South African Road Trip

Discussion in 'Touring' started by Sam1199, Mar 2, 2023.

  1. was lucky to get sent to PE for about 8 months in 2017/18 for work, loved the place.
    managed to get time to do a guide tour from Cape Town over many of the passes (mostley gravel or dirt) along the Garden Route on a 1200 Tenere.
     
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  2. @Sam1199 The Midlands Meander is neat, and there used to be all kinds of interesting things to see and places to stop asking the route (long ago when the world was young).

    Margate is awful... really awful.

    Enjoy and take care.
     
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  3. Big day today. It was wet and miserable so thought we might as well get plenty of essential mileage, or in fact Kilometres under our belt. Started at 5.50am and arrived in Port Alfred at 4pm.

    The first part of the drive which headed inland along route 2 was like going through Scottish woodland, very nice in fact. Once we turned south on route 2 it was townships on and off all the way. I hate to say it but I was bloody glad we didn’t get a puncture or break down. We’d been advised by South African friends not to do it but we wanted to see it, not just get to see the privileged parts of South Africa. The stories we’d been told about the road being terrible and broken up were untrue and the traffic compared to UK traffic was very light but it was a Sunday so perhaps less trucks.

    There had been an accident on the road when we went through one township. It looked like someone crossing the road may well have been hit by a car. Several cars and ‘backies’ had shunted. One was completely destroyed on the side of the road and there was an ominous pair of boots protruding from makeshift coverings on the edge of the road. Police and ambulances were already there. Terrible.

    We pressed on and when we stopped to refuel I gave a very poor looking local our toasted chicken sandwiches. We’d resolved to do this and when we left Dulcinea (aka the Mrs) said ;

    ‘It’s his lucky day, I stuck 20Rand in there as well’.
    ‘Really? Good’.

    He gave me the thumbs up as we drove off. It’s a good thing to help in a small way, it’s a big deal for them. I’d rather do that than give money to a charity that burns most of the money on salaries, conferences and advertising anyway.

    On days like today you, or should I say ‘I’ really get to see how lucky we are.

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    Gqeberha is the new name for Port Elizabeth. I’ve no idea how it’s meant to be pronounced.
     
    #23 Sam1199, Mar 12, 2023
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2023
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  4. Glad you made it safely to your destination. Your friends are right about the route you chose as regards safety.

    Still, good to see it for oneself.

    Take care and enjoy!
     
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  5. Thanks Gandalf. We chatted about it yesterday evening. As we drove through the region we noticed a lot of young men had sticks, some of these sticks were pretty hefty and quite a few serious looking men had what looked more like clubs. They definitely weren’t walking sticks but seemed more like accoutrements. There was no violence and nobody harassed us in any way, nor did they even give us a second look, we made sure we kept moving except when we queued at the road accident. Fortunately everything went well but if it hadn’t it could have gone very wrong and you wouldn’t have wanted to get on the wrong end of these items.

    It’s certainly a deprived area and without doubt we were naive. You just don’t understand until you’ve experienced it.
     
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  6. I had trouble posting photos from here, mainly because of lousy wifi. I’ve loaded a few on the previous thread about Drakensberg but I’ll have to backtrack as it were and post up some more here.

    57DF59C0-3F2E-4B29-8952-6D9909C54F8F.jpeg 2C5CE1D2-8F0A-4D67-B723-DF4CED818602.jpeg 6125BF61-7573-4A93-BC0D-E6C4F72ECF37.jpeg
    The drive to Drakensberg around the north of Lesotho was mainly flat and pretty boring. We didn’t want to do it again so that’s one of the reasons we went round the southern route on our way back towards Cape Town.
     
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  7. Views from the Drakensberg mountains. 8F4DF621-581C-4107-9CFF-0DEE71AAB303.jpeg

    My guide and an interesting looking fella. C3F53486-C41C-469A-9BD9-D6DC0B3A8284.jpeg

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    4936F6EA-9465-4E4E-86FC-1576BA30477E.jpeg
     
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  8. Brings back good memories! Thanks for sharing :upyeah:
     
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  9. some great trout fishing up there... My dad used to keep a lodge , wonderful memories. I've not been back since he died in 2020, but still tugs my heart strings when I see it.
     
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  10. Glad you like it.
     
