It doesn’t take long to drive to Beaufort-West. The sky is a brownish grey due to a headwind blowing up lots of dust. We didn’t know this wind was going to blow the best part of the four days we were going to spend there. It is still very dry although the area had some out-of-season rains in the past couple of months. At least they do not have to cut the water supply during night-time anymore. 

About 5 km before the town we join the N1 from Cape Town and shortly thereafter you can exit to your left to enter the Karoo National Park. We have enjoyed many visits to this park but will not this time. We drive on to stay with Anette’s parents who have lived in Beaufort-West for the majority of their lives.

Our stay with Oom Stokkies and Tannie Aletta is a very enjoyable experience, as always. Home-cooking, lots of conversation and laughter. Usually we sit on the patio over-looking the veld (they live on the edge of town) and have tea, coffee and biscuits from early in the morning to late in the afternoon with the sun creeping from one side of the patio to the other. Birds come watching and we watch them. But this time around it is more difficult with the wind blowing, so we spend most of the time indoors. Dad Stokkies and I spending an hour here and there on the patio when the women are busy – the wind doesn’t bother us that much and there is nothing like a cup of tea whilst overlooking the Karoo, having a laugh or two or discussing politcs.

The days and nights are definitely not Karoo-winter-cold as we have expected. We have to wear our few pieces of summer atire which we brought just in case.

Dad Stokkies is turning 87 later during our stay and has written his first book of fiction. Except for Ma Aletta, Anette and I are the first to read it. As “Die Boekklub” (see Merweville later in this tour), this story is written by someone who knows the locals and who have accurately described their idiosyncrasies without identifying them. Maybe this book can also become a movie?

Anette’s eldest brother, Anton, makes a surprise visit for a night on his way down from Pretoria to the Strand. He wanted to surprise his dad on this birthday. None of us knew about this except Ma Aletta. And so another evening of laughs and stories follow.

On the day of Oom Stokkies’s birthday many of his friends come to visit. Even younger people join in. The telephone is ringing non-stop so we take it off the hook to allow the guests to have some time with him. He and Tannie Aletta are old beloved inhabitants of Beaufort-West.

And now the time has come to move on to our next stop, Mokala.