Going slowly up the N1 – South Africa’s spine

Most people get it wrong. They try to do it in a day. Wake up before dawn, load the car, beat the early morning traffic, then foot flat for 14 hours. But that’ s no way to do the dreaded N1. Cape Town to Joburg needn’t be a Big Push, with the briefest of stops for leg stretches and snacks. There’s plenty to see and do along this route, as well as many rewarding detours. It’s worth spending a little time meandering along it.

The Great North Road from Cape to Cairo starts life as the N1 at the southwestern tip of Africa. It’s a grand and majestic highway of history, one of the world’s great routes. For centuries, it has attracted explorers, adventurers, traders and trek farmers. They tackled this journey on horse- back or in an ox wagon loaded with provisions for many months on the road. Today it’s a breeze.

Through the witch’s valley
I set off from CapeTown at a civilised 09h00 one midsummer day and tootled up the N1 at a leisurely pace, bound for Joburg. I’d given myself eight days, so there was no need to rush and plenty of opportunity to stop for coffee, photography and sightseeing. With this in mind, I skipped the usual dash through the Huguenot Tunnel and chose the old Du Toitskloof Pass instead. It offered any number of pull offs to take in the views of Table Mountain, Paarl’s granite domes and tinkling streams cascading off the Klein Drakenstein range.

Then it was an hour of pleasant driving through vineyards – first the Breede, then Hex River valleys – all clad in rich summer greens. Past De Doorns, the Hexrivier Pass led me up into the Karoo, which stretched ahead, drab and endless, the road shimmering in mirage pools, my vehicle’s air conditioning cranked up to full blast.

The museum dorp of Matjiesfontein offered a welcome break. It’s a Victorian hamlet with plenty of charm. Buildings have ornate cast-iron fret-work and plaster mouldings. The settlement was developed in the 1880s by an enterprising Scot, James Logan. He was shipwrecked at the Cape, but turned his mishap into opportunity and became a wealthy entrepreneur servicing the railway line. He established Matjiesfontien as a model village and health resort; today the entire town is a national monument.

A comfortable 300 kilometres into the journey, it was time to find a bed for the night. Anysberg Nature Reserve is a little-known gem southwest of Laingsburg. The park was founded to protect the two fragile biomes that meet within its borders (fynbos and succulent Karoo). It’s reached down a lonely gravel track with the rugged Anysberg Mountain sliced like a jam roll on your left. This is Karoo landscape at its most captivating. With the temperature hovering close to 40C, I strolled to the dams near camp at sunset and found the animals were as much in need of coolness as I was. Large herds of gemsbok and red hartebeest came to drink and waterfowl arrived by the squadron.

Later, as my wors and chops sizzled on the grid, a chorus of jackals filled the night with their wailing. A river of stars coursed overhead, so bright you could almost read by their light.

Karoo, nothing but Karoo
The next day, I opted for a short hop to the east across shimmering plains that were pale in the heat. Abandoned farmhouses, broken windmills, bushes tumbled by the hot wind.

Prince Albert is a beautifully preserved Cape Dutch and Victorian town with a host of B&Bs and good restaurants. It lies at the base of the majestic Swartberg Pass, which is a destination in itself.

Charles Roux, owner of De Berg- kant Lodge, filled me in on the town. ‘Prince Albert is incredibly fertile. Water seeps from the Swartberg behind us. There are fruit trees and vines everywhere, and we’re famous for our figs.’

My next stop was Beaufort West. The biggest attraction in the area is the Karoo National Park. Main Camp’s chalets are close to the N1, so this is an ideal stopover. The landscapes are spectacular and, if you can squeeze in a morning or evening drive up Klipspringer Pass, you’ll be rewarded with elemental Karoo views and quite a bit of game.

The next leg led me via Three Sisters and the sleepy town of Victoria West to Richmond. This is South Africa’s only ‘book town’, with a dozen or so buildings made over to collecting , archiving and selling all manner of literature, as well as old LP records.

I found a bed for the night at Victoria Guest House, an ornate villa with a colourful history. Owner Coenie Cerff described how the original owner had imported all the best materials from England for the house. ‘ Then came the stock market crash and he lost everything,’ said Coenie. ‘He climbed the stairs to the loft and shot himself. Only afterwards did people find out that his accountant had cooked the books: he was still solvent.’

Coenie also told me how, during the Anglo Boer War, the townsfolk got so miffed at constantly being raided and requisitioned by both sides that they set up defences to keep out the commandos. In the late afternoon, I climbed to the main fort, where the Union Jack and the old Transvaal Vierkleur fluttered in the hot breeze. Below me the N1 sliced through a cutting, lorries thundering through the gap and gliding across the plain like outsize shongololos.

Down on the farm
Kuilfontein Stable Cottages lie 12 kilometres southwest of Colesberg and are just about half way to Joburg, making for a convenient stopover. Evening found owner Penny Southey and myself climbing an isolated koppie on the farm. She pointed out the homestead in the distance. ‘Kuilfontein was built in 1818,’ she said. ‘ The original farmer returned from a long trip one day and found a lioness and her cubs had taken up residence in the sitting room. She gave him a severe
mauling, but he survived … and she had to vacate.’

Cloud banks had been building all afternoon and the sky began to rumble. On one side of the koppie we found the clear glass of gin bottles broken by the British officers encamped there during the Anglo Boer War. On the other side was the brown beer glass of the common soldier. Looking closer at the ground, Penny pointed out dozens of broken Stone Age tools scattered among the glass – more litter, but from another millennium.

