate, but like the rest of Willowmore a bit run down. Went out to supper at The Willows Guest House in town nice old Victorian building/guest house, but the food was only so so. Willowmore needs to pull its socks up! Next day better weather, took the road up to Aberdeen, Graaf Renet, Aliwal North and thence to Lady Grey. Always a pleasure to arrive in Lady Grey and stay at Comfrey Cottage George, Gerda & Grant, who breeds Alpacas. A really good Guest House with excellent food and attention to detail highly recommended.

2 Setting off early we tracked back a bit & took the joining road down to Upper Telle (Lesotho Border) and then followed the river, which is of course the boundary, past St Anns Mission Church equipped with Russian Style Onion Dome quite an odd sight in the middle of nowhere and then the climb up to Lundeans Nek. Last time we did this it was driving rain, this time the sun shone & it was a delightful drive. We then took the Wartrail Road to Tiffendale where we stopped for lunch and the weather promptly changed. Someone had sent me a GPS track for the Wartrail, Patrol Rd, Rhodes route; and we were very glad to be able to do this in spite of the weather.

3 Lundeans Nek We stayed at Rhodes in the old School House now called Rubicon Guest House which whilst a bit cold was quite acceptable. On the same property is a new restaurant run by a

4 young couple from Jhb their enthusiasm matches the quality of their food If in Rhodes go and eat there, you will not be disappointed. PATROL ROAD DOWN TO RHODES

5 NAUDES NEK

6 Moving along in much better, if still cold weather, we took the Naudes Nek Road & Pass (V. windy at top as usual) to Maclear & Ugie and at last onto the Bastervoedpad (AKA - LAPA Munnik Pass) BASTERVOEDPAD GRIZZLY AT BASTERVOED

7 BASTERVOED

8 BASTERVOED WAYWARD GRADER ON PAD

9 BASTERVOEDPAD What a joy, what an experience. It ranks as one of the most beautiful drives I have ever done I would rate it as a 3 or 4 in sections, so nothing too serious, but the beauty of these particular hills & mountains has to be seen. On the ascent we were stopped in our tracks by a grader that had tried to turn round and had partially gone off the edge they had 2 tractors there trying to pull the grader back up onto the road a hopeless task eventually they un-hitched & we were allowed to pass They were going to have to wait for a stronger recovery vehicle. The grader driver didn t look too happy!! The Road comes out at the Barkly East Road and right there is the Mountain Shadow Hotel which somehow seemed to beckon so we pulled in there for the night. Not Bad. WILD COAST

10 COFFEE BAY TO HOLE IN THE WALL

11 The Coast was calling, and a nice drive down to the outskirts of Umtata and then off the N2 as quickly as possible down the usual pot holed gravel roads to Coffee Bay. It has to be said that Coffee Bay is a dump it s a shame but there it is. With the exception of the Ocean View Hotel, which is in its own compound, so to speak; the rest is for the hippies & alternates. We decided to take the 17KM detour and go up to The Anchorage. This is also very run down. The previous owner has died and the heirs have appointed a manager to run the place whilst they decide what to do. We bumped into Oscar Wolheim & his wife Laurencee there and it made for a nice evening get to-gether. A good walk is down the deserted beach to the Mtata River Mouth & back. HOLE IN THE WALL The Wolheims were going North to Mozambique we continued South back to Coffee bay and Hole in the Wall for the obligatory pictures thence turning onto the road towards Mazeppa bay but swinging away to Idutywa, Willowvale and Kob Inn. We had been warned about safety in the Transkei Tribal lands but have to say that we found the settlements not only clean with good-looking livestock but also happy smiling faces. The kids have obviously been to Lesotho on holiday as they have learned the SWEETS trick what a pain. One would think that someone would tell them that the more they do it the less likely they are to ever receive anything. Go figure. Kob Inn in spite of the long terrible road in (being re-surfaced in gravel) - is a great destination. The hotel & grounds are beautifully kept and the staff a pure joy. The sound of the waves is relentless and our room overlooked the pool & the ocean. What a setting. Some good walks all around the area particularly down to the Qora River

12 Mouth - but not being a laze on the beach type of person I don t think that I could stay there for more than about 2 to 3 days. KOB INN KOB INN

13 KOB INN

14 Continuing on our travels South we zigzagged to Kentani & crossed the Kei River on the Ferry with a Landrover with some very scary looking people in it! Stopping at Trenneries for lunch nice position lagoon and beach, we finally ended up at our destination of Morgans Bay. TRENNERIES CROSSING THE KEI

15 MORGANS BAY

16 The Hotel at Morgans Bay is very nice, great position, great views & good food. The village is still quite small but development is taking place so I guess it will end up being ruined like so many coastal places in the not too distant future. The weather down at the coast was really warm, sunny & pleasant and we were having a great time. Next day saw us heading into East London for a look sadly it is also very run down some beautiful Victorian Buildings but the town is now just another overrun African town, held to ransom by the taxis and hawkers. Getting out of there, quick sticks, we hugged the coast & stopped for lunch at Kidds Beach before going onto Hamburg, which is a delightful unspoilt village. BATHURST PORT ALFRED

17 We had decided to stopover at Port Alfred, which proved to be a mistake, as the place is so over-developed there is barely room left to swing a cat but found a B&B in any case. We did a detour up to Bathurst, which is smaller & more spread out than I d imaged. The church & graveyard are well worth a visit if you have any interest in the 1820 Settlers. Glad to escape Port Alfred we now sadly turned away, from the coast. Up to Addo, Kirkwood and Steytlerville. Again, someone had sent me the GPS track over The Antoniesberg Pass (P1831) what a pleasure - what a joy coming out at Patensie where we found another farm B&B great destination. Baviaanskloof beckoned. ANTONIESBERG

18 BAVIAANSKLOOF

19 BAVIAANSKLOOF BAVIAANSKLOOF

20 Everyone warned us that the Kloof road was quote, unquote TERRIBLE It has to be said that on the previous occasions that we had undertaken this drive in our SWB Pajero it was a bit choppy and a challenge. Not to state the obvious, but my Cruiser just took everything in its stride and it was a real doddle. CRUISER RULES OK In the Kloof we stayed at our favourite haunt Cedar Lodge which is down about 4kms into a private Kloof from the Cave stay-over. Owned by Jeanne & Linden Booth it is a real hideaway. You can self cater here or go back 10Kms on the road towards Patensie and get food made for you at Veronicas - VEROS. This is a local self-help scheme set up by the Booths for the locals and Veronicas is to be highly recommended & embarrassingly inexpensive. We stayed at Cedar Lodge for two nights as we love the place so much and went exploring both on foot and in the Cruiser the next day our journey was drawing to a close. CEDAR LODGE

21 THE RETREAT AT GROENFONTEIN CALITZDORP Early and with sadness we left through the Neuekloof Pass to Willowmore, De Rust and then the back road Oude Morangie to near the caves at Oudtshoorn, Swartberg Pass

22 road before swinging left to the top of Calitzdorp above the dam to yet another old favourite The Retreat at Groenfontein Grant & Marie Burton LCCSA member with 3 cruisers. It s a luxury to stay here and with final walks in the mountains for another two days to prepare mentally for the onslaught back into Cape Town. Oh the HORRORS of the N1 from the tunnel at Paarl it took the memory of bills to be paid to stop me from turning straight around and going far away. Another Time. Journey just under 4000Km s diesel just under R 4000! Highlights The Beauty of the Wild Coast, Bastervoedpad, Patrol Road, Antoniesberg and of course Baviaanskloof itself. Low points towns like Willowmore that need a good Kick.