Taylored Trips – Tug-Town

We went for a drive the other day around the mountains and I wasn’t even going to

write about it until we popped into a farmstall in Villiersdorp. I had no idea that I was going to find out something so interesting in this quiet little country town where my mother-in-law grew up. So now that I am writing about it, I’ll start at the start then.From my stoep I can see the Du Toit’s

Kloof Pass so let’s call that the start. This pass, built by Italian prisoners of war in 1949, climbs the majestic Klein Drakenstein Mountains.

Du Toit's Kloof Pass

There is a cross up on Huguenot Peak and a plaque along the road to commemorate the POW’s.

The view from up here is absolutely amazing.

The pass, which we are on is on the left, the road in the middle of the picture is the N1 leading to the Huguenot Tunnel and the road between the two is a service road to the tunnel

Once you reach the top of the pass and

start descending into the interior, views of the burnt Du Toit’s Mountains greet you.

Du Toit's Mountains

At the weighbridge, we turned right for Rawsonville and we stopped at Du Toitskloof Wines.

We didn’t buy any wine but I did get some beer from

Melissa’s to see what that’s like.

I must be honest, the Kloof Pale Ale they

can keep but the Sneeukoppie Blonde was quite tasty. They have even got the beer on tap and an upstairs party area for when it gets busy. We were there during the week but I’m sure it buzzes on the weekends.

From Rawsonville we made our way around the dams towards Villiersdorp enjoying the scenic Rooihoogte Pass and Stettyn Mountains as we went along.

Stettyn Mountains

We took a drive through Villiersdorp, up past the stately De Villiers Graaf High School and down past the legendary Andreno workshop. If you have ever owned a VW Beetle,

Kombi or Syncro, you’ll know who they are.We were actually on our way out of town when we went past a farmstall advertising free coffee with a pie and gravy so we made a U-turn and popped in. This was when I started getting interested.

Take note of the tug motif on the wall above the sign. I didn’t see it at first but in the restaurant area you can’t miss the connection. Proudly on display in a cabinet

is this little beauty as well as some pictures of tugs in Cape Town harbour.

Naturally I was intrigued and went to ask the lady in attendance what the relevance was all about and she told me

that the real McCoy was standing at an engineering shop right behind the farmstall where it is being refurbished to stand in front of the new soon to be opened restaurant right next to the farmstall. That means when you enter Villiersdorp from Grabouw/Franschhoek side, the first thing you will see on the

right in the near future is this tug and then the new restaurant before the farmstall. Isn’t that amazing?

The Alwyn Vintcent tug undergoing refurbishment at the engineering shop right behind the farmstall

I googled

it and all the information about who it was named after, when it was built and how it got to end up in Villiersdorp is there for your edification, so please check it out.Just after the right turn towards Franschhoek we were greeted with an amazing picture over the very empty Theewaterskloof dam.

Theewaterskloof Dam

Theewaterskloof Dam

The beautiful Franschhoek Pass follows and then you are straight into the town. We stopped off at the Huguen

ot Monument for a look around. It really is quite special and well worth a visit.

French Huguenot Monument and Museum complex

On another earlier visit to Franschhoek we had nipped down the Excelsior road to Café Bon Bon. This place just oozes style even on a dull and gloomy day. It’s beautifully appointed and ever so French.

Café Bon Bon

We pulled in to have a look at another of our empty dams, this one, the new-(ish) Berg River Dam a few kilos out of town on the road to Paarl.

As a comparison, I have added a picture we took in March this year and you can see that nothing much has changed. The picture above was taken

end June.

Berg River Dam

At the time I caught this chappie giving me the beady eye on the dam wall.

It just shows what you can learn on a little trip around a mountain.Until next time. “Keep on Tripping!”