The R62 Brandy Route

Barrydale Cellar

The South African brandy industry has a rich and proud his­tory of brandy mak­ing extend­ing 330 years. The word brandy comes from the Dutch word "brandewijn" which means burnt wine, refer­ring to its dis­til­la­tion. Home to super­lat­ive qual­ity brandies, con­nois­seurs from all over the world con­sider South Africa a top brandy mak­ing nation. Winning many inter­na­tional awards, brandy tours are a must for all those who love the drink and are inter­ested in the pro­cess of mak­ing brandy... Continued

Clarke of the Karoo

Clarke of the Karoo

It's pour­ing with rain, the first proper soak­ing Barrydale has had this sea­son, it's a Monday morn­ing around mid­day, and we're nigh on freez­ing. We later learn that snow lies on the tips of the sur­round­ing Langeberg Mountains, not vis­ible because of the blanket of clouds hov­er­ing over the town.

We've flir­ted with a stop at Clarke of the Karoo dur­ing our two-day visit here, but as yet haven't man­aged more than at least three drive-bys, so we pull in to a park­ing lot already filling up with cars (res­taur­ants should take note that park­ing a couple of cars out­side a venue is a sure draw card to pass­ers by) by now des­per­ate for a hot cuppa some­thing. Continued

Bella Montagu

Montagu — The Views

Friends of mine were not exag­ger­at­ing when they described Montagu as a Victorian vil­lage, with streets lined with Cape Dutch style monu­ments. The quaint town, set on Route 62, sur­roun­ded by vine­yards, fruit orch­ards and moun­tains is indeed a per­fectly pre­served vil­lage that makes one feel as if you have stepped back in time. Long and Bath streets are riddled with white-washed, thatched roofed and grape-vine stoeped build­ings that dur­ing autumn are rife with red, brown and barely there rendi­tions of the fruit vine that make one itch to stay here forever. Continued

Miles of Smiles, Robertson and the Wacky Wine Weekend

Miles of Smiles

We had an early start to Saturday morn­ing; 4.30 to be pre­cise.  After the con­fu­sion of find­ing the cor­rect road for our trip to Darling two weeks ago, a bit more fore­thought had been given to this jour­ney and although we left ten minutes later than planned at 5.10am we made up good time and hit the high­way with ease!

We were off to Robertson for Miles of Smiles 10km and half mara­thon races.  We arrived in the Route 62 town with plenty of time to spare and made our way to the regis­tra­tion area; I’m very pleased I was a spec­tator because even at 8am the air was very fresh and I did not envy the run­ners in their Polly-shorts and vests!  The races star­ted and ended at the Robertson Winery with more people tak­ing part in the half mara­thon than in the 10km route.  It was a great, relaxed atmo­sphere … in fact so relaxed that my friend almost missed the start of his event because we were chat­ting so much! Continued

Route 62 — the longest Wine Route in the World

Route 62

Route 62 (reputed to be the longest wine route in the world) in the Western Cape is a slow, mean­der­ing wander through a series of fas­cin­at­ing small towns and breath­tak­ing scenery. The route is par­tic­u­larly well known for good food and excel­lent wine as it tra­verses some of the Cape’s most fam­ous farm­ing and wine pro­du­cing regions.

Route 62 starts within the greater Cape Town Metropole, and stretches as far as Oudtshoorn and Port Elizabeth. This is a moun­tain­ous altern­at­ive to the N2 high­way as it crosses a num­ber of moun­tain passes as it makes its way east­wards. Along the way, the vis­itor has the option to stop and explore any one of the numer­ous small towns loc­ated on, or just off the route includ­ing Barrydale, Ceres and Zoar. Continued

Wacky & Wonderful Robertson!

Robertson

Located in the foot­hills of the Langeberg Mountains, on Route 62 between Worcester and Swellendam, is the small town of Robertson. With a his­tory span­ning more than 150 years, hav­ing been foun­ded in 1853, the town has plenty to offer, des­pite only hav­ing a pop­u­la­tion in the region of 17 000 people. Many of the ori­ginal Victorian houses still line the streets, along with the Jacarandas that have earned the town the nick­name of “Jacaranda cap­ital of the Western Cape.”

The Robertson val­ley is also one of the key wine pro­du­cers in the Western Cape, and the val­ley boasts no fewer than 31 wine cel­lars, many of which have won awards for their wines. Wine and food are so import­ant in this little town that the region hosts two events ded­ic­ated to them: the annual Food and Wine Festival, and the Wacky Wine Weekend, the lat­ter being held every June. Accommodation in Robertson ranges from relaxed self cater­ing to quaint bed and break­fasts and more up mar­ket hotels, so most tastes are catered for. Continued

Route 62 — The longest wine route in the world

Contributed by Allan Fabig, Calitzdorp Country House.

Ashton

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. Continued