Castle Rock - 7th June 2008 PRESENT Philip Scott and Clive Lukas - Land Cruiser. Stephanus, Antoinette, and boys Franco and Stiaan - Pajero and Imagine Trailer, Greg Bond - Terrano II With winter upon us already, the week prior was spent with an eye on weather developments in the Sandveld area. The deadline for the weekend was extended to Friday morning hoping the rain would ease off. Lunch time Friday it was on with the understanding that we might have a bit of rain on Saturday morning. We were a group of 3 vehicles. The trip began 8 a.m at N7 Swartland Engen. On the way to Piketberg we took a small detour to Koringberg where we met up with Stephanus, Antoinette and kids, who'd driven there direct from Paarl. This is a tidy and neat little village with Victorian style houses, most of them B 'n B 's. From here we continued to the Mountain Creek Spur on the N7 just outside Piketberg for breakfast. Chatting to Stephanus and Antoinette, it was interesting to hear about the previous trips they had done and his research into the Imagine off-road trailer he had just bought and was using for only the second time. We arrived at Castle Rock a little before 12. Camping facilities are fairly basic consisting of about 6 cleared sites, water and a porta loo. Luckily the rain had held off and the weather was starting to improve, although still cold. We decided to do the first trail prior to setting up camp. Along the track we met up with the owner, Larry Roger and his friendly sheep dog. Larry told us a bit about the history of his farm and his problems of having to hide his HiLux on the farm in different locations under shade cloth from the locals. During school holidays, and when Larry is at home in Cape Town, the local boys play this ongoing cat and mouse game. They find his HiLux on the farm and they drive it around on his trails. This continues until it runs out of fuel or they crash it. One time the steering lock was not correctly doctored by them which resulted in the steering locking on one of the steep declines. When Larry returned to his farm a few weeks later, he had to hunt down his HiLux only to find it clinging to the edge of the mountain abandoned! After our chat with Larry we continued our trip to the highest view point of the valley. This was a fairly easy zig-zag up the mountain with a few technical sections thrown in. The last few hundred meters was a bit of a challenge for those not in Cruisers. The views at the top were enjoyed, pictures taken with a gulp or two of coffee. Returning down the mountain became more of a challenge to us. There was a tight left turn without much tolerance to the right. Get it wrong and you will drop a wheel off the road on the right or cross axle the left side of your vehicle into a rock about 3 metres tall. Here it was necessary to do a small recovery using two straps and a rope for length. The vehicles were out of sight of each other, so communication and timing was done over the radio. Most of the trail's flora is fynbos and a few species of protea. Interestingly in the corner of his property opposite the rooibos plantation is a plant (Ina-Pina) that only exists on this farm. There are only 96 of them. We were now on our way to the next trail down in the valley. This was mostly a scenic and fairly easy drive. Once we were on top of the neck of the mountain the most amazing view unfolds. It must be one of the most beautiful views in the world. Below us was about 250 degrees of panoramic valley with numerous mountain ranges as far as the eye could see. This stunning view was short lived as we still needed to set up camp as sunlight was dwindling. We returned to camp via the donga river bed crossings which were quite fun. This is where some of the Castle Rock 4x4 Challenge events are held. We all enjoyed a braai together once camp was set. The chilly evening was ended off with a massive bonfire and a brief discussion about the rare cape mountain hippo. Sunday morning we broke camp and met Larry so he could guide us to the bushman paintings as promised. This was a short drive half way up the mountain to an interesting cave formation where the bushman paintings have been pleasantly preserved. Larry had one more surprise for us. The wall! This was a rock playground section and the wall looked impossible. Larry assured Clive that the Cruiser could do it and jumped into Clive's car. It was amazing to see how those vehicles deal with whatever is thrown at them. They were down the wall and back up before we could get the cameras ready. There was another tricky rocky section that was more technical which the Cruiser also took in its stride. We said our thanks and goodbyes to Larry and headed for home (with a few extra nicks and scratches) via a bit of an unknown route. This resulted in us traveling on a gravel service road parallel to a railway line on a road not driven for about 6 months. Kalahari car wash and garden shears were continually competing. This road eventually led us to a more respectable gravel road and the way to Sun Mountain Accommodation just outside Aurora. This place is easily accessible in an amazing setting on top of the mountain behind Aurora with incredible views and is accessible by 2x2. It would be a fantastic place to visit for a chill out weekend in the summer months. We actually saw Table Mountain in the distance. Here we said our goodbyes to Stephanus and family and parted ways. One last stop was back in Koringberg where we inflated tyres outside the local post office. Philip discovered this chatty lady who runs the post office which seconds as a blacksmith's museum. It was interesting seeing the tools of the past and the skills that would have been needed in those days. On the way out we noticed an interesting feature of glass and stone cast into the ceiling. The lady explained the building process to achieve this and that previously the post office was a bakery and sometimes the locals would complain about glass in their cakes. Greg Bond