Graaff Reinet used to have a railway station, opened in 1879, and the slow but steady disintegration of the railway network is told in this excellent blogsite with wonderfully evocative photographs. I can remember the excitement of taking on a second engine in order to get over the Lootsberg Pass before arriving in Graaff Reinet by train! (Wonderful, beautiful photographs here.)
But these days the only way in, or out of the town is by road. Port Elizabeth was 267 kms away and we set off to see the sea. It was a long road…
Tandjiesberg is one of the landmark mountains in Graaff Reinet and part of the Sneeuberg Range in the Cape Fold Mountains.
And finally we were at the seaside! Summerstrand is named after ‘Strandfontein’, a farm once owned by Piet Retief – probably a little-known fact even to South Africans! He was born in Wellington and was one of the Great Trek leaders, eventually killed by Dingaan in Natal.
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