Night covers me like silk.
I’m lying beneath a thousand shimmering stars, the Milky Way spilling across the black cloth of the sky. This is the perfect moment in my Karoo holiday, the moment I will return to when I am sitting in rush hour traffic back in Cape Town, longing for silence and starlight.
Few things can compare with the beauty of the Karoo starscape; with wishing on shooting stars, tracing satellites and making up your own constellations from the myriad of tiny lights. But the Klein Karoo offers more than a bejewelled night sky.
Travelling along Route 62 I marvel at the changing landscape. Just past the Tolkienesque mountain pass of Montagu the scene outside my car window flattens out to mesas and endless acres of shrubland dotted with grazing sheep. Fiery aloe blossoms lick the impossibly blue sky.
I spend the day discovering crazy-named restaurants and bars such as Ronnie’s Sex Shop and Road Kill Café, and The Karoo Saloon. I explore towns and villages – some artsy and quaint, others barren and sad, where the unemployed sit outside bottle stores, staring at passing cars without expression.
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The hot waters at Warmwaterberg spa soak away the Karoo dust as I float dreamily in the deep end, listening in on the local gossip from the retired couples next to me, while kids shriek and splash in the cold water pool nearby.
Driving back along Route 62 I stop at the Joubert-Tradauw Private Boutique cellar in the beautiful Tradouw Valley, 15 km west of Barrydale. I order the Klein Karoo tapas – a platter containing fresh figs and cranberries, nuts and seeds, a small bobotie with onion relish, “patat” with honey and cinnamon, roasted beetroot, butternut and brinjal, rosemary chicken and pate – a real Karoo feast!
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The sun sets the distant hills ablaze as it sinks beneath the horizon and I make my way back to my lodgings, to enjoy the majesty and magic of another night under the stars.
(Image credit: Milky Way by Marie and Alistair Knock - CC licence)
Stay on Route 62
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The Retreat at Groenfontein is a charming Victorian farmhouse set in the scenic, tranquil Groenfontein Valley Conservancy, 20 km from Calitzdorp. Grant and Marie treat guests to hearty breakfasts and home-cooked dinners. Enjoy peaceful walks in the country or climb the foothills of the Swartberg.
About the blogger
Joy-Anne Bromilow is the editor of the Portfolio Travel Blog, and works full time in social media and copywriting for Portfolio Collection.
She is also a wife, mother, photographer and craft beer lover.
Visit her website: http://greenhairmermaid.co.za/
Read her blog: http://greenhairmermaid.co.za/blog
1 Response to Getting your kicks on Route 62
Ahhhh ... A lady after my own heart ... Too me the bestest place in the world! I absolutely adore the Klein Karoo and covered the same trip in Feb this year. Ronnies/ Warmwaterberg/Barrydale guest house ... And all the stops along the way ... It was bloody awesome!
By Jenni Ball (12 months ago)