Day 3 Barrydale to Cape Town

Sitting down for breakfast in the large lounge and breakfast table of the Tradouw guest house. I am initially disappointed that my lust for meat will not be satisfied because we were now out of the Karoo and in Barrydale. However, some good eggs, muesli and filter coffee did the trick. It turned into an even finer breakfast when Leon put on some Arik Einstein for us (given to him by Israelis who had stayed there). After breakfast, Leon gave us some expert advice and took us through his Indian Medicine Wheel garden on their property across the road from the Tradouw. We bid farewell to a fine establishment run by two very caring and attentive hosts and made our way back up towards Ladismith. I had dozed off in the car and we had missed some of the attractions of the R62.

We turned off to the Warmwatersberg Spa. It was a very cold morning, and the idea of an outdoor spa did not appeal to me, however the price and setting was unbeatable. Surrounded by 5 mountain ranges and the hot water spring at 42 °, at the cost of a mere R20 (£1,42). It was incredibly refreshing and often I behaved liked an adventurous kid running between the freezing cold pool and the hot baths.

Back onto the R62 and you pass a sign which would make any unsuspecting traveller, particularly those sleep-eyed, male travellers who are not enamoured by the scenery, which will no doubt make you screech on your brakes and think that what you read simply can not be true. Ronnie’s Sex Shop, painted in red on to a wall of a property with little else near it seems to be the oddest place imaginable for a sex shop. It was amazing to see the amount of cars which had stopped there. This place was a landmark of the R62.
Oh yes, the only think Ronnie Price’s shop has to do with sex is that it’s curios shop sells cheap lingerie and bra’s adorn the bar. I briefly met Ronnie Price. long curly hair, barely held together in a pony tail with a very friendly face.

Ronnie had little do with the name, it used to be called Ronnie’s Shop, then one night his friend’s added in the word “Sex” and proceeded to underline this. His friends prank has turned Ronnie Price into a very well known tourist personality and with a much healthier bank account. I had some carrot cake from the Road Kill Café, run by the lady we sat next to for dinner the night before. She and Ronnie’s wife pass the time by playing many games of scrabble, Ronnie’s son, who seemingly models himself on a quasi-alpha male version of Freddie Mercury.

We tried to find the pagoda-The South African Peace Pagoda. We followed the directions of the map but felt that we had missed it. We drove back and saw Peter and Nora Frazer’s farm-“The Manger”. You drive on a dirt road and there in between some trees and bushes is this very large pagoda, the only official Buddhist pagoda from Cape Town to Cairo…. Quite astonishing, the pagoda was built by a 90 year old Burmese monk and some volunteers. It was unveiled in 2000 and I am sure thousands of people drive past here each month with little knowledge of what stands amongst the trees.


The Frazer’s farm also hosts “The Labyrinth” and a baboon rehabilitation centre.

Back down the valley towards Barrydale and one last stop there at the Country Pumpkin restaurant and farm stall to get some dried fruit and cheese.

Leon told us to go on the Tradouw Pass instead of continuing on the R62 to Cape Town. This mountainous pass bedeck with lush greenery and waterfalls is another one of the many little known detours in South Africa. Tradouw is derived from the Khoisan word, tradau" which means "Way of the Woman". I was very thankful to that master road builder Thomas Bain and his band of convicts who completed this road in 1873. It was closed in the 1900’s and a tarred, safer version was reopened in 1980. We came to the end of the pass and turned right to Suurbrak, a mission station village. As we turned off, I noticed a stream at the bottom of the road and had it not been freezing cold, I would have stopped the car and climbed down the hill and swam…next time.

Suurbrak has a very ornate old church which serves as the central attraction to this close knit, almost exclusively coloured community. We were told of Paradise Organic, a relatively new restaurant run by a former male model from Kimberley. The design of the restaurant does not really fit in with its surroundings, but all the vegetables and fruit grow in the garden, seen through the doors of the restaurant. The owner also is implementing projects with the local community to teach them how to grow food organically. We had a very healthy lunch in the most beautiful setting in the shadow of the mountain and the rain started falling softly. The grey clouds were brewing.

We set off for Swellendam and it poured down. The typical Western Cape weather had finally arrived, we took a detour to Stanford as we were visiting family friends in Onrus. The rain slowed down as we neared Standford but then picked up again and stopped when we hit Onrus and saw our close family friends the Rohloff’s. In a house, overlooking the sea, we had a braai, and caught up.

It was dark and we needed to get to Cape Town, not a nice drive at night, 30 Km’s out from Onrus, a torrential downpour occurred, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst driving experiences I had ever experienced, cars driving at breakneck speeds up your tail, with little space to move, no place to turn around, just hoping that nothing stray enters the road, it was over by the time we hit Sir Lowry’s Pass.

An amazing trip, great to catch up with mom, and wonderful to know that I had seen many places I had not seen before and still refreshing to know that there is so much for me to still see and experience in the beautiful Western Cape province.

I used the following sources to help me research this blog.

http://www.warmwatersbergspa.co.za
http://www.barrydale.co.za
http://www.overberg.co.za


Pics

1) Leon Riley and I outside- The Tradouw in Barrydale
2) Ronnie's Sex Shop
3) The South African Peace Pagoda
4) Tradouw Pass
5) The Garden of Paradise Organic in Suurbrak