Visiting several estuaries, beach towns and crossing a river on a pontoon – two days I have found to be very interesting.
Anette and I were invited to a wedding in Jongensfontein. We depart from Stellenbosch on Friday, driving up the N2. Just before Caledon, we stop at the Dassiefontein farm stall for breakfast. It has a fascinating collection of stuff to buy and the food and setting are great. Can you call it a coincidence that we run here into other family members who are also on their way to the wedding? I also have a chat with Errol Tobias, South Africa’s first coloured rugby player who is sitting at the table next to us.
The N2 up to Swellendam is in an excellent condition. From there to the Stilbaai turn off, it is good but in need of some widening to cater for heavier traffic. Just outside Swellendam we make a quick stop at Rolandale farm stall to buy aloe products Anette is looking for. This is the place for roosterkoek. Stilbaai is an exploding beach town – a place many people have fond summer memories of. I am a Hartenbos guy so that excludes me.
We reach our destination, Jongensfontein, just 9 km outside Stilbaai. It is a small and very quiet beach town with more rocks than a beach. Great fishing place. We will be here until Monday morning for the wedding. Our task this weekend is to entertain Ouma and Oupa while the rest of Anette’s family attends to the final wedding arrangements. The wedding turns out to be a lot of fun and I have twice the opportunity to braai for us and Anette’s parents during the weekend.
We have decided to take the road less traveled back home. Tuesday is our 37th wedding anniversary and we are going to spend it at the Arniston Hotel. One should be able to drive some gravel roads from Jongensfontein to there, passing by a number of places I have always wanted to see.
Monday morning we depart, turning off the Stilbaai road on a minor gravel road running south west. The wedding venue was on this road, so we know it is ok, although not great. We drive through Vermaaklikheid, a small town that looks more like a farm with a couple of houses for its workers. There is a little shop, though, but it is closed as we drive by.
We now head for Witsand. The N2 between Riversdale and Swellendam (the part we are short cutting today) traverses many hills and valleys and I am surprised that most of this road we are taking is flat. It is also in excellent condition. There is only one spot where we cross a low water bridge where the road is not flat – and it is not at much of an inclination either. The river crossing is beautiful and worth a stop.
We reach Witsand. Another place where I have not been before. This is where the Breede River flows into the ocean and is quite beautiful. White beaches and dunes. Most holiday houses are next to the river rather than facing the ocean – I guess it is better for the wind and all the water sports. We have coffee and cheesecake at The Woolshed. Also a lot of interesting things to shop there.
We drive up the R324 and about halfway towards Swellendam we turn left towards Malgas. It is a small, upmarket village on the Breede River and has a hotel of its own but nothing more. Looks like a nice place to spend a holiday.
We make our way to the tar road between Napier and Bredasdorp. Now it is only a small distance to Arniston. The colour of the ocean at Arniston always delights me – a beautiful turquoise. With white washed, old fisherman’s houses and other beach houses perched on the small cliffs around the bay. The hotel walls are covered with paintings of ships that were wrecked on this coast the past couple of hundred years (including the Arniston when 373 soldiers drowned). The hotel is very comfortable with a beautiful view of the ocean and has two restaurants serving seafood and other meals including a buffet breakfast that is worth your while.
On Tuesday we depart at about 11:00 and take a gravel road to Struisbaai. Not sure, if we knew how long today is going to take, whether we would have checked out earlier from this wonderful hotel.
The first stop is at De Mond, a nature reserve where the Heuningnes River flows into the ocean. Lots of birds to see and many places to picnic or hike. The entrance fee is R50 unless you have a Wild Card. Very clean ablutions and friendly reception.
From here we continue with the gravel road until we reach the tarred R319 from Bredasdorp to Struisbaai. Struisbaai is nowadays quite big, but it is a beautiful town – I prefer it over Stilbaai. We turn left at the harbour where, if you were hungry, you could get fish and chips or an ice cream. It is the middle of the week, yet there is quite some activity here. We drive up the main road towards L’Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa where the warm Indian Ocean and the cold Atlantic meet. I am told that you can swim here most of the year round because the meeting point of the two sea currents shifts with the seasons and the water is always nice. I have not tried it. I am surprised to see that Struisbaai has grown to reach L’Agulhas which originated as a little fishing village on its own. It is reputed to be the richest fishing area in the Southern Hemisphere. There is a structure at the southernmost point to indicate its location. There is also a lighthouse dating from 1849. L’Agulhas looks like another great place to stay or live. We visit the local SANParks office to hear if we can get permission to take a short cut through the Agulhas National Park but that privilege is reserved for overnight guests.
So we have to drive back all the way to Struisbaai and then take the R317 around the back of the national park towards Die Dam. The gravel road is still in a good condition. We pass a couple of turn-offs to accommodation in the park. I do not like the natural vegetation of the park in particular but it is well conserved. We have to take a smaller gravel road for a short distance to reach Die Dam. The place is suited to more rugged camping – I can remember my parents camped with friends here many years ago.
The R43 towards Hermanus is a brand new tarred road. We pass Pearly Beach (small upmarket town that doesn’t do it for me), Uilenkraalsmond (the part I saw was very unsophisticated and also not my scene), Franskraal and Gansbaai. The latter is huge nowadays and very busy. From what I read in the news it offers cage diving with white death sharks and is very popular with abalone poachers. The road (which is under construction and took ages to drive between Gansbaai and Hermanus) takes us via Stanford, another cute little village, along nice views of the ocean to Hermanus, the capital of the area. Here you will find many boutique hotels and restaurants. It is already 17:00 and we still have to drive all the way to Stellenbosch, but we are hungry and we stop at The Gecko Bar and Restaurant. The restaurant has a fine dine section on the Hermanus-facing side and a bar on the other side, also facing the ocean. We have pizzas here and enjoyed it a lot.
For the final stretch we take the R44 via Kleinmond, Betty’s Bay, Pringle Bay and Gordon’s Bay. We even do Beach Road in the Strand just to be able to claim that we came all the way from Jongensfontein along the beach where we could! We know all these places well, because they are close to home and we are running out of time, so we do not spend any time here. We reach home by about 20:00 – just before it is dark. We drove more than 6 hours today while, normally, it will take you only about 2 hours if you took the shortest route. But that is what we enjoy!
