Taylored Trips – A Family Affair – Part 6 – Homeward Bound

Day 12 & 13

The road from the Golden Gate National Park skirts Lesotho with majestic mountains in the

distance as you pass through Fouriesburg, Ficksburg, Clocolan and Ladybrand. Unfortunately, the road is very badly potholed but there is some respite from this somewhere between Fouriesburg and Ficksburg when Jenlees Country Shop & Kitchen appears at an intersection. It is a breath of fresh air and should be

featured on National Geographics. It’s a treat!

Jenlees Country Shop & Kitchen

From Jenlees we carried on past Hobhouse and remembered Francois, the friendliest guy in town. We overnig

hted at his place some time ago on a Syncro trip to Lesotho. At Wepener there is a gravel road short-cut down to Smithfield. Along that R701 gravel road we came across a CJ (Paarl registration) Nissan X-Trail, with a puncture. I stopped and helped him change his wheel.

R701 to Smithfield

In Smithfield we stopped for some food and fuel and I mused about what it would be like to live in a town like this. It had everything going for it, a trendy café/takeaway shop, a classic

steepled church and a very inviting pub which I nearly popped into.

The tantalising attractions of Smithfield

The R701 skirts the Gariep Dam and joins the N1 national road just before Colesberg.

Karoo skies Gariep Dam

From Colesberg it’s just a hop, skip and jump and you are in Beaufort West. Donna had stayed at Steenbo

kkie Park previously and she couldn’t stop raving about the place so I put it in the GPS and viola, I was taken straight there, just on the outskirts of Beaufort West.

We arrived fairly

late in the evening but were welcomed in by the owner and told to pick a site where- ever we wanted.It wasn’t long before Donna’s old friends from her previous visit started arriving and entertaining us. In the morning there were more.

Steenbokkie Park

The next morning we were greeted to a very rare sight in the Karoo as we drove away from our overnight stop - a spot of rain.

Rain in Beaufort West

Down the N1, through the beautiful valley of De Doorns and past Worcester where we turned right to take the R43 towards Ceres and then a left turn into my beloved Bain’s Kloof Pass where it

also was wet and rainy. After nearly three thousand kilometres of seeing most of what our beautiful country has to offer, Donna said that we have just moved up to the next level of amazingness as we marvelled at the sheer beauty of Bain’s Kloof.

Bain's Kloof Pass

As we were descending Bain’s Kloof Pass we stopped in dis-belief when we saw what we thought was snow. It

turned out to be hail and we later learnt that we had had a hail storm of note which is very uncommon in this part of the country.

Hail

Down the pass, through the town of Wellington and the next thing, we were home.

Wellington Home

As I said, nearly 3000 kms of amazing road-trip, amazing friends and amazing family. Thanks to all for making

this a memorable trip.Until next time, “Keep on Tripping!”