Weekend Escape: Letskraal in the Eastern Cape

14 August 2016 - 02:00 By Paul Ash

Paul Ash finds peace, quiet and old stories in the valley of the Sundays River Pretoriuskloof has a profound kind of stillness. Yes, there were birds chattering in the trees, and the gentle clatter of the wind-pump's vanes, water splashing in regular gurgles into the round cement tank behind the house. But that - and the panting of a sweet-natured, overheated German shepherd named Tupac - was all.No phones, no fridge, no generators. No hum of electricity or TV or cellphones or radio. Apart from the occasional farmer's bakkie, which you may or may not hear according to which way the wind is blowing, no sound of traffic either - no highway roar or racebikes howling past in the faraway night.After the hum of the road and the chatter of our lives, arriving at the farm Letskraal, 17km down an iffy dirt road from the N9, was at first unsettling. We spoke in whispers so as not to offend the silence.story_article_left1An hour later and I knew that of all things in this world, this deep well of quiet is what I craved most. That and taking a leaf out of Tupac's book and plopping down in the shade of a cypress to gaze with soft eyes at mountains folding away into the haze.It was hot, of course, in this valley where the Sundays River winds between high, rocky hills, so we sat quietly until the heat began to fade and dusk softened the hills.I thought: how could anyone ever leave this place?So it must have been for Andries Pretorius, whose farm this was when Sarel Cilliers came calling in 1838 to ask for his help with the Voortrekkers in far-off Natal.A copy of the notice of sale is framed in the dining room: "Public Sale Without Reserve" for the place "Lets-kraal, in extent about 4,000 morgens, planted with 7,000 vines 100 orange trees and a variety of other fruit trees; has a substantial Dwelling House, Cellar, Smith, Wagon-maker's Shop and a water mill."A separate notice from the auctioneer gushed about the house and the farm. Of the garden, it said: "This is without exception one of the finest in the district. Immediately in front of the house is an orange grove and large orchard, well kept and in good order ... "The orchard and most of the vines are gone now and yet looking out across the open field, everything feels "in good order".Apart from having a tin roof in place of the original thatch, the house is pretty much as it was in 1838 - a whitewashed longhouse built of mud and straw, with large, cool rooms leading into each other.There is a kitchen with a wood-fired stove at the back and a wide, swept sand yard with enough room to turn a wagon and span of oxen.block_quotes_start I let that stove burn red-hot - even the baboons came to sit close, they were so cold block_quotes_endWhoever acquired the farm clearly looked after it. When Bishop Robert Grey passed this way from Cape Town in October 1850, he wrote in the visitor's book: "Comfortable quarters on a farm which is a very beautiful one and once belonged to the rebel Pretorius."The farm now belongs to Graaff-Reinet optometrist Johan Minnaar, who spent much of his childhood here in the kloof, back when trains used to come huffing up the long climb from the Sundays River.The railway cuts right through Letskraal farm but is hidden by trees and old growth. Officially closed in 1993, the line has seen scant trains since then, although it was nominally reopened by Transnet this year.Back in the 1970s and '80s, though, it was something of a lifeline, not only for the farmers in the kloof, but also for the Minnaar family."In my childhood, if it rained the roads would be impassable so we would go home by train - the goods train, in the guard's van," he says.mini_story_image_vright1Later, when he was studying at Wits Tech, he used the weekly passenger train from Mossel Bay to get back to Joburg at the end of the December holidays."My dad would phone the stationmaster [in Graaff-Reinet] and ask if the train could stop at Letskraal. The train would stop and everyone would hang out to see why. And it's high to get all my trunks and stuff onto the train - and in under five minutes because they got fined if they weren't punctual," says Minnaar. "It was quite embarrassing, and my mom would be there with her hankie, waving goodbye to her youngest son."The train would steam out of Letskraal at 10am and only reach Noupoort - some 100km away - at 5pm. "If I'd had a car, I would have been in Joburg already," he says.That slow northward trek was thanks to the Sneeuberg, which the railway crosses by a perilous and steep defile known to engine drivers simply as "Lootsberg", one of the toughest railway passes in Africa.I recently tracked down some railwaymen who had worked the pass and crept slowly through the kloof where fallen rocks could throw a train off the tracks.Samuel Erasmus, a spry and clear-eyed 84-year-old when I met him, remembers getting a scare one night in Pretoriuskloof."I saw these round rocks lying on the track," he says. "I pulled on the brakes but it was too close. But it was a tumble weed - I heard it go 'rrrrrr' as I rode over it. Nearly gave me a heart attack."A keen rugby player, Erasmus used his time stoking trains up the pass to stay fit."The trains moved so slowly," he says. "When you had a rookie driver, you could throw coal on the fire, then jump off and run alongside and climb back on again. It's about nine miles from Blouwater to the top of the mountain. We got so fast."Talla Crouse was station foreman at Bethesda Road, 20km from Letskraal, in the bitter winter of '65, when heavy snow all but closed the line. His job was to inspect the track every day, on foot."I had to walk from Lootsberg to Blouwater through the snow, to see if the trains could get through," he said.For six weeks that winter, Crouse lived in a tiny wood-and-iron cabin at Blouwater siding. He draped a tarpaulin over one side of the lean-to kitchen and stuffed the stove with the coal that kindly engine-men threw from their locomotives. "I let that stove burn red-hot," he said. "Even the baboons came to sit close, they were so cold."With those stories ringing in my head - and despite the heat - I persuaded my companions to take a drive to the top of the pass. The railway service road runs through a private farm but we had arranged a key beforehand from the farmer.full_story_image_hleft2With Tupac panting like a steam engine in the back, we rattled up the mountain on a steep road cut out of the hillside.From the top you can see almost all the way to Graaff-Reinet. It is an eerie place, with the wind sighing through the grass and the old sign that says "Lootsberg" rattling in the breeze. Not much up here but scattered sheep and the ghosts of old enginemen.We returned to the valley and took a slow drive on the dirt back roads to Nieu Bethesda, which we found somnolent in the heat. Katrin, owner of The Karoo Lamb, revived us with cold beer, tapas and good stories and it was a less melancholy crew that returned to Letskraal - Tupac providing a certain kind of air-conditioning.There we sat in the shade and listened to the windpump creak every now and then in the otherwise all enveloping quiet. Like I said: who could leave a place like this?sub_head_start All you need to know about The Karoo Lamb sub_head_endWHERE IT IS: In Pretoriuskloof, just off the N9 between Middelburg and Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape.mini_story_image_hright3WHY GO THERE: For the silence, the beautiful countryside and a few days of comfort. There is no landline, no internet and no cellphone reception. Bliss.WHAT IT HAS: Three bedrooms — if you count the beds in the voorkamer — plus a bed in the restored ox-wagon in the waenhuis. There are two bathrooms, with flushing loos and plentiful hot water heated by donkey boilers. It’s self-catering but everything from cutlery to linen to gas for cooking is provided.Lighting is by hurricane lamps, torchlight — or the moon and stars.WHAT TO TAKE: All your food and drink. Take a torch and walking shoes and books — especially the books. Pets are welcome, noisy contraptions such as quadbikes and sound systems are not.RATES: R350 per person per night, self-catering, for a minimum of three nights.CONTACT: Letskraal Farm Accommodation, phone 083-642-7774, e-mail letskraal@eastcape.net or see letskraal.co.za• The Karoo Lamb is on New Street, Nieu Bethesda, phone 049-841-1642.Ash was a guest of Letskraal Farm Accommodation..

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