Riebeek Vallei – Part 1

Riebeek-Wes

Some 80km’s from Cape Town lies the Riebeek Valley.

[Source:   Map data ©2012 AfriGIS (Pty) Ltd, Google]

Travelling from Malmesbury you first get to Riebeek-Kasteel.  Five kilometers further on you find Riebeek-Wes.  It’s difficult figuring out why there are two towns, instead of one, given the demographics of the towns.

According to the 2001 census there were then 2532 people living in Riebeek Kasteel.  The town itself is a wopping 1,4 square kilometers big.  This, as opposed to Riebeek West, which only measures one square kilometer, and had 2661 residents in 2001.  Which means that Riebeek-West is more densely populated, should you care to notice.

In spite of the name indicating the contrary, there is no castle in Riebeek-Kasteel (kasteel = castle).  It would appear that the valley was found in 1661 by one of Jan van Riebeeck’s men, who then for lack of a better name called it Riebeek’s Castle.

Apparently the mountain looks like a castle.  Maybe if you’re on the mountain, dude, but not from below!  But then again, maybe one should give a bit of leeway for the views and needs of the settlers in those days.  I guess a castle counted for something then, and you could hence easily mistake something for your dream castle.  (I wonder what they smoked in those days?)

Rumour has it that some 24 000 people now stays in the Valley.  I’ve got my doubts.  On my first visit there I saw 13 people, which included 9 visitors.  Admittedly, I was on the outer perimeter of Riebeek-Wes.  On my second visit, though, I found myself in the hustle and bustle of down town Riebeek Kasteel.  And indeed, this time I saw more people.  About twenty people, but that was on a Sunday morning just as the church came out.

But these guys use any excuse for a festival.  Maybe that’s when they get the 24000 people.

October               – Shiraz & Arts Weekend

December           – Kloovenburg Summer Market Day

March                    – Mediterranean Fest

April                       – Portuguese Festival

May                       – Olive Festival

July                        – Berg rivir marathon and the Riebeek Mountain Marathon

From the local information brochure I could glean that Riebeek-Kasteel sports 32 overnight places, and 12 eateries.  Clearly, you might die of boredom long before you will die of hunger in this place.   This outperforms Riebeek-Wes that only sports a humble 14 places to stay, and 3 eateries.

But according to my calculation it gives you an option of 46 places to stay, and 15 places to eat at.  And that in two towns totalling 2,4 square kilometers.  Not bad, huh?

For my first visit we went to stay at Andrea Townsend’s Church Hills Guest House in Riebeek-Wes. Andrea is a lawyer turned guest house owner who speaks Afrikaans, English and German.  And a bit of French too, although most locals would probably mistake that for swearing.

A view from the stoep.

We went walkabout through Riebeek-Wes.

Time comes to a standstill.

But still takes its toll.

Each of these towns has its own church as well.

Roads are well marked.  It’s only the Do-Do that has a bit of a problem knowing whether he should go left or right.  No wonder he became extinct!

PGJ

 

 

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Riebeek Vallei – Part 2

Riebeek-Kasteel

By the time you read here, you were supposed to have read my previous posting on Riebeek-Wes.  So as not to repeat myself, most of the vital detail and statistics of the town are to be found in the previous mail.

After our first visit, and just to check that we have not missed something, we went back for a short visit to Riebeek-Kasteel.

And promptly tried out one of their restaurants.  Kasteelberg Inn & Bistro.  It was a coldish morning, with two fires being stoked to keep the place warm.

Behind the Inn you can see the outline of Kasteelberg (Castle Mountain).  Of course it looks like a castle!

You could go next door for coffee.

Or we could also have eaten 20 meters away at De Jonges.

Or at Fat Cats Kitchen.

Or we might have been in a hurry.

Pizzas anyone?  Bread? Cookies?

Or maybe just water?

Of course, there are other important things in life too.

The Royal Hotel.

And of course, the other hallmark of the Afrikaans platteland, the church.

And just as we left, I even noticed a few houses.

PGJ

 

 

 

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Johnie does Afriski, Lesotho

Johnie does Free State & Lesotho

By JJ Jonker

Like a fair number of other people, we also thought that the present spate of severe weather conditions throughout the country should guarantee decent snow at Afriski.

The weather conditions, of course, spread quite a bit wider than Lesotho. My friend Charl was rained in on his farm in the Aberdeen district. (That’s now Aberdeen in the Karoo, Eastern Cape, not the one in Scotland.)  Similar weather conditions were last seen there in 1968.  (Not in Scotland, in the Karoo).