  11. Great tales.
    I've sent sometime (long ago) in Cape Town, loved it there....:cool:
     
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  12. @Sam1199 stunning images. Thanks for sharing
     
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  13. Pictures from the Spion Kop. This was the terrible scene at the end. All British Soldiers. Jan 24 1900 52D9D354-50BA-4AA6-BC0F-574114DCBA98.jpeg

    F9D6FC21-B86B-41DB-8E6F-BFE800673D7E.jpeg
    Nowonder they couldn’t dig a trench, look at all the rock.

    F21365FD-0C88-4381-A07B-CE6AD632474C.jpeg One of the memorials at the top.

    12EE7734-FC80-4CF3-A552-D155C0EB40D7.jpeg This is where one of the trenches were. It’s now a mass grave.

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    Memorial to the Indian stretcher bearers, they were there in the thick of the action. I don’t know how many were lost or survived but check out the 6th name down ( below), he definitely survived. EDF441D9-FBD3-4C63-8287-F7A953798756.jpeg FEE58D58-CD7B-43F0-A88C-800F47875012.jpeg
    General Redvers Buller, Commander in Chief of the British forces. Where do you get a name like that from?
    Looks like a pompous ass if you ask me but of course that’s only my opinion and I don’t wish to lead the Jury. What do you think? D747319A-AB04-4CC8-ABF7-B07136951F91.jpeg
    General Louis Botha, Commander of the Boer forces at Spion Kop. Looks like he’s got that madness in his eyes in this picture but he became a great negotiator, peacemaker and politician. Subsequently he became the first Prime Minister of South Africa.

    Incredible that Churchill, Ghandi and Botha were all involved albeit in different ways, in the same Battle in the same location. Who knows, history could have been very different if they didn’t survive.
     
    #33 Sam1199, Mar 13, 2023
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2023
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  14. Drove from Port Alfred to Plettenberg. Basically it was an uneventful drive. More than I can say for the drive in the opposite direction but I’ll update about that later, when I have more time.
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    We did stop off at Nature bay which was fantastic.
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    Nature, not Naturist! We’d been there before in 2016, just had to take another look.


    Mind you, we did go past this place.
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    #34 Sam1199, Mar 14, 2023
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2023
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  15. WOW!!!!
     
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  16. The Mrs decided it would be a good idea to take me on a 5hr walk around the Peninsula at Plettenberg, which is called Robberg Nature reserve. Lots of steep climbs and narrow paths.

    I can ride a bike all day, that is a bicycle or a motorbike come to that but 5 hrs walking
    steep climbs and descent’s, I was totally fkd.

    Now recovering with a beer or two.
    4E2927C4-3BA0-4C94-A767-4D295F99592E.jpeg 95014A71-7720-4049-BEAF-B70402B98275.jpeg Weird rock formations. No it’s not man made.

    B1B31D85-81F4-4DF8-B12D-217639E37D72.jpeg We walked along this really narrow path. If you slipped you’d be a gonner, bashing your brains out on the way down. So the conversation went like this.
    Me, ‘If you want to get rid of me this is the place to do it’.
    ‘ I haven’t got access to all your bank accounts yet’
    :neutral: No and you’re not getting them either’. And so I made it back.
    EDD9C5B9-2AF1-498F-ACE6-D7E6D1956A9E.jpeg People in diving suits swimming with Seals in the sea way down below us, look carefully. When the Seals were lying around on the rocks they looked just like my son did when he was a teenager lying around in the living room with half a dozen of his teenage mates. They made the same noise and both the seals and teenagers stank!

    D2453502-57A5-4115-897A-9F7DF85BE36E.jpeg

    1E62B1FD-D834-4B77-9B63-BAE632B54AAF.jpeg By the end of it!
     
    #36 Sam1199, Mar 14, 2023
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2023
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  17. Magic!

    I assume that your seal has grown up since, and is now a bit les smelly.

    Thanks for writing, it makes for entertaining reading!
     
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  18. Glad you’re enjoying it.
    Yes he has. In fact I’ve recently become a grandfather so I’m looking forward to all the grief my grandson gives my son.:joy:
     
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  19. Congratulations Sam and family
     
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  20. We decided to extend for a day in Plettenberg and have been rewarded with grey wet drizzle and rain.
    We’ll have a look around the place anyway.

    Tomorrow it’ll be an early start and off to Franschoek. Beautiful place.
     
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