ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Our travels have taken us many times to Mountain Zebra National Park in the Eastern Cape, and I have written often about it, so on this particular occasion I won’t go into too much detail. Just a dip-in. But it did give us the opportunity to see the lovely park under a different weather condition. This time, following three years of the LaNiña weather conditions which brought us enormous amounts of rainfall, there were gorgeous downy pillows of mist at the base of the mountains, which we looked onto from our elevated height.
On our way home, we decided to stop in the remote country town of Aberdeen, normally ignored and bypassed on travel routes. We were surprised at the charm of its admittedly gently deconstructed, shabby-chic kind of houses. There is much evidence in the architecture of its Victorian-colonial (bad word, I know) heritage, but it looks like Aberdeen could benefit from a teeny bit of fixing up and gentrification. It would then become the latest flavour in off-the-beaten-track, gentle, country-town living.
We stopped in front of a coffee shop, only to find out from the shop owners next door that it was closed (they were surprised too). So they directed us to a Padstal on the way out of Aberdeen, on the road to Beaufort West. But, first, some deli-style shopping at Biltong & Braai Deli.
Then it was on to the Kamdeboo Stal for coffee and breakfast. Blossom-margarine yellow walls to stand out from the crowd. As we overheard the stall-owner telling her friend, her mother had said to her “Now don’t go painting your farmstall a drab grey or something. You have to be visible from the highway.” And stand out it does. Apparently everyone tells their travelling friends they’ve got to stop by the Yellow Padstal.