Day 2 Prince Albert to Barrydale

I woke up ready to go but the town was sleeping, even the roosters had not begun crowing, I wanted to get Wimbledon results and set off. The day started with a typical boere (farmers) breakfast, lamb boerewors (farmers sausage), tomato, poached eggs and a koppie koffie (cup of coffee). As per the two meals before, I was bloated, but still felt good after such a hearty breakfast.

After a slow, leisurely drive to look at some of the streets we missed the day before we headed into the Swartberg Pass. The pass was opened in 1888, although it is only 27 km’s, it feels much longer. The road was built by one of the greatest road engineers Thomas Bain. Soon after you enter the pass you are left agog by the spectacular views. The fynbos is incredible, we also some klipspringers. The road was very empty. I did this pass a few years ago and would love to have had time to hike through some of the trails, and also had a 4X4 to turn off to “Die Hel” Gamkaskloof. The 57 km’s from the turnoff on the Swartberg Pass take a cool four hours to do as you descend down this zig-zagged shaped road into the valley. Here a small community lived in isolation for many years. I look forward to returning to the pass to visit “Die Hel".

We made our way to Outshoorn, the capital of the Klein Karoo, however, after possing some ostriches and entering the town, my lust for exploration subsided. I had not visited the town since I was small, but I think it was because the town was too big a town, and I would not do it justice, after a “ kerrie jaffle “ (round, sealed toasted sandwich with curry mince) we got onto the well publicized R62, to be honest, I was very disappointed with the drive from Oudtshoorn to Calitzdorp. Got to Calitzdorp, a lot of people were milling about, I don’t know if it was because it was nearing the weekend, or because of the seasonal unemployment, I fear the latter, this is Port wine and fruit country and many workers only find employment during harvest season.

Calitzdorp at first reminded me of one those thoroughfare towns in the North West, where one just passes through. However, this is the Port wine capital of SA, we visited Boplaas. I am no wine connoisseur, but it was good, and the self described experts next to me concurred. After stocking up on it and some dried fruit, we went looking for St. Marks Church, the supposed 2nd smallest church in the world, we found it, it was small, but I wonder how they can be so sure that there are so smaller churches… The outskirts of the town lends it self to some fine views.

The R62 gets much better from Calitzdorp to Ladismith, and here again, I made a cardinal error when we drove past a sign to Seweweekspoort (Seven Weeks Gorge), I thought our car would not be able to handle it, This 17 km drive is supposed to be in the same league as the Swartberg Pass.

The terrain had become more mountainous and we arrived in Ladismith. The Towerkop (spell head), with a split peak is the defining landmark of the town. This is also a big farming area, but Ladismith is more well known for its cheese. Ladismith, is not a spelling mistake, but named after Sir Harry Smith’s wife Juana Smith, and to prevent confusion with Ladysmith in Natal, the y became an i. I also wondered whether Free State captain and Springbok flanker Juan Smith was named after her?
We wanted to get something to eat, and founded a friendly home run establishment called Kanna Kombuis, run by former Prince Albert residents Kevin and Barbie Ellison. At first Barbie’s over friendly attitude irritated me, but she and her husband are genuinely warm people who like all the other places we had eaten have a real interest in their customers. The venison was great, well accompanied by apricot stew. We then went in search of the Ladismith shul, just before finding the shul, a thin, disheveled lady too advantage of the mid afternoon warmth and proceeded to take off her top and flash me, at first I thought I was imagining this but she just stood there. Strange things happen in small towns.

Like Oudtshoorn, Ladismith had a booming ostrich feather industry and this attracted many Jews, and a synagogue was built. I don’t think there are any Jews left in the town, but the building still stands and is looked after by the municipality. We had left the town when we remembered we had forgotten about the cheese factory and we drove towards Barrydale-the destination for the day. Barrydale lies in a lush valley and one really feels that you are out of the Klein Karoo. The small dorp is not as aesthetically charming at first like Prince Albert, it lacks the order, and some of the planning seems haphazard. We found the Tradouw Guest House, run by Leon Riley and Denis Mclintock. The room was a bit smaller, but the décor was amazing. We walked around Barrydale, it had a much busier feel than Prince Albert, the place grew on me a lot, we stopped off at the Barrydale Hotel, this hotel and indeed the town has a wonderful reputation as a gay friendly place, and it was special to see the overall working farm labourers enjoying a drink next to a gay couple. I later asked Leon how the farmers responded to the influx of gay people who settled in the town and built up businesses, and Leon said that the conservative farmers had no problem with it as it had led to an economic boon in the town.

I soon deferred to Leon on all things to do with the area, where to eat, what to do the next day etc. Leon sent us to A Place In Time, run by Mike and Beverley Loy. We had no sooner made our way through the door which could not be opened from the outside when Mike started speaking to us, and again, there was nothing irksome about it, it was wonderful, in between serving the meals his wife was cooking, Mike would entertain us and tell us stories of the town, and almost address the 3 different tables at once. I had Impala potjiekos (pot food, food prepared on a 3 legged cast iron pot), it was the first time I had Impala and it was excellent, my mother could not finish her Karoo Lamb shank and I assisted her in clearing her plate. For desert I had an Amarula laced crème brule.

The person sitting next to us ran the café at a place I would return to tomorrow, she sold it to me. I left the restaurant glowing, beaming. It was not just the brilliant food, but it was Mike’s manner, not hearing his wife’s calls or taking a few extra seconds to do his job, wonderful to see.

I dropped my mother off, and set off to explore the Barrydale nightlife. The hotel had closed and the town was still, 15 minutes later I was sitting in the cold lounge reading my book, covered in a thin blanket and thought who comes

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I used information from the following sources

http://www.centralkaroo.co.za/princealbertarea.htm#Swartberg
http://www.patourism.co.za/gamkaskloof.htm
Calitzdorp Publicity Bureau
Ladismith Publicity Bureau

I highly recommend you use all the places we frequented.

Prince Albert

Kambro Guestrooms- Christine and James Van Zyl-+27(0) 23 541 1554

Calitzdorp

Boplaas- +27(0)44 213 3326/7

Ladismith
Kanna Kombuis- Kevin and Barbie Ellison, +27 (0) 28 551 2216 , +27 (0) 82 738 2200 or 1kevinellison@telkomsa.net, 44 Queen Street

Barrydale

Tradouw Guest House-Leon Riley and Denis Mclintock, +27 (0) 28 572 1434, tradouw@intekom.co.za, 46 Van Riebeeck Street
A Place in Time- Mike and Beverley Loy, +27 (0)28 572 1393

Pics

1) Swartberg Pass
2) Near the summit of Swartberg Pass
3) The Ladismith Shul
4)Barrydale Hotel
5) Mike Loy telling his tales in A Place in Time