#TwoBits: Taking a drive on the back roads from Ballito to the Berg!

I have always enjoyed taking the road less travelled.

When we moved to the North Coast all those years ago, knowing nothing of our surroundings, I decided on a plan. If I had to travel from point A to point B, I would find a route that did not include the highway or the back road, the R102. Preferably not a tar road at all, except to cross one.

That’s how I discovered the lovely Glendale Valley, the old Doornkop mill behind Darnall, Rietvlei and Doringkop near Shakaskraal and on and on . . . so many places. Of course, farmers and the like know all these, but I am often surprised that residents of the towns like Ballito and Stanger have seldom strayed off the main routes.

There is a really rather beautiful 100-year-old chapel in the hills of Kearsney, surrounded by a graveyard of mouldering headstones. And, of course, Kearsney Manor House itself, the birthplace of the famous school and now a guesthouse and wedding venue, with its grand fountain and rambling, rabbit warren of rooms.

So many newcomers who live on the coast have no real picture of the area. From a viewpoint in the hills above Tongaat, you look down on this narrow (and ever-lenthening!) strip of development from Umhlanga northwards. Only then do you realise the vastness of farm, tribal and undeveloped land that stretches westward into the haze. So much to discover.

Another adventure route I love is in the Midlands. On occasion I have to drive from Champagne Valley to my brother-in-law’s farm near Donnybrook, further south down Ixopo way. I worked out a route that avoids the highway and the Howick-Underberg road.

Over the Easter weekend we took this route because I wanted to show my Danish nephew and family a little of the “African outback”. They’re cushioned by comfortable, flat, tar roads and have never seen a ‘Zille pothole’ in their lives.

The first part is the most appalling, broken tar road from Loskop near Estcourt to White Mountain and the derelict holiday resort of that name, then dirt across the foot of Giant’s Castle, then more tar and dirt on the Mpofana road skirting the mountains past Elandskop, across to the Dargle behind Nottingham Road and a little unnamed “nature reserve” in the hills. From there, onto the Lotheni road and across to the head of the majestic Umkomaas River valley near Impendle. The rocky, muddy road then winds down through the valley (three hours for 80 km!) and emerges near Bulwer, the car well-splattered with red mud.

The Danes were impressed – even awed – by the adventure, the hairy roads and the spectacular views. My wife, who has ‘experienced’ this route on two previous adventures, was less impressed.

I heard her mutter “Never again”.

We’ll have to see!