CapeMog Tour November 2018
By Dennis Cook
The Western Cape branch of the Morgan owners club has held 6 day Tours in both the Western and Eastern Cape over the past nine years and this year’s, the 10th such tour, was billed as “The Drive of the Decade”; covering parts of the country that had not previously been visited. The route focussed on the Karoo and from an overnight in George took in Uniondale, Willowmore, overnighting in Steytlerville then on to Jantzenville, with 2 nights in the historic town of Graaff Reinet, and then 2 nights in Oudtshoorn with stops at interesting farm stalls on the way and covered about 960 km. There were 13 Morgans on the tour as well as a number of overseas visitors, who own Morgans at home (one of whom has 8) who have become regulars on the tours, incorporating it into their annual holiday.
From George to the overnight stop in Steytlerville at the Karoo Art hotel tested the mettle of the cars, particularly the older Morgans as we were travelling in temperatures exceeding 40 C for most of the way, as well as dirt roads and single lane cement roads but all arrived glad to find refreshment in this out of the way location. The beers were nice and cold and the hospitality warm. The Karoo Art hotel is renowned for its “boerekos” dinners followed by an intimate show put on by the two owners of the hotel. Mark, a concert pianist in his previous life, played a variety of tunes including an amusing and innovative variation of happy birthday as may have been composed by the grand composers of classical music (100 years of Brian Dowding’s 1918 3 wheeler and 50years of the Plus 8) His partner, Jacques, in drag, mouthed along very successfully to recorded music of some of the best-known female singers before finally stripping down to his S&M leather kit which not everyone liked. All, however, enjoyed the stay and it is recommended if you are looking for a weekend destination with a difference, you give it a try.
The next leg of the journey took us to historic Graaf Reinet for a luxurious two night stay in the iconic Drostdy hotel which served as our base for a walking tour of the old town and some historic homes as well as visits to the “Valley of Desolation” in the Camdeboo National Park and a most interesting visit to a private farm with a lovely historic home and a huge private collection of fossils most of which have been found in the local vicinity. The fossils predate the Jurassic era of dinosaurs and mind-boggling numbers were bandied around during the talk on the fossil finds of between 350- 250 million years!
Day 5 of the Tour, which ended in Oudtshoorn was the longest of the tour at 375 km but, fortunately most of the day was a little overcast and temperatures much more enjoyable as were great farm stall stops. During the stay there, a visit was paid to a working ostrich farm where many of us admitted that although we have driven past any number of ostrich farms we had never had a detailed look at their operation. This amazing bird, around which the fortunes of Oudtshoorn were built and still revolve, literally gives its all to the industry. Every part of the bird can be used; meat feathers and skin, and even the skeletons ground for fertiliser. We saw chicks hatching in the incubator, and one of our younger members who is an equestrian riding champion was brave enough to successfully ride an ostrich without either being kicked or thrown off. Two of the local farmworkers then demonstrated an ostrich race to the cheers and delight of the group.
The grand finale evening was held at a Boutique hotel/Olive farm where we stayed the last night and was a sumptuous affair with notable Morgans on display- it was after all the 50th anniversary of the +8 and so 3 representative examples were displayed next to the stage, one of our own Peter P and one of Brian Dowding, flanked by a beautiful 2017 Morgan roadster on the one side and my own 1957 Morgan Plus 4 with the triumph TR 3 engine on the other; with 60 years age difference between them. The theme for the evening was “Gangsters and Molls” and everybody entered into the spirit with much enthusiasm. CapeMog chairman and organiser, Ronnie Herzfeld has a great sense of humour and each evening he would dish out prizes(both coveted and booby) accompanied by his dry quips. It was a fun and friendly event and definitely recommended to Morgan owners.
There are now probably more Morgans on the Garden Route than in Cape Town and apart from the 6 cars on tour by GRMC members, there are several more with a couple of new cars in the pipeline.