Grahamstown

There is no real Gravel travel opportunity between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown, so it was up on the N2 , with the only stop and at Nanaga, where there is an absolutely out of this world “farm stall” that sells fantastic home made pies and Roosterkoek, warm off the fire. From Nanaga the scenery changes dramatically and you are surrounded by those typical Eastern Cape rolling hills and many game farms and lodges all along the way.

We were in Grahamstown about lunch time and took a stroll around the city which has a huge number of churches and a beautiful Anglican Cathedral and in fact the city is known as the “City of Spires” . They are all from the mid 18 hundreds. It really is a beautiful city. We also walked around the streets where some of the old houses are and luckily many are restored and  lived in. That was one of the sad things about P.E.  A lot of the old historical buildings in and close to the city centre are so badly run down, even the Step houses, which used to be such a land mark.

We were a little apprehensive about the campsite before hand, as Dick had some difficulty with the booking and it is a Municipal campsite on top of it, but what a lovely and pleasant surprise that was. Beautifully kept, lovely sites and each camp site have its own little ablution block with a big shower, a separate loo and a basin and general area. Outside there were a sink and a work area and a braai place, all under cover.  It was great and definitely another site to stay on the list.  There are some lovely walks in the area and as it is sort of on the edge of the city you are close to several of the walks, of different distances and all very well indicated. There are also nice looking chalets and the whole area is very well maintained.

Anyway, enough of the commercial. We set up camp, went for a walk and lit our braai. Before we had finished eating a group of guys arrived and pitched 3 tents on the site next to ours. Student  type guys it looked like, all well spoken and decent looking. They went off to what we assume was to have something to eat and were back an hour or so later and went to bed.  The rest or some of them went off in their Corsa bakkie to where they were staying, or so we thought.  We were off to bed and fast asleep when we were woken up by a sound from heaven knows where. It sounded like something had crashed into the building, us or who knows what. We both sat bold upright and “bleek geskrik”. It was 1.30 am. Then we heard the cause of the commotion. 3 guys had returned from a “night out drinking” we have boys and we know the music!! I am sure the people in the furthest away chalet could hear them and they were maybe 20 metres away from us. Not to mention the language and the descriptions of the evening and the “ one Black label, one Hansa and one Castle light” and the laughter that accompanied that.  Dick took slightly longer than me to take action, or maybe he was just thinking about what he was going to say, but I leant forward, opened the tent and shouted to them:  “Hi, you guys, can you SHUT UP, please”, nogals please. They went quiet and immediately said “Sorry” and then continued to whisper loudly! The 3 then walked away, no doubt with another Black label, Hansa and a Castle light to return some time later and then to be “shut up” by the  other guys that were also trying to sleep.

That was the night done for us. The sleep fairy had disappeared. Luckily I was planning to get  up early to go to the Good Friday service at the Cathedral at 8.00, so I was up and on the go and walking to the Cathedral at 7.30. There were only a handful of people and it was so special. I even had an opportunity to do a reading. The Priest asked for volunteers to do a reading and nobody volunteered, so I did. Probably the only time I will ever have the opportunity to read from scripture in a Cathedral.

When I got back to the camp, Dick had packed up everything and we were off to East London.