South Africa: Kokstad to Rhodes

Monday 13th July: Kokstad-Cedarville-Matatiele-Mount Fletcher- Lower Pitseng-Naudes Nek Mountain Pass-Rhodes.

 Before we left town, we had an oil & filter change at a local garage. Although we’re nearly at the end of our trip, it was overdue, given the type of driving we’ve been doing in all terrain. I mention today’s routing in detail because it was given to me by my friend & neighbour, Tony Owen in Somerset West. He received it from his friend who is a keen 4x4'er and when he heard we were in the Eastern Cape near the Drakensberg, he said we would enjoy this. We sure did although it took almost 7 hours to do 265 kms. If any of our followers of this blog ever come this way, factor in a day for this & you’ll think you’re someplace between heaven & Earth. It was stunning scenery all the way and we even encountered snow & ice at the top of Naudes Nek Pass.

From Dust and Diesel 2 - The return to the South

As well as snow & ice, we also encountered fire as it raced across acres of fields, near Lower Pitseng. 

When we realised it was crossing our route some kms further on, we had to make a dash for it to beat it to that point because it was moving quick.

We were not sure if it was selective burning that had got out of hand but we weren’t hanging around to find out.

We got to Rhodes with 30 minutes of daylight left and found ourselves the most exquisite accommodation at The Rhodes Hotel. It’s a tiny town, a village more likely, designed in a grid system with just a few streets but it’s really quaint and mostly holiday homes.

Dinner was served at 7.30 in the dining room with another roaring fire & we had our best steaks yet. They just melted in the mouth. We were tired although John was tempted back for a nightcap; he had to do it on his own. Because it’s co cold here, all beds have electric blankets fitted so it was nice to return to a warm and comfy bed knowing that snow is forecast in the night.