12 December Road Trip - Midlands Meander

Road number R103 from Pietermaritzberg to Mooi River has come to be known as the Midlands Meander; the old road which linked Durban to Johannesburg, is a tourist route of art galleries, craft shoppes and ye olde coffee shops. This is prime arable land with monster herds of milking cows, leafy avenues and thatched houses. You don't feel like you're in Africa – you could be in Europe.

Howick Falls

On our way west we stopped briefly at Howick Falls en route and 5 miles down the road the Mandela Capture Site where we spent a long time in the informative museum and musing at the sculpture.

side view

In 1962 Nelson Mandela was a fugitive on the run. Whilst driving from a clandestine ANC meeting in Durban to Johannesburg the car he was driving was stopped by the police. Mandela told them he was only the chauffeur, but the police had been tipped off and he was arrested. At the trial that followed Mandela was found guilty and began the prison sentence which would keep him incarcerated 27 years.

At the Mandela Capture site and museum there is a small monument at the roadside and on the other side of the road is the museum and sculpture. You approach the sculpture, a collection of black shaped upright posts down the long walk to freedom. When you stand in front of the posts on a certain they shaped posts align to form the image of Mandela's head in profile. It's large and it's impressive.

After the Mandela museum we meandered up the road (the elevation rises as you approach the foothills of the Drakensberg) stopping for a bite to eat at Piggly Wigglies restaurant and a mooch in the attached craft shops. We coaxed the hire car up a rough dirt track to visit Swissland goats cheese farm for sampling and

buying and watched the nanny goats at their afternoon milking. We supped a homemade beer in front of a roaring log fire at the swish Nottingham Brewery and distillery. I could have had a litre carafe of gin and tonic for £6, but then I wouldn't have been sober enough to do anything else today...or tomorrow. It also meant I could enjoy a small complimentary sherry at our B&B, Glen Ormond in Rosetta, before a tasty diner at the Rosetta Hotel.