These boots are made for walking.


Duncan and 800 years of yellowwood


We've been without WiFi for a few days... so get a coffee and settle in...
On Sunday evening we arrived at Maradadi House, at the edge of the Goudveld Forest near Knysna.  This was our stop for a couple of nights, a spectacular home belonging to a friend of Paula who , on request, runs it as a B&B.  It's surrounded by ancient cape forest complete with resident leopards and baboons and was lucky to escape the tremendous wild fires that tore through 100s of miles of the Eastern Cape back in June this year.  In fact, much of our Garden Route drive from Plett resembled more of a Charcoal Route.  Our plan was to head out early the following morning to explore the forest but the rain storm not only stopped play temporarily, but kept us up most of the night as it battered on the tin roof!  Thankfully it wasn't long before we could venture out in rain gear (so much for shorts and t-shirts!) through the beautiful wet temperate Goudvelt and Millwood forests, home to an 800 year old Outeiqua Yellowwood and ferns galore.







Millwood forest took us to ancient mines, now closed - but you can still see the mine entrance and old steam machines for extracting and crushing the rocks, in the hope of hitting a gold rush.  In the late 1800s a speck of gold was found, prompting huge investment and an entire town mushroomed within weeks.  Hundreds of aspirant fortune hunters flocked to dig for gold and by May 1888 one thousand four hundred claims were being worked.  Sadly, very little more gold was found and within five years Millwood had become a ghost town.





Drodstdy Museum @ Swellendam

The next morning we set off again - this time to Swellendam, approximately 270km due west inland as the coast drops southwards.  Unbeknownst to us, Swellendam is a very historic small town, originally built by the Dutch East India Company in the mid 1700s - and the old town is still full of whitewashed, thatched cottages with 3ft thick walls. It's completely charming, as were our hosts Carol and Andre at Carol's Cottages.  They are both free-spirited artists and their 200 year old property includes the cottage we stayed in, complete with old barn doors on wheels.  They also have dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens and Mr&Mrs Goose, with 4 one week old chicks. (well, 4 when we got there, 3 when we left... one didn't survive the night!)  Very quirky and eclectic and utterly charming..

Of course we couldn't have a day without a hike, so made our way to the nearby Marloth Nature Reserve.  It's really incredible how many beautiful national parks there are in the Cape - one of our favourite websites now is capenature.co.za and if when we come back we'll definitely plan to stay in the park accommodation - deep in the middle of nowhere...        
Anyway, this hike took us to a lovely waterfall.  Worth a selfie, I think.
               

Right, gotta go wine tasting - next post coming soon!

Location: Swellendam, 6740, South Africa

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