One Man in South Africa

I awoke bright and early on Monday morning as, according to the Tourist Information Office, the South African Air Force (SAAF) Museum only closed at Christmas and New Year. There was also a 'Heritage Trail' to follow around the old town which sounded interesting. Despite this being another public holiday I thought I would have a good day. Alas, when I arrived at the SAAF Museum it now closed every Monday! I headed back to Beach Road and followed it in the direction of the town to see if I could find the park and the 'trail'. I found myself at the Market Square and turned left up the hill. This proved fortuitous as I ended up parking next to a large open grassed area. 

No - not my hotel lol As it happens Monday 28 th is a public holiday so a busy weekend for Guido's. On Sunday I borrowed the truck and set off for Port Elizabeth a little later than I had expected as Toby and I had a wine tasting session the night before! I went up towards Grahamstown then along the N2 to Port Elizabeth as this is a more direct route though the scenery is just as dramatic, it reminded me of Scotland when I went to Pumba Game Reserve. Lo and behold a signpost to 'Lothian' a little further along the route. I drove into Port Elizabeth not recognising any of the signed routes so headed for the airport and then down to the beach road looking for the 'Road Lodge' hotel I had been booked into when I first arrived in South Africa. Driving along I couldn't spot it so turned across a convenient junction to book into a hotel opposite, easier said than done. Three hotels in a row and I couldn't find a door into any of them. Eventually I entered...

Easter Monday, I know this has taken a while getting here but you try to decide which photographs to leave out from this adventure! I booked a safari trip at the Pumba Game Reserve about 20km along the N2 road from Grahamstown to Port Elizabeth. Amazing how much you can find in the Eastern Cape. When the settlers arrived game roamed free over the whole of the African continent whilst the indigenous tribes co-existed hunting only for food and clothing. The farmsteads divided up the land and drove the wildlife out, introducing our own farming species and crops including trees from Australia which were of use as windbreaks in the new environment.

Sunday and the place to be for breakfast is the 'Fish River Sun' Hotel, once a casino. This tied in nicely with my exploration of the N72 towards East London having seen the lighthouse yesterday. I pulled off on the west side of the river and had a look around before proceeding across the road bridge to find my champaign breakfast, at only R120.00 a bargain and a pleasant way to while away your Sunday morning.....

Easter weekend Saturday, this time I turned in the opposite direction along the N72 heading towards East London to see what I could see. Was that a pair of cats running across the highway? No, I realised at the last moment that the long tail disappearing into the bush belonged to a monkey. I pulled over onto the verge and waited by the truck to see if they would reappear, a horn blast from the other side of the road made me turn to see three more scamper across behind me. Hmm, this blog requires patience! I was rewarded after about 10 minutes or so by a head poking out of the bush opposite and the rest as they say is history. I came to realise that, just like buses, monkeys can be seen all over either darting across roads or playing around in the bush as I saw many more during the day.

It is Good Friday and another fine day in the Eastern Cape but, in the absence of hot cross buns, I decided to go on a road trip and have a look along the route signposted 'Frontier Country to see what I could find..... Heading out along the Port Elizabeth road I turned left this time and headed inland. When you look at the photographs you will get some idea of the vastness of this country and I am only exploring in a 60 km radius at the moment. South Africa will definitely take a year!       I came to a settlement called Salem which was founded by the Septon party, one of 60 made up a total of 4000 settlers landing in 1820. M any of them poor were sent here by the British Government to bolster the hold on the Eastern Cape. They were given a plot of land, farming equipment and seed and left to get on with it. Many later departed for urban conurbations such as Bathurst so that they could use other skills such as glass making in order to survive. A church built form mud ...

Wednesday 16th and the sun is still shining, I took a drive out along the road to Port Elizabeth. Trying to admire the view as you travel is much more difficult when driving at the same time.  About 27 km from Port Alfred, having already crossed two rivers, I came across the sight post to 'Boesmanriviermond' (established in 1897) which is africans for Bushmans River Mouth.  After following the road down to the slipway at the river mouth where there is also a very pleasant place to swim, this turned out to be a very attractive spot to venture along.  I drove back along the side road parallel with the river through the houses and cottages which were originally a holiday retreat for farmers and people from the towns inland and now appear to be inhabited year round. In the early days farmers would trek to the area in ox drawn wagons carrying everything they would need including fresh water, now it is much more civilized. Seasoned boaters in the area are still caught out when ...

It has been a blazing hot weekend, I went along to Kelly's Beach on Saturday for a swim but decided to head inland on Sunday. Following the reason for the building of the wharf in my last post I decided to follow the trail of the settlers in 1820 who proceeded inland and created Grahamstown some 60 km inland. It took me about one hour to drive there following a narrow road which winds through the hills and valleys. It must have been a daunting task on dirt tracks using an ox-cart. It must have been at least 30 degrees under a clear blue sky as I alighted from the truck to wander around the amazingly spacious main streets. The architecture leaps straight out of the founding era with elaborate wrought ironwork and ornate architecture reminiscent of 'home'. There appears to be a church on practically every street corner and there is also the Cathedral of St Michael and St George. This imposing building looks down the high street at the clock tower of Rhodes University (I ...

  We set off around lunchtime on Thursday 10 th with me driving along the East London road turning off at a small development of thatched roofed 'cottages'. It turned out that my sister had tried to visit this restaurant on two previous occasions and, true to form, it was still closed. This proved to be a rather fortunate occurrence as it led to two interesting days spent around the area of Wharf Street back in Port Alfred. Yes I really am here! We parked outside the Brew Pub and entered for a superb lunch. Whilst there I explored the building which includes a cellar and an art gallery in the dining area upstairs along with many photographs of the history of Port Alfred. A tunnel leads from the cellar to the river which now houses the wine cellar. There were various rumours attached to this tunnel from slavery to smuggling. In fact it was used to transport stored rainwater to replenish the freshwater stores on the ships before they sailed. Whilst there Toby booked a tour of...

The Bathurst Show is organised by the Bathurst Agricultural Society, probably around a pint in 'The Pig and Whistle'. It takes place around this time every year so that I was fortunate enough to be able to visit on the afternoons of Friday and Saturday the 4 th and 5 th April. I was thinking of heading the post 'Little Britain' and I do not mean this in a derogatory sense, perhaps it is the same in agricultural communities the world over, but this was a reassuring reminder of the shows I attended as a child with my parents and brothers and sisters and later with nieces and nephews and it gave a warm feeling being so far from home and having travelled so long. Turn left out of Bathurst on the main Grahamstown road, drive to the top of the hill and you will see the Agricultural Museum on your right. The show is held in their grounds and the entrance is a few hundred metres further on. Driving down the dirt track there were plenty of attendants on hand to direct me into a...

Woke up this morning to a storm, when it rains here it rains, even the birds come inside! Undaunted I ventured over to see my Toby and my sister who outlined a cunning plan. Once the paperwork etc. was complete we were going out for lunch. We piled into the truck, Norma drew the short straw and sat in the back and off we went. Through Port Alfred and onto the open road to Grangetown which is the nearest big destination to Port Alfred. Toby pointed out the pineapple farms and other points of interest along the route until we arrived at the village of Bathust where our destination lay – the 'Pig and Whistle' Inn – the oldest pub in South Africa. The building was constructed in 1821 by Thomas Hartley, a settler from Nottinghamshire, England. It was originally used as a forge and, as blacksmiths had pliers, a place to have your tooth extracted. After a while he realised that he could make more money from the British settlers by running an inn where he could sell them beer. Th...