Western Cape Road-trip | Day 4 | Knysna to Van Wyksdorp

Day 4 | Knysna to Van Wyksdorp | +- 200km

This morning we woke up refreshed, ready to hit the road again and make our way across to Van Wyksdorp. About 100 meters from our stand, there is a river from a small dam running across the road. The sun was already up, and Unardo had been trying to convince people to get in the water and swim for a bit. Eventually I caved in, and I am glad I did. The water was so refreshing! It would have been great to have stayed longer here, then I would have definitely taken one of the small canoes or rubber tubes and chilled on the dam.

As we leave Charlesford Farm, we head onto Phantom Pass and up towards Karatara which is along the Seven Passes Road.

You eventually end up in George and as you start heading out, there is a turnoff that takes you onto Montagu Pass. One of my favourite passes of the trip.

Linda and I remembered passing by the Old Toll House a year before, but we never stopped there. We decided to stop this time and check it out. 

They sell pancakes and coffee. Just pancakes and coffee. For a small donation of around R40 you get 2 cinnamon and lemon pancakes and a cup of filter coffee. Simple, but still delicious. It was worth the stop as we got to sit under a tree in the garden, and Olivia was able to crawl around on the lawn.

From the end of Montagu Pass, it was a 40 minute tar road to Oudtshoorn where we stopped and restocked our coolers and fridges.

We headed west to Calitzdorp and from there we turned south to head down towards Van Wyksdorp via Rooiberg Pass. The drive up to the top of Rooiberg Pass was beautiful. We had to make a detour at one point, as the road we were originally going to take was covered and blocked by thick thorn trees. We contemplated cutting the branches and bundu-bashing our way through, until finally deciding to find an alternative route to van Wyksdorp.

We checked in to Karoo Bush Camp at around 5pm. Their camping stands had beautiful soft grass, but unfortunately the terrain was quite uneven for our group. With some maneuvering we all managed to find a lekker spot to set up for the night. 

After a delicious dinner and chill around the camp fire, so ended Day 4 of our trip. Tomorrow will be the last day of an eventful 2022. I can’t think of a better way to send off an old year than road-tripping across the country with family and friends into a new year.