The Strandveld Holiday— exploring the southernmost Shores of Africa October 17, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Hotels, Memorial, Museum, Tickets , trackbackLying at the southernmost tip of Africa, the Strandveld is an isolated land of sun- bleached sand dunes and beautiful bays. Popular holiday resorts now dot a coastline feared by generations of sailors and littered by countless shipwrecks. About two-thirds of this route is on tar and the remainder is on good gravel.
The western end of Hermanus, turn inland from Main Road into Rotary Way, and follow this scenic mountain drive for some 3,7km to the point where it forks. Park near the benches on the right, from where there is a fine view over the town and the full sweep of the Walker Bay coastline.
Return to Main Road, turn left, and follow this road (R43) through the town towards Stanford and Gansbaai. After passing the Hermanus Lagoon on your right, cross a bridge over the Klein River (which feeds into the lagoon), and enter Stanford 300m beyond.
Keep straight for just over 17km, then turn right (on tar) for Die Kelders (the cellars). Park after 400m outside the hotel, where admission tickets may be bought for the caves — the ‘cellars’ which gave the place its name. An underground stream forms deep pools as it flows through a series of caverns below the cliff.
Return to the T-junction with the R43, and turn right. The road enters Gansbaai after 2,6 km. 100m after passing the Gansbaai sign on your left, turn right out of Hoofstraat. After a further 300m turn right at the T-junction with Park Street — this becomes Coast Road as it bends left towards the sea, and the surface soon changes to gravel.
The road passes a tidal bathing pool with changing rooms on your right. Turn right immediately after the pool to stay on the shore, and pass the entrance to the harbour. Return to Hoofstraat (R43) and turn right.
Gansbaai to Agulhas
Note your kms 700m out of Gansbaai as you pass the road on your right leading to Danger Point. Keep straight for 17,9 km, then turn left onto gravel at the intersection where the road on the right leads to Pearly Beach (after some 2,2 km). Note your kms as you turn.
The road climbs Groenkloof, an area noted for its proteas, then reaches a T-junction 9,6km after leaving the tar road. Turn right, and go right at the fork 6 km later. After a further 9,6km the road enters Elim.
A monument built in 1938 near the Elim church commemorates the centenary of the liberation of slaves at the Cape. Drive along the right side of the church to a grassy clearing just beyond to visit the old water mill.
Drive back past the church and turn right towards Bredasdorp/Agulhas, noting your kms. The surface changes to gravel after about 100m.
Continue on this road, passing a number of side roads. Clumps of milkwood trees become a feature of the landscape after roughly 20 km.
About 10km later you pass on your left the entrance to the farm Soetendals Vallei, with a homestead dating from around 1816.
34 km after noting your kms turn right onto tar at the T-junctiori. Pass the residential area of Molshoop (mole hill) on your left just short of 2 km later, and the traditional old fishermen’s cottages of Hotagterklip (left-rear stone) about 1 km beyond. As you enter Struisbaai, turn left into Duiker Street to reach a parking area at the wide beach. Return to the main road (Marine Drive), and turn left. Stop roughly 7,5 km later, after passing the Agulhas lighthouse near the southernmost tip of the continent.
Agulhas to Waenhuiskrans
Drive back through Struisbaai and note your kms as you pass the last cottage on your right in Hotagterklip. Pass on your left the road on which you arrived from Elim.
After 14,9 km turn right onto gravel for Waenhuiskrans/Arniston. 6,9 km later turn left at the T-junction. Cross a cattle grid after 300 m and immediately turn right for Waenhuiskrans/ Arniston. After 6,5 km turn right onto tar and enter Waenhuiskrans/Arniston 5,5 km later.
At the four-way stop street, the road on your left leads to the slipway, hotel (which serves lunch), old fishing village, and the Arniston memorial. Turn right here for Waenhuiskrans cave, passing a number of cottages that have been proclaimed national monuments. This road changes to a gravel surface after 700m, and reaches the parking area above the cave after a further 700m. The mouth of the cave faces the sea, and can be reached at low tide by walking across some 200m of sand and rocks — in which there are many fascinating pools — and going right when you reach the shore.
Waenhuiskrans to Stanford
Return to the four-way stop street, and retrace your route out of Waenhuiskrans/Arniston. Pass the Struisbaai road on your left, and continue straight. After 15 km from the four-way stop, the road passes a turn-off on your right to the farm Nachtwacht, with a homestead dating from around 1835. Immediately afterwards you cross the Kars River.
Enter Bredasdorp on Kerkstraat, and continue straight to the T-junction. Turn right and park as soon as possible to visit the Bredasdorp Museum on your left.
Continue down the hill on Independent Street to the traffic lights, and turn left. This tarred road will bring you to Napier after 13,7km. Drive straight through, passing the Dutch Reformed Church — a national monument — on your left. Note your kms as you pass the sign to ‘Napier Stn’, at the intersection with Wesstraat, and keep straight.
After 26,4 km turn left onto tar for Stanford (R326). This road leads through the Akkedisberg (lizzard mountain) Pass, which follows the gorge of the Klein River. At Stanford turn right for Hermanus
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