We came to three gun emplacements from where the British could command the western approaches to Colesberg and keep an eye on the N1, although it would be many decades before it was accorded that name. We could see herds of gemsbok and springbok far below, and beyond them the dappled veld stretched forever, invigorated every now and then by shafts of sunlight or rain squalls.

Graves of the newly born
Colesberg is a town steeped in frontier and war history. Established by the London Missionary Society in 1814, it continually found itself at the cusp of border strife. Illicit trade in gunpowder reached such proportions that a magistrate had to be stationed there in 1837. During the Anglo Boer War, several battles were fought in the area and the town was seized and held by Free State Boers for several months. I spent a happy morning in the museum and strolling the streets, admiring the town’s many architectural styles, ranging from Cape Dutch to Georgian.

Next, my route took me on a detour to the east to view the mighty wall of the Gariep Dam, then skirted its southern shores via Oviston and Bethulie. I halted at Springfontein, a hamlet whose sleepiness belied a turbulent past. It was at this important railway junction that the British established a military base, a large field hospital and a concentration camp for Boer women and children.

A cemetery at the edge of town has a wall of remembrance for the Boers and a field of gravestones marking the British dead. It looks like a Karoo version of the Somme. At the other end of town is a tiny graveyard for babies who died so young they weren’t yet baptised, so could not be buried with other Christians. I stood reading the headstones, absorbing the numbing horror of that war. Some lived just a single day.

From Springfontein, it was an easy drift up the N1 to the capital of the Free State. Prairie farmland stretched to the horizon, interrupted only by the occasional koppie or windmill.

Bloemfontein has a wealth of diversions to occupy the traveller. If you hit it on a rugby Saturday, you could experience the mayhem of a Cheetah’s game at Vodacom Park stadium. If you’ve got a few hours to spare, don’t miss the elegant, neo-classical buildings dotted around the centre, especially the Fourth Raadsaal, City Hall and Court of Appeal, as well as the First Raadsaal on St Georges Street, which is the city’s oldest sur- viving building (1849).

Highveld bound
I spent my last night on the road at one of the oldest farms in the Free State. Built in 1813, Bishop’s Glen has been in the Quin family since 1870. Guests dine with Ted and Bits Quin in a delightful room surrounded by antiques and faded family portraits. Ted talked about golf and cows, General de Wet’s commando on the farm … and how Elizabeth II had popped in for tea with her royal parents in 1947 and loved Bishop’s Glen so much they stayed for the day.

To the north, it was mealie fields and sunflower crops as far as the eye could reach. Dorps drifted by like islands in a grass sea. Willem Pretorius Game Reserve provided a welcome distraction. There’s a large dam sur- rounded by vegetation reminiscent of the East African savanna. Wildebeest and springbok frequent the plains, while you’ll find bigger game such as white rhino and buffalo in the bush- covered hills. It’s an N1 must.

Once past Parys’s green diversion, Gauteng’s sky turned grey with pollution, the traffic thickened. Then on the horizon, shimmering golden in the late afternoon sun, lay the towers of Joburg. My leisurely ride up the N1 was about to give way to the lunatic speedsters of the Big Naartjie.

Worcester
Architectural delights in this Boland town include the Drostdy, Dutch Reformed and Congregational Churches. The superb Kleinplasie Museum complex gives a peek into the self-sustaining lifestyles of pioneer farmers.

Touwsrivier
The old-time railway town is where steam locomotives used to be coaled and serviced. The nature reserve is worth a look and there’s a spacious caravan park if you think it’s time to call it a day.

Outside Laingsburg
The Geelbek River Blockhouse was built by the British during the Anglo Boer War to protect a vital bridge on their supply route. This fine piece of military architecture bristling with rifle slits, is a national monument. How the Poms must have wilted in that tin-roofed microwave oven.

Beaufort West
The fine Gothic-style Dutch Reformed Church with its octagonal spire is worth a stop. Next door is the old town hall, with its curious belfry, dating from the 1860s. This building forms part of a museum complex whose centrepiece is an exhibition of the life and work of the town’s favourite son – heart-transplant pioneer Chris Barnard.

Richmond
The Dutch Reformed Church has an elegant pulpit carved in 1854 by LF Anhuyse, master carpenter for the Groote Kerk in Cape Town. The town’s horse museum is said to be only the second of its kind in the world.

Hanover
The house at 11 Grace Street is where writer Olive Schreiner spent most of the Anglo Boer War. For a lovely view of town, climb the steps to the top of Trappieskop, where a stone pyramid commemorates the town’s first magistrate.

Colesberg
Don’t miss the horse-driven mill and quaint cottages on Bell Street, as well as the town’s three fine old churches. There’s a good museum with a tourist info bureau attached where you can book a tour to the many Anglo Boer War sites that dot the district.

Outside Colesberg
The Gariep Dam Nature Reserve is the biggest in the Free State and boasts vast springbok herds – the largest in the country. It also has Cape mountain zebra, klipspringer, black wildebeest, red hartebeest and ostrich.

Bloemfontein
For the best view of the city, drive to the nature reserve on Naval Hill. Visit one or two excellent museums, such as the Natural History Museum and National Afrikaans Literary Museum. If you’re into military history, don’t miss Queen’s Fort with its exhibits featuring the many wars in which South Africans have fought.

Parys
Just 20 kilometres off the N1, this town on the Vaal River offers a pleasant detour with river activities such as white-water rafting and fly-fishing, picturesque islands in the Vaal, cosy B&Bs and some good restaurants.