Royalty, Roads and Rugby!

Because the dew was so heavy in Sutherland, we cleverly took the tent down the afternoon before we left.That meant that the next morning we were able to simply load up the few things scattered around, (like Alfie who was visiting the bikers and checking up on any 'calling cards' that Trompie had left overnight,) say our farewells and thanks to Jurg and Rita, turn left at the gate and retrace our journey to Matjiesfontein. There we made a sharp left onto the N1 and drove as far as Prince Albert Road. Basically it consists of a railway station, a petrol pump, a church and a bottle store. Turning right, we headed 45 kilometres to our next destination.

On that road to Prince Albert we experienced that strange phenomena called 'somatogravic illusion'. And for those of you who, like me, need that explained in layman's terms, it is the feeling that the road is climbing when it is in fact going downhill or vice versa! We were convinced that we were heading downhill, we could see the road dropping in front of us, but the GPS was telling us that we were in fact, climbing! It was a really strange feeling!

Prince Albert is just beautiful! A corny way to describe a village, but we fell in love with it the minute we arrived!

Clean and green!

The caravan park is on a working olive farm, so we parked on an enormous site with beautiful trees to give us shade. It wasn't long before the resident dog, a dachshund called JJ arrived to say hello and he and Alfie had a 'kick-the-trees' contest!

The shop on the farm, complete with windmill! Tasty olives and oil for sale.

And for the next three days we explored the little town, walked past the most lovingly restored buildings and homes, admired the 'sculpture' of ancient blue gum trees that were saved by the villagers from complete destruction, wandered round the Saturday morning market, and pictured ourselves living there in peace and harmony with nature, guarded by the surrounding mountains. We gazed at the 'For Sale' notices in the Estate Agents offices and wondered what we could get for our house in Jacobsbaai. We had almost decided to go and look at a house or two.

A typical Prince Albert house.

Until someone said that in summer the temperatures easily reach into the upper 40's........

Apparently the hotel has four haunted paintings and I am sad that we didn't see them. Two of them are scenes from the (WW 2) battle of Delville Wood in France, where so many South African soldiers lost their lives. It is said that the humans in the paintings disappear every now and then, only to re-appear a few days later! The other two feature a woman in Victorian dress beside a pool. The body of her husband, murdered by her, is in the water. Her expression apparently changes from time to time!

Iced coffee, perfect for a warm day!

Saturday afternoon was World Cup RUGBY!! We had listened with disbelief the previous Saturday when we lost to Japan in our opening match! How could that be? Against Japan? So, we were not too hopeful that we would beat Samoa, a really strong team and not to be taken lightly! There were two other 'mature' couples camping just behind us and they sat huddled next to one of their vehicles listening to the radio! We, however, were finally able to watch on Rob's computer, thanks to my son Andrew who sent us instructions on what to do! And we cheered along with the rest of South Africa when we won! Pride was restored, no more Springbok sushi jokes!

Metal 'flowers' in the garden!

On Sunday we decided to go for a drive up the Swartberg Pass. If you ever go in that direction and decide to do it too, I have one word for you; DON'T!!!

The first few kilometres were lovely, towering mountains on either side of the road, beautiful rock formations, little streams burbling across the road, lovely.

Before the climb!! Flat ground.......

Then came the climb.

Stomach-churning, twisting, edge of the road with sheer drop, road too narrow to pass another car, dust as the wheels slid and spun, stones, dust, twists and turns, stomach lurching, terrifyingly close to the edge, eyes closed in terror.

Rob took the photo, I was cowering! See where we had come from?

Half way up the pass there is a lay-by place, large enough for cars to park and people to get out and stretch their legs, have a break, vomit over the edge, and take some photos. I remained inside the car, feet jammed flat on the floor, eyes tightly closed, while Rob meandered perilously close to the edge and had a jolly chat with other like-minded people.

And then, then, he said 'Would you like to go further?'

I shall not print my reply!