There’s a sleeping beauty on the Garden Route

Anybody who hails from KwaZulu-Natal will know that the Drakensberg is part of our DNA so it was with sheer delight that I discovered a mountain hike on the Garden Route that can stand proud against any in the Berg

The Drakensberg is South Africa’s great mountain wall: a dramatic sweep of peaks and cliffs along the country’s eastern edge, reaching the border with Lesotho. The range stretches for more than 1,000km.

On the Garden Route, the Tsitsikamma and Outeniqua mountains frame our views; heading west towards Riversdale, the Outeniqua range merges into the Langeberg. It’s beautiful, but gentle, so to find a proper dramatic Drakensberg mountain hike here is quite a find.

Riversdale is regarded as the western gateway to the Garden Route and it lies on the N2 in Hessequa, about 300km east of Cape Town and 190km west of Knysna. It’s a handy stop on the way to or from Cape Town.

If you are a hiker then there’s every reason to stop here for a night and walk the famous Sleeping Beauty, CapeNature trail.

Sleeping Beauty is the distinctive Langeberg peak overlooking Riversdale. From the town, its ridgeline is said to resemble a woman lying on her back, which gave the mountain its name. The summit is about 1,343m high.

From Riversdale take the R323 towards Ladismith and a few kilometers out of town you will start going up Garcia Pass. It’s amazing how you start to head into proper mountain territory. About 18km from town you will pass the old toll house on your right-hand side, a white building with a green roof and you can stop here. The approximate 12km trail starts on the left-hand side about 140m further up the road.

Let me say right at the outset that this is not a Mickey Mouse walk. We manage a 10km hike well enough, but we completely underestimated the Sleeping Beauty. We didn’t start early enough, we didn’t take enough food, and we weren’t expecting the walk to get as steep as it does after the picnic site. Had we planned the whole day for the hike, with enough rest stops, then we would have made it, but sadly we turned back beaten by the steepness of this mountain on the last stretch.

The first section is moderate as it winds up the valley through fynbos and some forest and crosses the stream a few times. At around 2.3km there is a small indigenous forest and here you will find two benches almost camouflaged in the trees. This is a great place to stop for a picnic with many people calling the walk a day here and turning back.

This is the last stop to fill your bottle with pristine stream water for the climb that is to come.

Shortly after the picnic spot and the forest you start climbing up the end of the valley towards the saddle between Sleeping Beauty and the Langeberg mountain range. This section of the trail has switchbacks or zigzags and they become quite hellish even though they were created to help make the incline of the trail more manageable.

There is a rich diversity of flora and a variety of bird species to be heard and seen the whole way from tiny vygies to pincushions and all sorts of flora which changes as you climb higher up the mountain.

The path makes a T-junction as you climb out of the valley, you should follow the path left from here, the path to the right is closed. Once on the saddle the views South over Riversdale, Heidelberg and the patches of farmland unfold. The views stretch further as you climb and I believe that from the very top, you can see Stilbaai on a clear day.

Time is of the essence here. Had I researched better and seen what other hikers say about this walk, we would have started at 8am and banked on eight hours, walking, resting and also just smelling the roses.

The one thing that we did get right though was to spend the night in Riversdale at De Doornkraal Vinotel, which is family-owned and classified as a country house with four stars.

It’s located on the historical Long street in Riversdale and calls itself a vinotel because wine is part of the guest experience, grapes are grown here at Aan’t Vette vineyard. It’s the first time I have heard of a vinotel and researching further yields the curious fact that there doesn’t seem to be another one in South Africa and very few in the world. One would think there would be loads of vinotels especially in the Cape winelands?

De Doornkraal's Aan't Vette Wine Estate (named after the Vette river that flows here) established its vineyard in 2008. The vineyard consists of a single block Syrah (shiraz) cultivar that has consistently produced award-winning wines.

A 150-year-old barn with thick clay walls was transformed into a modern winery.

The Syrah wines are made by the owner’s wife in small batches and it’s more of a hobby than a commercial venture producing about 7000 bottles a year from 1.2 hectares of land although you can stock up on very reasonably priced Aan’t Vette wines to take home.

Guests are offered wine tastings and can mull through the various vintages including a rosé-style blanc de noir made from the Syrah. You can also choose which vintage to have with dinner or you can sit in a tranquil garden, which was resplendent with white roses when we were there, and enjoy a wine tasting.

De Doornkraal do a set menu with South African classics served in an old-fashioned dining room with starchy white tablecloths. Their lamb shank cooked in their home-grown wine is one of the best I have ever tasted.

Breakfast is grand enough to set you up for the Sleeping Beauty.

De Doornkraal is steeped in history like the town of Riversdale itself.

The farm of Doornkraal was established in the mid-18th century, and its original thatched homestead is believed to have been built between 1746 and 1770.

During the 1800's the current owner's great-grandfather and grandfather farmed in the Langstraat (Lower Long Street on Google) area of Riversdale.

The original owner of the farm Doornkraal was Hermanus Egbertus Steyn. He was the great-grandson of master builder Douwe Gerbrandt Steyn, who in 1668 arrived from Leeuwarden in Friesland, to build the Castle of Good Hope.
Douwe Gerbrandt Steyn is the great-great grandfather of the current owner Professor Pieter Gerbrandt Steyn. The prof was born where room no 7 of De Doornkraal vinotel is.

The original thatched homestead located at 8 Long Street was built between 1746 and 1770.

The house at number 1 Long Street was built in 1859. In the latter years, famous author and politician C J Langenhoven was a boarder in this house during his school days in Riversdale. Over the years the Steyn family have bought out properties in Long Street which now comprises of their homestead, the wine farm and the vinotel which is spread over two cottages at the bottom of the street and 10 comfortable rooms.

Riversdale was proclaimed a town on the 30th of August 1838 with Long Street as the focal point.

It’s perfectly safe to take a walk around this neat little old town and soak up the history.

The Royal Hotel at 28 Long Street built in 1881 is an iconic historic building dating from the latter part of the nineteenth century.
Visit Riversdale’s Old Jail where you can look around the former cells, which now house antiques, gifts and plants, and see a replica of the gallows. The building’s original section dates to 1838; it became a jail in 1860.

The Julius Gordon Africana Centre, 29 Long Street, is a historical gem and dates from the 1800s. It is an absolute must to visit as it houses the largest collection of Thomas Bowler paintings in South Africa. It is also the home of well-known South African artists like Irma Stern, Gregoire Boonzaaier and local Jan Volschenk works along with other Africana collections.

If you are looking for things to do in the area, ask De Doornkraal hosts who are very helpful. Or head for Hessequa Tourism in town which has maps and all sorts of useful information gladly dispensed.