If you have ever been to Nieu-Bethesda in the Eastern Cape's Karoo Heartland, you would have dropped down the winding pass towards the village and noticed the typical Karoo koppie on the other side of the valley below. Did you wonder what it's called? In case you did, it's called De Toren, translated to English as The Tower.
So the beaches have been closed by our brilliant government leaving the kids to looking longingly at the Covid infected sandy areas from the safety bubble of the walk literally meters away. At least they could enjoy the sunset and the view at dusk and weren't chased away by the brave police force taking their lives into their hands by making sure the dangerous general populous looking at the beach think of going down there like they did all along…
Yesterday late afternoon we took a drive out to Blue Horizon Bay to do a little Geocaching and this is the view of Lady's Slipper mountain from the road once you are off the N2 and heading up the hill.
The top of Pollok Beach, spelled without a "c", with the lollipop beacon in the background. Pollok Beach was named after the Hotel Pollok that used to stand where the present Summer Seas complex is today. As development slowly started to happen in Summerstrand in the 1920s, Mr. J. Graham Wilson took advantage of a stipulation that this specific site could be developed as a hotel and constructed Hotel Pollok. Being Glaswegian, Wilson spelt the word Pollok without a “c”…
A couple of months ago I spent a night at one of my favourite Karoo farm stay spots, DikkopVlakte Gasteplaas between Grahamstown and Bedford. Although they offer self-catering accommodation in the 6 bedroom main house, we were there for a meeting the next day and the owners Tommy and Carine van Kerken joined us for a braai that evening. For dessert Carine "threw" together a traditional Roly-Poly baked pudding. She didn't have a specific recipe on paper but made it…
The harbour giraffes seen across Kings Beach just after sunset. To tell the truth, they really look like they came straight off the silver screen from a Star Wars movie
The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and North End coastline seen from Algoa Bay
December is the start of summer which means that, obviously, we celebrate a beach Christmas rather than a white one like in some parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Today is anything but a early summers day though. The south-easterly is pumping properly, the sea looks lank angry and foam is being washed and blown onto the beach. I took a drive down to Pollok Beach and found the beach by the gap in the rock covered in snow... Well, not…
In a way, walking up Lady's Slipper has become for Port Elizabeth what walking up Lion's Head is for Cape Town. At one stage only a few people did it, but lately it has become a very popular outing. Not very far distance-wise, but a tough cookie as far as terrain. It has been on my "To Do" list for so long and the other day I decided to tackle it with the family in tow. As the trail and…
For years I would drive along the N2 past Lady's Slipper mountain looking at it and wondering where the actual slipper was. At one stage I thought it may be the peak standing out over the mountain, but I just could not see it. That was until I heard that the slipper isn't visible from the N2 at 90 degrees side on, but rather that you have to be on the old road between the Falcon Rock turnoff and the…