We all arrived safely home after 700 kilometres of topless motoring in the Western Cape. This wonderfully memorable experience was made possible by the always enthusiastic participants, nine Morgans, one ‘tin top’ and our support vehicle. The weather was magnificent all week, barring a very hot day (40C) in Genadendal/Greyton, which did not detract at all from our visit.
The tour started three hours’ drive from Cape Town in the tiny Victorian village of Matjiesfontein, which was brought back to life by historian and raconteur Dr Dean Allen, who enabled us to relive the great times of this unlikely Karoo village.
After driving 300 kilometres and negotiating several interesting mountain passes, we reached our next stayover at Stanford in the Overberg, close to the coast and Hermanus. A most enjoyable lunch at the Birkenhead Brewery allowed some thirst quenching before settling in at the beautiful Stanford Valley Country lodge. The highlight of this segment of our tour was our day trip to Genadendal, the oldest Mission station in South Africa, where we were regaled with tales of its unique place in South Africa’s history by Dr Isaac Balie, the retired curator of the Mission Museum. We enjoyed lunch at the charming country village of Greyton, home of many artists.
Onto our last stopover of the tour, the historic university town of Stellenbosch, which was a drive of about 150 kilometres. Our stay at the relatively new “Hotel Krige” saw our Mogs going down to the basement parking via an elevator!
Here we subjected our tourers to a Mystery Challenge where they searched for locations (mostly wine farms and national monuments) using only the app ‘what3words’ – three random words in a specific sequence define a location three metres square anywhere on earth. The teams were given the three words for each destination on separate strips of paper and had to establish their correct sequence!
Or Gala Evening and prize giving was held a short bus ride away at Somerbosch Wine Estate. A raffle of Hotel Vouchers kindly donated by the Village ‘n Life Group brought some generous donations and the money was dontated to the Knysna/Sedgefield hospice. Dancing and merriment followed until late. Sad goodbyes were bid over breakfast on the rooftop of the hotel with its lovely views of Stellenbosch.