B&B roadtrip the Eastern Cape: Day 1

Roadtrippers: Me and my brother, Bjorn

Kms driven: 900
Start point: Johannesburg
End point: Rhodes (the town, not the university)
Animals spotted: Slender Mongoose, Albino Blesbok, Llama, Eland, Springbok, Ostrich, Spring Hare, Red Duiker

We knew in advance that this was going to be the kind of roadtrip where one needed to relax, not have an agenda and not worry about where one was going to sleep that night. As we left Johannesburg on the morning of Thursday 15th September, we had only one place we had to be and that was Grahamstown on the Friday night. Half way to Bloemfontein, it occurred to Bjorn that he always wanted to go to Rhodes and stay in the Rhodes hotel. So we did. They accepted the booking and 9pm arrival time with reluctance. We only realised when we got there that we were the only guests in the hotel that night.

Highlights of the day:
The August winds were late this year and the windmills in the Freestate were going crazy and glistening in the sunshine.
Smithfield is a tiny town worth going back to. A quick drive through really doesn’t do it justice.
The sunset in Rouxville.
Letitia was the lady that stayed up to let us in at the hotel. Turns out she was grumpy on the phone because she was sick but was accommodating and friendly when we arrived and opened the bar for us so we could at least have a drink.

The photo above is the till on the bar counter at the Rhodes Hotel. Most of these were destroyed when South Africa changed from Pounds to Rands. Some crafty guy hid this one in the basement for safe keeping.