Judy here…

After another sumptuous breakfast it was time to leave Oudtshoorn to tackle the Swartberg Pass which runs through the Swartberg mountain range (black mountain in English) and is renowned for its amazing engineering and construction as well as being noted as one of the most scenic areas in SA. Much of the Swartberg is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As we began our drive we climbed from an elevation of 216mtrs and the mountains were shrouded in amazing low hanging clouds...we saw many white washed farm cottages, ostriches, undulating valleys of the Little Karoo and all the time surrounded by the most magnificent mountains. We eventually hit the narrow winding gravel road of the Swartberg Pass and slowly we inched along and the turns became even more hairpin which needed considerable skill and caution to manoeuvre it and Nick, as our driver for the day, did a great job. Eventually we reached "Die Top" at 1583 mtrs and the Pass was now shrouded in fog. We continued on amazed at the construction of the road which was built from 1881 to 1888 by convicts and many of the dry-stone retaining walls are still in place. Our journey through the pass was 27km and it took us two hours to complete this section. The scenery was so amazing that we ran out of surpurlatives to describe it. The pass is especially famous due to the spectacular geology at its Northern end with 700mtr high quartzite cliffs with the most famous being the spectacular 'Wall of Fire'. The forces of nature that created this pass have revealed many colours due to the quartzite in the rock, with reds, golds, green contrasted against the many species of flora in their riot of colours amongst the protea, geranium, heather, aloe but to name but a few.

Leaving the Pass we entered the semi-arid area known as the Great Karoo and arrived in Prince Albert, a very pretty historic village and found a delightful coffee shop for our morning "cuppa" and Laurel, who is not a coffee drinker, even got a "teachino" served with honey, first ever!! It was then onto the Victorian village of De Rust via Meiringspoort, an incredible passageway of towering red cliffs that pierce through the heart of the Swartberg Mountains. We then continued on through picturesque mountainous country on backroads eventually reaching our destination of Storms River Tsitsikamma, where our rooms were in the Barn wing...and they certainly had some unique design in the rooms. We could only think about the spectacular scenery and while it was a long day we all agreed it had been worth the journey.

Quote of the day - "Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience." - Francis Bacon

Distance travelled 413k; Cloudy/Rain 17deg; Altitude 216m > 1583m