Nieu Bethesda – part last!
The next morning we got a lovely breakfast spread of bread, sheep’s milk yogurt, cold cereal, eggs, fried tomato and onions, bacon, and boerewors, and set off for the Valley of Desolation and Graaf-Reinet.
Only about half an hour away, we drove straight through the town (2010 Dorp of the Year!) and up to the national park. The roads up the mountain were terrifying, winding, with no guardrail and an unimaginable drop, and barely enough space for two cars to squeeze by each other. Though I’m not scared of heights particularly, I did get panicky enough for Paul to first ask me if I was alright, and once assured of that, laugh at my panic the rest of the way up the mountain.
At the first lookout we could see Graaf-Reinet from about ¾ of the way up the mountain. Pictures just cant quite convey how freakishly high up we were.
Back in the car, we drove a few more frightening minutes up to the tippy-top of the mountain.
This is where we were going:
After a small walk, we were at the lookout, which gave us a view of the staggering Valley of Desolation – part of the Karoo Basin, which once held an inland sea which has since evaporated, and left gorgeous rock structures, a few twiggy bushes, and not much else in its wake. The immensity of it and the expanse, the sheer amount of space and distance just cannot be captured either in words or pictures – at least not mine anyway. But it was a breathtaking experience – and we even saw a dassie! The weekend was complete.
This is the end of the Nieu Bethesda chronicles! Look forward to hearing about Cape Town very soon.
Wow, and wow again!!! And…. what is a dassie?