|
Turtle Essays Archives Index
|
Subscribe
|
|
| << November07, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 154 dated 7.11.2005 |
November21, 2005 - Turtle Essays Edition no 156 dated 21.11.2005 >> |
|
Turtle Essays Edition no 155 dated 14th November 2005 ** Turtle Essays in conjunction with a Cape Town tour operator is offering accommodation and tours around the Cape Peninsula, Winelands and to see the whales at Hermanus. Find out more here. Http://www.turtlesa.com ** Do you enjoy this weekly ezine? Please tell your friends about it and send them to http://www.zinester.com/mpb/ml_fs.cgi?topic=50058 to become regular readers ** In this edition: Editor's Blurb Bonnievale Tunnels of the Western Cape. ** Editors Blurb Hi there folks. Welcome to all my new and regular readers. This past week I have done a bit of travelling into the hinterland of the Western Cape crossing the mountains and using the passes mentioned in my articles below. Bonnievale a farming community and village about two hours from Cape Town has some of the most beutiful scenery I have seen for a long time and to think that I have been missing this beauty for so long. Summer is back in Cape Town with the South East wind pumping across the Cape flats at a rate of knots. The Cape Doctor is doing its work and blowing away all the pollution that gathers over Cape Town when it does not blow. Its also been extremely hot and with the heat a number of bush fires have broken out in the mountains above Rooi Els. Sadly a number of houses got caught in the blaze and burnt down. That's just one of the joys of Cape Town at this time of the year. For those who have been following my progress at becoming a tour guide, I have finally made the grade. This week I was given the opportunity to take a tour to Cape Point. I found the tour most enjoyable as it is one of the most scenic drives one can undertake in the Cape. I'm now itching for the next one. Thats enough from me for this weekend. See you all soon. Geoff Fairman ** Bonnievale I've travelled the R62 on numerous occasions over the years and have often seen the turnoff to Bonnievale a small town about 30 kilometres to the east Robertson. Well this weekend I finally took that turnoff and visited Bonnievale. Am I glad I did. Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the scenery that suddenly befronted me. The road from Worcestor to Robertson is dry Karoo bush and although there are some picturesque mountain ranges along the way they are nothing to compare to the scenery one comes across in Bonnievale. This small town grew up next to the Breede River which flows through the Worcester valley and makes its way to the sea at Witsands. Bonnievale has an interesting history which began when Christopher Forrest Rigg moved to the area in the year 1900. He was an immigrant from Scotland who had arrived in South Africa with his parents in about 1863. He first lived in the Transvaal in the town of Barberton with his parents. His parents wanted him to become a detective but Rigg decided he would rather be a blaster on the gold mines and soon was an expert in the use of dynamite. A skill he would use when he eventually settled in Bonnievale. In 1893 after divorcing his first wife he married Lilian lsobel Elizabeth Moon who came from the Robertson district. She was 19 years old at the time and over the next few years gave birth to three daughters two of whom died in their infancy. In the year 1900 Rigg and his wife moved to Bonnievale and in 1903 his third daughter was born. She was a very religious little girl and loved playing in a lucerne field close to their home. In 1911 she became ill with meningitis and on her death bed asked her father to build her a church in her honour. She was buried in her favourite field which then became the family graveyard. Her father kept his promise and built a small Norman-style church in her memory. It took a number of years to complete after its foundation stone was laid in 1921 and finally in 1924 the first Anglican church service was held in it. The Mary Myrtle Rigg church became the only church in the world to be built at the request of a child. Prior to the arrival of the Riggs in Bonnievale there had been a number of farms in the area and although the Breede River flowed through the district utilisation of its water was difficult. Two farmers from the district saw a possibility of using the river's water for irrigation and decided to build a canal to get the water to their farms and the town. After about three kilometres of the canal were completed they struck a major snag which stopped them in their tracks. The Olifants krans crossed their path and they had no way of getting around it. The canal project could not be completed and both farmers went insolvent. It was around this time that Rigg arrived in Bonnievale and he immediately set to work building wooden channelling that would allow the water to flow around the Olifants Krans. These channels were set on pillars and chains were anchored to the rocks to keep them in place. Water eventually entered Bonnievale via the canals in 1900. Unfortunately for Bonnievale and Rigg the wooden channels collapsed and the water flowing into the town stopped. Rigg then decided to use his blasting skills to blast a tunnel through the Olifants krans. Eighty cases of dynamite were used on the project and the cost of this nearly bankrupted Rigg. You might wonder why Rigg was nearly bankrupted and why he had to foot the bill for the canal. On his arrival in Bonnievale he had bought the whole valley which included the town and so it was his responsibility to provide water. Fortunately a bank came