We got some pointers as to what may happen in terms of pass closing, and I also had a look on Google Earth where this Moteng place was.

Other than the pass that may be closed, we really had no idea of the fun and games – not at the ski resort, but on the way there – which would develop.

In hindsight, whereas we had fun, clearly the people on their way back the day before, could not share our joy. For some insight into the aftermath, watch this video clip of the last 800m of Moteng Pass on the way up the next day.

[Note: The video is shot in 720HD but defaults to a lower resolution when play starts. Select the highest resolution for the best image.]

OK, but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

We headed for Glen Reenen from Pretoria on Sunday 15 July, arriving in good light.

[Source:   Map data ©2012 AfriGIS (Pty) Ltd, Google]

Booking was made online via the Sanparks website, and being outside school holidays – on the first day – we managed to find place in one of the family cottages via their site.

Unit 25 turned out to be superb, as this has been kitted out for disabled people. We did not really need the ramps which linked all unlevel surfaces, but as far as we could see, this was the only unit with a double carport. This was great for unpacking the car and would be ideal for someone towing a trailer.

While reading through the web page I also saw reference to the Highlands Mountain Retreat –  which I had never heard of before, so after settling in we took a drive up to this log cabin camp.

What an incredible hideaway! The units are dug into the hillside

 

You cannot see another unit from inside any other. And the view goes on forever. Definitely a tick on the future “to do” list.

The two game viewing loops provided a nice road and good views – just none of game. As per usual.

We took some wood along from home just in case there was none for sale – there was, at R27.50 a bundle, but the shop closed at 6pm – so at least we had some backup. Once back at Glen Reenen, the fireplace really made it a welcome place.

The next morning we started – rather too leisurely for my liking – towards Afriski via Caledonspoort.

[Source:   Map data ©2014 AfriGIS (Pty) Ltd, Google]

But we need not have bothered about an earlier departure, as we – together with around 30 other cars – were pulled up short at the second hairpin of the pass due to it being closed and de-icing being in process.

An ETD of around 1 hour was rumoured when we parked, but turned out to be closer to 2 hours before the salt was scattered and the grader eventually arrived from the top of the pass, 3 km away.

After an initial group of “down” cars, we went up, meeting another similarly sized convoy, waiting to start their downward journey. This was around 1pm, but these motorists were making sure they did not spend aNOTHer night on that mountain.

We were told by the driver of a local recovery truck queuing just ahead of us during the wait – which rather seemed like a social event, as no one seemed to be agitated by this delay – you had to be through the pass the other way at around 4pm, before the water started icing again.

An observation I made was that the cemented concrete channels on the mountain side of the road should keep the melting ice away from the road, thus preventing re-icing. Only this does not happen, as the channels are filled with rocks. So the icing problem is perhaps caused by lack of maintenance?

So, only 3 hours left to do Afriski – is it even worth it?

But of course!!

My kids being semi-English due to their mother’s tongue – but being accustomed to going to Afrikaans holiday places like Hermanus, Gourits, Forever Resorts and the ATKV due to their father’s wallet – have at times asked us “but where do the English people holiday?”

Well, I heard a lot of Afrikaans at Afriski, but I thought this was pretty much as “international” as it was going to get.

 

The music being played suited the atmosphere exactly, with a sort of “quiet” holiday vibe being present. Almost as if you do not need loud blaring music to artificially create a “holiday feeling”. Who ARE these people?

OK, so not enough time for ski lessons, but I did manage to fit in a Gluhwein – a bit heavy on the cinnamon, though. Afriski was fully booked, so on the way back – to meet the advised 4pm pass deadline – we stopped at Oxbow to enquire about accommodation with the view of returning from there the next day for some skiing.

They still had space available – R2200 for an ensuite room with 4 beds. But by then the sunburn on my wife’s cheeks from the reflection of the snow started to bite, and now looked more like a rash than mere over exposure. So we decided that a future – better planned – visit would be more advisable to fully gain the benefit of Afriski. We’ll also pack the SPF 30 next time.

So we headed back to Glen Reenen. Again Unit 25, us being the only people in the resort.

The next morning we headed down to Drakensville – where the Afrikaans people holiday.

Ai, nothing beats some lekker warm water in the middle of winter, leaning your chin on …