Route 62 — The longest wine route in the world

Contributed by Allan Fabig, Calitzdorp Country House.

Route 62  is modeled after the iconic US Route 66, made fam­ous by the late, great Nat King Cole in the eponym­ous song of the mid 20^th cen­tury. Travelers headed for the fab­ulous Garden Route will find that Route 62 offers a bet­ter altern­at­ive to the dull N2 motor­way between Cape Town and George, being much more scenic and slightly shorter. This well-maintained black­top high­way meanders from Worcester, by way of the Breede River val­ley, through Robertson, Ashton and Montagu, then the Klein Karoo land­mark towns and thence on to George and the Garden Route.

The road fol­lows wind­ing and spec­tac­u­lar moun­tain passes that slowly unfold before your excited eyes, lead­ing to lush green val­leys host­ing crys­tal streams and framed by the dis­tor­ted geo­lo­gical shapes and start­ling col­ours of rock faces dat­ing from hun­dreds of mil­lions of years ago.

Then there is the abund­ance of indi­gen­ous flora, with the suc­cu­lent spe­cies mak­ing a par­tic­u­larly sig­ni­fic­ant con­tri­bu­tion to your enjoy­ment. No fewer than 500 dif­fer­ent spe­cies of suc­cu­lents are to be seen along the Route. Orchards and vine­yards are there in abund­ance, too. Indeed, the main high­way tra­vers­ing this fas­cin­at­ing land, Route 62, is reputed to be the longest wine route in the world. And keep an eye on dams and wet­lands for a chance to spot the Blue Crane, South Africa’s national bird and an endangered spe­cies often vis­ible along Route 62.

The Breede River rises some­where near Ceres, up in the moun­tains across the N1, the main high­way between Johannesburg and Cape Town. The her­it­age of the region is mani­fest in winer­ies (some 27 in Robertson alone) and decidu­ous fruit orch­ards. Gem of the towns along the way is Montagu, famed for its beau­ti­ful old houses and hostel­ries in Cape Dutch and other 18^th and 19^th cen­tury archi­tec­tural styles.

Don’t be in too much of a hurry – a day or two research­ing the region with the help of the ubi­quit­ous tour­ist inform­a­tion bur­eaus will be well rewar­ded by the beauty and fas­cin­a­tion of the scenery, archi­tec­ture and land­scapes you will encounter. Robertson is a must for at least a couple of winery vis­its, Graham Beck Wineries being one of the best known.

Find time to make a couple of detours, one of which should be McGregor, up in the moun­tains south of Robertson. Founded in 1861 to bene­fit from expec­ted passing trade, the moun­tain pass it was sup­posed to guard was never com­pleted, with the res­ult that time seems to have stood still in this quaint 19^th cen­tury vil­lage. Approaching Montagu from the west, Bain’s tun­nel, really a dra­matic hole in a rock wall, provides a strik­ing entrance to the town. Enjoy the old houses, most of them immacu­lately main­tained, and con­sider vis­it­ing the hot springs on the far side of the town. The Centenary Nature Garden in Van Riebeeck Street is worth vis­it­ing in spring.

The Klein Karoo is an import­ant sub-region of the World Heritage Site known as the Cape Floral Kingdom. Klein Karoo means ‘little desert’, an arid region that is inter­rup­ted every forty or fifty kilo­met­ers by fer­tile val­leys bisec­ted by streams that enable orch­ards and vine­yards to flour­ish. The region begins with Barrydale and extends to De Rust, by way of Ladismith, Calitzdorp and Oudtshoorn. And the little town of Calitzdorp is its heart. Indeed, you would do well to make this charm­ing vil­lage your headquar­ters for a two– to five-night stay to enjoy all the region has to offer.

The Klein Karoo has a spec­tac­u­lar land­scape fash­ioned hun­dreds of mil­lions ago of years ago by water and geo­lo­gical upheaval. Its flora ranges from lush green­ery in the river val­leys to ground-hugging, hardy Karoo plants in the open veldt, includ­ing the largest num­ber of suc­cu­lents on earth. The region’s aston­ish­ing geo­lo­gical shapes and form­a­tions are home to the famed Cango Caves, a series of spec­tac­u­lar cav­erns fash­ioned over mil­len­nia by the seep­age of water through por­ous lime­stone rock.

At night, the Klein Karoo skies provide a stun­ning dis­play of light vir­tu­ally unknown to dwell­ers in the Big Smoke, includ­ing the Southern Cross, Orion and the awe­some Milky Way in its infin­ite mag­ni­fi­cence. Indeed, the Klein Karoo cred­ibly chal­lenges Montana as ‘big sky’ country.

