Lu-Gerda's Travels

In October 2015 we took a short trip to Prince Albert.  We ended our trip by driving back home using the Swartberg Pass. The Swartberg pass was the final pass built by Thomas Bain and was opened on 10 January 1888.  The pass is a gravel road of about 27 km from Prince Albert to Oudshoorn over the Swartberg Mountains. The pass has many with lots of switchbacks with beautiful views.  The road is supported by an amazing stone retaining walls. It declared a National Monument in 1988. The pass was very busy on the Sunday morning as we made our way home.  At some places the road is very narrow and one of the vehicles has to stop for the other to pass.  I was very glad that I was not in the driver seat but my husband did a great job.  It is not necessary for a 4x4 vehicle to do this drive. We used our in our Ford Figo and saw even smaller cars also driving along.     We first stopped at my parents hous...

After two days in Beaufort West and surrounding towns we were heading back home.   After a lovely breakfast at Die Herehuis guesthouse we packed the car and started the 300km drive back home.  Leaving Beaufort west at about 8:50  After driving for about 120km we reached Meiringspoort Pass.       Entering Meiringsppoort  Meiringspoort Pass was built by Andrew Geddes Bain and his son Thomas Bain and was opened in 1858.   The road has been “verbeter” a lot since then.   In 1996 the pass was closed for repairs after flooding and is now a good road to drive.   It is also beautiful.   The road is surrounded by mountains and beautiful plants The road crosses the Groot River 25 times.   Each drift has an interesting name and it is a lot of fun to read the names while driving. The names start with Eerste drif (First Drift) and ends with Laaste Drif (Last Drift).   I like Spookdrif (Ghost drift), Uitspandrif (Outspan...

After visiting Carnarvon we decided to drive back to Beaufort West with the Molteno Pass.   First we drove back 65 km to Loxton and then turned onto the R381.   This road from Loxton to Beaufort West is about 114 km and is mostly a gravel road.   The road was pretty good and we were enjoying the drive. After about 45 minutes we were back in the Western Cape.   Open fields with pretty flowers and mountains surrounded us.   There were no other cars in sight.   And then this happened….   We heard a strange noise and then realized that our tire burst.   We had to make a stop to change the tire and while my husband (H) was busy working I walked around to take a few photos of the flowers.   Soon we were on the road again.   Driving a bit slower and more careful since we used the spare tire.   We soon came to the Molteno Pass.   This pass is South Africa’s first mountain pass a...