to his rescue and the tunnels were completed and the water flowed once again. Rigg's problems however were not over as the canals broke from time to time stopping the water supply to the town. Eventually in 1914 it was decided to use cement on the canals to strengthen them. It is more than a hundred years ago that the canals were built and they are still in use today. The interesting part is that the whole of Bonnievale gets its water from them today and that there is not one pump used in the whole system. The whole canal system works on gravity. As a result of the constant water supply the valley has blossomed over the years. Everywhere you look are vineyards spread out across the valley all of them irrigated by water out of the canals. The land in the valley is very fertile and vegetables and fruit trees are also cultivated. Farms that border the main road into the town have planted rose and canna hedges and when we visited Bonnievale this week they were all in bloom . Long rows of red cannas and white roses together with hundreds of flowering jacaranda trees on both sides of the road welcomed us to Bonnievale. It is not often that one discovers a jewel but in Bonnievale I think I discoverd one this weekend. The two hour drive to get there from Cape Town is well worth the effort and on your arrival you are rewarded with some of the best scenery you will see anywhere in inland South Africa. Don't drive past the turnoff to Bonnievale next time you are in the district . Take the detour which will take you about 60 kilometres out of your way but will make your day. See you there soon. Geoff Fairman ** Tunnels of the Western Cape. Over the years of developing the road system around the Western Cape a number of contractors have had to build tunnels to get around or through places which would otherwise have made road building in the area impossible. The first such tunnel was built by Bain in Bains Kloof pass way back in 1849. The tunnel which was to be 336 feet long, 12 feet broad and 14 feet high was constructed through a hillside to avoid having to build the road around the slope that was in the way. In his reports Bain describes the work of cutting through the mountainside as "like cutting cheese". To help him with the construction of the tunnel he had 30 convicts doing the digging and with them a bricklayer and a convict helper. It was the bricklayer's job to make bricks bake them in a kiln and then to lay them on the inside of the tunnel walls to support them. Unfortunately during 1849 it rained from April to December, the mud bricks waiting to be baked disintegrated and the tunnel entrance collapsed causing Bain to have to scrap the plans for the tunnel and build the road around the slope they were trying to tunnel through. Both entrances to the tunnel are still visible today. Two more tunnels that have been built by road makers in the mountains still exist and are being used today. The first one is in du Toits Kloof pass near the northern end of the drive through the mountains to Worcester. This tunnel is about a 100 years old and is still used daily by road users in the pass. It is about 100 metres long and cuts off a drive around the edge of a slope that would be in the region of about 400 metres long if there was a road. As the du Toits Kloof pass was the most direct route to Cape Town it soon became the road of choice for most travellers. However problems became evident when large trucks started to use it and backed up traffic as they descended the tight bends in first gear. Authorities took note and a suggestion made by a Mr P A de Villiers way back in 1937 of a tunnel through the mountains to Worcester came to the fore. The idea was investigated and accepted and in 1984 work on the tunnel started. Workers drilled and blasted their way through the mountain from the Worcester and Paarl sides simultaneously. During the process a half a million cubic metres of rock was removed from the tunnel and used as a filler for access roads to the tunnel. Some of the rocks were also used in the lining of the tunnel. Incredibly after nearly three years of drilling and blasting the two halves of the tunnel met somewhere in the middle of the mountain with a margin of error of only 3 millimetres. The tunnel which is 3913 metres long was finally opened in March 1988 thus realising the dream of Mr PA de Villiers. Thanks to the foresight of de Villiers the public travelling through the Cape mountains no longer have to sit behind large trucks making their way over du Toits Kloof pass. However as the Huguenot tunnel is a toll road many truck operators still use du Toits Kloof instead of the tunnel to save themselves a few rand. Those trucks that use the pass still cause the odd jam when descending or climbing the pass but fortunately as the pass is used by fewer vehicles these days the delays are not as bad as they used to be. Most drivers prefer the speed of the tunnel over the views from the pass. The mountains that caused the early settlers to the Cape so much grief have finally been conquered. Geoff Fairman ** For my personal details, contact address, and warnings regarding products advertised in this ezine please read the disclaimers which can be found at: http://www.turtlesa.com/Disclaimer.html |
|
| << November07, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 154 dated 7.11.2005 |
November21, 2005 - Turtle Essays Edition no 156 dated 21.11.2005 >> |
|
Turtle Essays Archives Index
|
Subscribe
|
|
|
Archives powered by Zinester's Mailing List Service
Details on Turtle Essays |
Browse for more newsletters at Zinester's Ezine Directory
Managed by Zinester's Mailing List Management |