Road Trip Day 2 - Hole in the Wall

I awoke to sunshine and a hearty breakfast in the dining room before departing on my Landrover trip to 'Hole in the Wall' the main purpose of my visit. There are a myriad of walks and other challenges along this coastline but time and age dictated a drive. My guide took me to his 'roundhouse' on the opposite hill so that I could see the view back across the bay to the hotel and so that I could see the construction of his house. The ancestors say that evil spirits lurk in corners but, as an expression of wealth, more 1^st world style houses are being constructed. Later I even saw one with and integral garage, though no car, drive, gate in fence or road visible. Back to the roundhouse, the thatchwork is guaranteed to last six years though his had been there for twelve and showed no sighns of deteriation. The walls are made of brick, either cement or a mixture of mud and straw or hardened earth blocks which have been dried out. The soil here is deep, very fertile and black in colour. I wondered if it may be akin to peat. Tradition has it that the hills and mountains were pushed up by earthworms, hence the flat tops. My guide preferred to think that it had been covered in water which receded.

On we went over, to me, non-existent tracks sometimes very close to the edge! We stopped frequently to take photographs or take short walks to obtain a better view. It is so quiet here, the only sound the waves crashing far below. Hole in the Wall is well worth the visit just to “stand and stare” as Wordsworth once said. I hope that the photographs do it some justice. We returned by a different route calling in at the local suppliers of everything from toothpaste to locally crafted souvenirs.

I departed Coffeebay at about 11:15 hours intending to stop somewhere father up the coast before reaching Durban the following day. Some two hours later, including a stop for petrol, I re-joined the N2 north. My journey times had not considered the many sets of roadworks along the entire route which seem to have become a national past time. Taking into account cows and other livestock crossing the road I was caught unawares by a stretch of speed bumps in the middle of no-where. Interesting at about 100km per hour!

My journey passed through villages consisting, in the main, of a high street thronged with cars, people, street traders and open fronted shops. The rest of the time I rolled across open savannah climbing into the mountains which I had viewed from a distance the day before. No matter how high I climbed and which plateau I reached there always seemed to be another higher in the distance. After negotiating another set of roadworks I realised that I was a good forty minutes out of my way as I had been heading into the sun for too long meaning that I was travelling west not east. Another ten minutes before I could pull over and switch on my phone to get my GPS position. I could only turn back and retrace my route until I found the missing junction. By this time it was getting dark though I could have taken some dramatic photographs of the clouds appearing over the mountains in the sunset. Alas nowhere to pull over and stop. It grew dark and then it poured with rain, a deluge. I had no choice but to follow my nose and press on to Durban arriving there some three hours later. Not knowing where I was I headed for the sea front and the hotels along there. Gulp R1,400.00 per night, no repast included. I drove on to the end and turned the corner, R750.00 per night but no vacancies. Two blocks up I called in at the 'Regal Inn' a very comfortable hotel and only R450.00 per night and R50.00 for breakfast. And there I lay my weary head.

View my 'Road Trip Day 2' photo album
The photographs for this post appear after those for 'Road Trip Day 1' in the same album.