The village of Rhodes

Rhodes was one of the many surprises of my ride in the Eastern Cape.

Where else in our beautiful country does one find a village with the closest tar road more than 60 km away? Or a town with no street lights? I nearly lost my way to my room in the darkest of dark nights! Or where does one find a village with not enough permanent residents to fill a rugby team and the bank with substitutes? Or a town that during the rainy season could be cut off from the outside world due to impassable roads, and during winter due to meters of snow?

That is the town of Rhodes high up in the mountains just south of the border to Lesotho.

To read more about the village go to the website http://www.rhodeshotel.co.za/history.htm You’ll find fascinating information there.

I stayed at the lovely Rhodes Hotel. Annette van Zyl did miracles to the interior of the hotel and still does miracles with the food coming from the kitchen.

This is one place that I want to return to. There are still hundreds of kilometers to be discovered by bike.

I have too many photographs below but I couldn’t make my pick. Enjoy!

01 on the way to rhodes

02 the sky was deep blue from horizon to horizon

03 the murky waters of the many rivers turn to clear water within days after the rains

04 it was a challenging ride going up and down many mountains

05 the water of the dam below reflected the colour of the heaven above

06 i saw some of the monster trouts caught in the area

06 a on my bucket list is to camp next to this river and take a swim in one of the many pools in the river

07 the only straight piece of road was the one going into town or so it felt at least

08 at last rhodes in sight

09 i discovered a small victorian village

10 with no tarred streets

11 and a narrow bridge into town

12 where on earth do you still find these telephone booths

13 it felt like stepping back into the past

14 the lovely rhodes hotel

15 with the inviting stoep to enjoy high tea

16 the local pub to pick up gossip about any of the seventeen permanent residents of the village