The Mountain Road

On our first visit to the farm old man Loubser took us up the road in his bakkie. We were beside ourselves with delight and I remember every twist and turn of the magical road as we flew past proteas and pincushions and birds and magnificent views.

 

 

We have remained very proud of our mountain road and it has served us well, allowing all of us to walk with ease up the mountain, mountain cycle up to the top, and on occasion to drive up the undulating and winding gravel in a high clearance vehicle. It also helped firefighters fight two big fires.

But the road hasn’t always been so easy to manage, and we have spent a great deal of effort on it to make it the way it is today.

Originally, before we had the farm, Telkom had built the road as a servitude to give them access to their tower. But they took no interest in the road and barely travelled it. As a result it become pitted and eroded.
Which is how we found it, and getting no help from Telkom, we set about repairing and cambering the road.

 

 

This work helped a lot but wasn’t a long term solution. So we made another lunge and this time pushed Telkom very hard. They agreed to sort the road but refused our offer to do it for them for a modest sum. They said they were determined to save money and would do it themselves. Which they did. They took 3 years spent 4 times as much and never finished. What can one say?

The upshot though when Telkom disappeared off the scene, as a well-constructed road with interlocking paving, and berms against washaways.

We continue to take care of the road especially after winter. Mostly we maintain the berms, pick up loose stones and clearing aliens encroaching onto the road.