After working in our Cape Town office recently, I took a drive to Barrydale to visit my friend Wendy. It's a long 3 hour drive on the N2 out of Cape Town, but totally gorgeous. There were many raptors and blue cranes along the route, and the mountains...I really love being near mountains.
After turning off the N2, I made my way up the gorgeous Tradouw Pass. The Tradouw Pass (which means Womens Path in the old Khoi language) is a 16 kilometer drive through an altitude range of 219 meters through some of the most beautiful and rugged mountain scenery on offer in the Langeberg. This pass is undoubtedly in the Top 20 tarred passes in the Western Cape. The pass joins the towns of Barrydale and Swellendam and was originally built by Thomas Bain in the late 1800's. Extensively revamped in recent times, the engineering teams did an outstanding job of preserving the environment and retaining Thomas Bain's character in the design and supporting stonework.
The town square with the beautiful old NG Church. As with most small towns, everything closes at 1pm on Saturday
I stayed over at Sorgvry B&B
It was very comfortable but probably one of the ugliest rooms that I've ever stayed in - gold wallpaper, very dark furnishings and a black floor (the Orient room)
Yep - there are vineyards in the middle of Barrydale
My friend Wendy's daughter Linda and granddaughter, one year old River-Rose
Wendy joined me for breakfast on the patio at Sorgvry on Sunday morning before I headed back to Cape Town to catch a flight to Johannesburg
Love those mountains!
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