Tag: Rain

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Flowers, Stars & More: Day 6 & 7: Mountain Passes, Rugged terrain and Severe Weather

After a large breakfast at A State of Grace guesthouse in Clanwilliam, we started our trip by filling up with diesel and then proceeded via Pakhuis pass and Hoek se Berg pass to the Biedouw valley

On a very cold and overcast day, the flowers were not open, but still provided a spectacular sight. I can just imagine how much more spectacular it must be on a sunny day with the flowers open.

We were too early to get coffee at the Biedouw Valley Farmstall, which only opens at 11:00 and decided instead, to proceed over the Kouberg Pass to Wupperthal for coffee at Lekkerbekkie Coffee Shop.

Since some social media posts had suggested that the Eselbank Pass might be closed due to recent flooding, we enquired in Wupperthal and were assured that the pass was open to 4×4 traffic. We decided to tackle this pass on our way to Mount Ceder. Although very narrow and certainly a major challenge if encountering traffic going in the other direction, this pass is actually not difficult to drive and does not require serious 4×4 skills, mainly just some common sense. Luckily we only encountered one other vehicle and even more luckily, this happened in a place where there was space for passing. The reward was spectacular scenery, better captured on video than photos (video to follow in a separate post).

A visit to the waterfall at Eselbank was a bit of a failure, since we could not find an actual viewpoint of the main waterfall and were unwilling to clamber over the rocks and risk a serious fall, especially in the windy conditions. After passing through Eselbank, we proceeded towards Mount Ceder passing through more ruggedly beautiful terrain in the Cederberg, including Grootrivier hoogte, stopping along the way to photograph some more flowers.

Google maps will tell you that the drive is 123km and should take approximately 2 hour 15 minutes, but that doesn’t take into account the terrain and roads. A more realistic estimate is probably about 4 hours for that distance.

We had a lovely cottage at Mount Ceder, overlooking a valley. Unfortunately it was overcast and my planned astrophotography didn’t materialise. The positive aspect was that we got a very good night’s sleep.

At breakfast the next morning, the staff at Mount Ceder, informed us that they expected severe weather over the next 24 hours, our planned hike in the mountains was cancelled and we were warned that anticipated flooding could see us stuck and unable to travel the next morning. We made a quick decision to change our plans, leave while we could and use the spare day for an impromptu visit to our children in Cape Town.

Returning to our cottage to pack up, we saw a beautiful rainbow over the valley, ending at our cottage.

After a very informative and interesting olive oil tasting, we had a cheese and olive platter for early lunch and then hit the road. Light rain already started falling while we were on the Blinkberg Pass.

As we reached the tar road, we started encountering the first of the severe weather. On the beautiful Gydo Pass, near Ceres, the rain was bucketing down.

Michells Pass was equally rain drenched

Arriving in Cape Town, we were again reminded of the Cape Town traffic, one of the major reasons we could not imagine living there again.

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Flowers, Stars and More: Day 4: Stars, at last

Day 4 arrived, cold, dreary, overcast, not what we had been hoping for, but true to the weather forecast, which had been accurate for once. We decided, nonetheless, to take the drive to the Skilpad section of Namaqua National Park. The locals in Hondeklipbaai advised us to take the detour, returning to the N7 the way we had come, due to road conditions.

We stopped in Kamieskroon to get fuel for the car and ourselves. Entering Kamieskroon, we saw a beautiful little church.

In Kamieskroon, I also saw a street carrying my name, but quite sure not named after me or any relation.

After fuelling the car, we drove towards the National Park, stopping along the way for breakfast at Die Murasie

Once in the Park, we decided to forego the planned hike, since it had started raining and we did not want to get drenched. Instead, we drove the two circle routes in the Park, one of which is new and labelled a 4×4 route, but really a very easily driveable route.

As expected, in the rain, most of the flowers were hiding their faces. However, this did not really detract too much from the spectacle and we still had a really good time.

Near the end of the 4×4 loop, we saw a few Springbok in a field of flowers, a very special sight.

Making our way back to Hondeklipbaai, we were quite pleased with ourselves about the lovely day we had and the fact that we would be able to get to bed early, but this was not to be. About 20km before our destination, we encountered a quartet of elderly people struggling to change a flat tyre. By the time we had finished assisting them, not only were we rain drenched, which we had avoided in the Park, but also covered in mud.

Eventually arriving at out accommodation at Dogstone Cottage, we took a quick shower and then went to the Rooi Spinnekop Restaurant for an early supper, which turned out to be an excellent choice. The reception was very friendly, the atmosphere relaxed and the food excellent. Liana had a marrow bone starter and I had prawns. For mains she had lobster and I had pan fried snoek and sweet potato.

Exiting the restaurant, we were just in time to catch the sunset, the clouds starting to clear.

With the clouds rapidly clearing, I was able to grab a few Milky Way photos as well.

Tomorrow we turn back south, heading towards Clanwilliam.