Why stay home?
In mid-October, my wife, Gert, and I decided to go see the stars at Sutherland with our friends Smartie and Libet Genade. We booked The Whitehouse Inn in town for two nights.
We hit the road and first enjoyed a great cup of coffee at Matjiesfontein before we turned off to Sutherland. The Karoo was dry, but the tarred road that winds through the mountains was still a beautiful sight.
It was 32 ºC and we cooled down with a cold beer in the Whitehouse. That same evening we visited Jurg Wagener to gaze at the stars. (Jurg also owns the Sterland campsite in town.) Jurg’s presentation was great, but what else can one do here?
The Tankwa Karoo National Park is close by, but you need to cross the Ouberg Pass. It’s not easy, but luckily my Toyota Rav is equipped with descent control, which had to work overtime. The view is beautiful as you descend its 1 404 m. We arrived at the Tankwa and decided to return via another route: that meant going past Middelpos where we also stopped to get something cold to counter the heat.
The Gannaga Pass lay ahead and had been washed away in places. I had to push all the buttons for the Rav to maintain its grip. I also had to make room for a Land Rover Discovery and a Toyota Fortuner coming from the front. Don’t tackle this road in a little city car.
We pulled over at Johan Visagie’s Gannaga Lodge. He poured us a cold beer as we took in the Tankwa all around us. We enjoyed a delicious lunch, and then tackled the 65 km to Middelpos.
The road got really bad, and didn’t improve much for the remaining 80 km from Middelpos to Sutherland. Back in Sutherland, a new day dawned and we wanted to go and check out what Merweville looks like – none of us had been there before. We were warned that we’d have to open 10 gates to get there, and Smartie got ready to jump out each time. In the end, it was only four gates.
The scenery is beautiful and the road to get there also has steep descents. It’s an interesting town with a beautiful church, we enjoyed a cup of tea and homebaked rusks at Miems’ coffee shop.
Prince Albert was next – another new town for some of us. Almost every second building in the main street is a guest house or restaurant, and we stayed over at Dina van der Walt’s Skonerus.
All good things must come to an end and we drove home over the famous Swartberg Pass. Again, the scenery was stunning, and we also spotted several mountain bikers on the pass.
We covered 1 250 km in four days. There’s no need to sit at home and wonder what is going on ‘out there’. Jump in your car and go check it out.