The mag­ni­fi­cent Swartberg pass and the ham­let of Prince Albert: ostrich show farms; hot air bal­loon rides over the parched land­scape; the spec­tac­u­lar Redstone Hills, Meerkat Magic val­ley, where vis­it­ors can inter­act with an entire colony of meerkats almost within arms length; and fab­ulous Meiringspoort pass, where for ten glor­i­ous kilo­met­ers a river meanders along­side the road sur­roun­ded by tower­ing cliffs with dis­tor­ted and mis­shapen rock faces — these are just some of the ‘must see’ amen­it­ies and activ­it­ies to be enjoyed within easy driv­ing dis­tance of Calitzdorp Country House, your five star accom­mod­a­tion in Calitzdorp, Heart of the Klein Karoo.

Here’s a sample itin­er­ary for those trav­el­ing east­wards through the Klein Karoo:

Day one: take a tea-break at one of many good cafes on the R 62 in Barrydale, but don’t waste too much time in the vil­lage — not a lot to see, apart from the Heritage Garden with its col­lec­tion of suc­cu­lents so var­ied that prac­tic­ally every time you visit there will be dif­fer­ent spe­cies in bloom, keep­ing your visit ever new.

Around 24 km out­side Barrydale is one of the most fam­ous pubs in the world – Ronnie’s Sex Shop – stop for cof­fee or a drink and hear the story of how Ronnie’s got its name. The pub has often been fea­tured in local and for­eign magazines and on TV in Germany and other EU countries.

Now on to Ladismith, another stun­ning moun­tain pass, Huisrivierpas, then check in at Calitzdorp Country House and savor that candlelit din­ner they spe­cial­ize in.

Day two: two of South Africa’s most spec­tac­u­lar passes in a single day! Drive out of your Karoo gues­t­house, turn left and con­tinue past the Nels river dam and into the Groenfontein val­ley, trav­el­ing through the Swartberg foot­hills. Take a break for tea at the Ou Meule just past the Kruisrivier road on the left. You can see fine examples of the regional archi­tec­ture along the way.

Now take the sky-topping Swartberg pass (another Thomas Bains tri­umph of 19^th cen­tury con­struc­tion), and make those you left behind envi­ous by tak­ing your time, mak­ing plenty of stops and click­ing lots of pho­tos before you des­cend into quaint Prince Albert. There is much of his­tor­ical interest at Price Albert, includ­ing weavers and the museum. Lunch there in leis­urely fash­ion, then back to Calitzdorp the long way round – via Klaarstroom, Meiringspoort, De Rust and Oudtshoorn.

Meiringspoort is the second of your ‘double whammy’ of passes for today. Equally spec­tac­u­lar — but this time low level — Meiringspoort pass, where for ten kms and more the road goes court­ing a mean­der­ing stream through tower­ing cliffs, dis­tor­ted with the frac­tured evid­ence of pre­his­toric upheavals. Drive care­fully, and you will be amazed at the curi­ous baboons that fol­low your jour­ney with seem­ing great interest: but it’s just cup­board love, so don’t feed them, please! Allow your­self time to look at the pretty vil­lage of De Rust and per­haps take tea or cof­fee there.

On towards Oudtshoorn, but look out for the won­drous ‘Ostrich palace’ on your left on a rise after a bridge over a little stream. It has been beau­ti­fully restored and is also worth a pic or two. No time to sight­see Oudtshoorn today, we’ll go there tomorrow.

A brief 30 minutes the other side (look out for tor­toises cross­ing the road) and you’re home at Calitzdorp Country House, ready for a swim and beer, a G & T, or even a bottle of French cham­pagne beside the pool, watch­ing yet another Karoo sun­set so beau­ti­ful it’s almost a cliché.

Day Three: It’s day three, so take the R 62 again, then set the tone for the day by turn­ing left after 14 km at the Kruisrivier sign. This puts you on a good dirt road to see the beau­ti­ful and unique rock form­a­tions known as the Redstone Hills. These Enon Conglomerate depos­its were dumped up against the moun­tains by the sea some 125 mil­lion years ago. Turn right at the sign for Prince Albert and the Cango Caves. Guided tours enter the cav­erns at reg­u­lar inter­vals to dis­play elec­tri­fy­ing vis­ions of stalac­tites and stalagmites.

Now return to Oudtshoorn and lunch at Jemima’s or Kalinka, vir­tu­ally oppos­ite each other on the main drag, Baron van Reede Street. Great range of curios and craft­work at Bushman’s Curios also in the main street. Get a map from the local tour­ist office and visit the CP Nel museum, then Langenhoven’s home, Arbeitsgenot, and stroll among the lovely old sand­stone buildings.

On your way back to Calitzdorp, note the sign left of the high­way indic­at­ing Highgate and Safari ostrich farms. Both do tours for vis­it­ors. Ten to fif­teen km out, be sure to look out on the right for the ‘Greylands’ house, a copy of the old ‘Volstruis Paleise’ (ostrich palaces) built from the bounty of the belle époque years around 1900, when Oudtshoorn feath­ers and skin were fash­ion essen­tials in London and Paris.

For the other three days of this itin­er­ary, con­sult your hosts, Lyn or Allan Fabig, at Calitzdorp Country House.

Useful Links:
Breede River Valley
Klein Karoo
Western Cape Accommodation