EXPLORING FRONTIER COUNTRY and other areas.

[Pumbaa]

Just caught up Steamtrainfan,

WoW brilliant landscape shots, your chalets do look extreme comfortable and then all these different birdies

[steamtrainfan]

Slowly catching up, stf! This is like pudding, so one bite at a time!

Love your loco comment!

Also see you remember roadside picnic spot eating from days gone by...here it is simply too dirty/dangerous!

Great living in "Noah's Ark" there!

Great to have you back on board R.P..

Thanks for the positive feedback.

love the Pigeon and the Monkeys

Thank you very much nan.

love Samango monkeys Great to see all the chalets, you choose the best places to stay, I think

Theses Samango monkeys were lifers for us.

That must have been a splendid walk and the trees are beautiful as are the waterfalls. Nice monkeys I love the fire place

Thanks Lisbeth . Everything was soooooo beautiful.

Just caught up Steamtrainfan,WoW brilliant landscape shots, your chalets do look extreme comfortable and then all these different birdies

Welcome on board Pumbaa. Looking forward to reading your comments.

[steamtrainfan]

22 APRIL 2015 - DAY 7 - HOGSBACK TO KENTON ON SEA - PART 1/3


Having left Hogsback and Fort Beaufort behind us we entered FRONTIER COUNTRY.



The very beautiful and windy R67 road between Fort Beaufort and Port Alfred.



Just one of the many views from the R67.



This mode of transport in Frontier Country is slowly disappearing.



Pity about the telephone lines but a Crowned Eagle nonetheless.



Part 2/3 to follow - another history lesson.

[steamtrainfan]

22 APRIL 2015 - DAY 7 - HOGSBACK TO KENTON ON SEA - PART 2/3


THE BATHURST TOPOSCOPE.

The Bathurst Toposcope marks the spot where the 1820 British Settlers locations were surveyed. The details of the settlements, and the names of the ships and their ports of departure are recorded on 57 plaques. The inscription on the plinth reads ” Close to this site in 1820 Colonel Jacob Cuyler made his camp while supervising the placing of the settlers on their locations. While camped here at the same time Sir Rufane Donkin chose the site for the administrative centre to be named Bathurst. The beacon was erected by Captain W. Bailey as an observing station during his survey of the Eastern Districts, 1855 – 1859.” The stones used in the construction of the wall were taken from ruins of original Settler homes. On a clear day, visitors to the area are provided with magnificent views of the Gamtoos Valley floodplain from The Great Fish River to Kwaaihoek.



The plaque reads as follows from top to bottom:

Distance to settlement
Name of settlement
Group leaders name.
County group were from.
Ships name.





Unfortunately more than half the plaques have been stolen and the area around the Toposcope was littered with bottles and cans.

One can see here where plaques have been removed.



This is the view for 360 degrees from the Toposcope.



Part 3/3 to follow.

[Toko]

Lovely landscapes there, everywhere green hills and birds

[Lisbeth]

Unfortunately more than half the plaques have been stolen and the area around the Toposcope was littered with bottles and cans.

What a pity It is history that has been removed and ruined by vandals

[nan]

wow the Crowned Eagle... with wire or without
love too the Donkeys
and the... mountain

[steamtrainfan]

Lovely landscapes there, everywhere green hills and birds

Thank you Toko.

What a pity It is history that has been removed and ruined by vandals

Yes Lisbeth - that is South Africa I am afraid.

wow the Crowned Eagle... with wire or without love too the Donkeys and the... mountain

Thanks very much nan.

[steamtrainfan]

22 APRIL 2015 - DAY 7 - HOGSBACK TO KENTON ON SEA - PART 3/3



A BIT MORE HISTORY -

In the 1820s, sent away by their colonial masters and driven to desperation by poverty, Englishmen of the lowest classes chose to brave three months (or more) journey by ship to a fledgling colony on the shores of an unknown land. The village of Bathurst is what is known as a frontier town, established by these 1820 settlers on the edge of the newly founded Cape Colony as they tried to find a place to eke out a living in the completely foreign territory of the Eastern Cape.

The Historic Pig and Whistle Inn was built by one such settler. Thomas Hartley settled in Cumber in 1820 and put down roots in Bathurst, where he built a forge and a house in the early 1820s. By 1832, he had also opened an inn, which he built next to his forge.

Bathurst was well situated geographically as a waypoint for wagon travellers. There was a Smithy, farrier, shops and of course the Inn, then known as the Bathurst Inn. In 1832 surgeon Ambrose Campbell began to travel to Bathurst from Grahamstown on the first Saturday of every month for consultations.

The inn was highly regarded and, despite neighbouring a forge, the inn's rooms were billed as "Subscription Rooms for Gentlemen". High profile guests included Lord Charles Somerset, the Governor of the Cape, and Sir Benjamin D'Urban.

Following Thomas Hartley's death in 1840, his widow, Sarah, took over the inn. Her hospitality allowed the inn to flourish, becoming the accommodation of choice for travelling dignitaries and government officials. In 1847 the Governor General of the Cape Colony, Sir Henry Pottinger, stayed at the Inn where he was visited by the Chaplain, the Magistrate and the Post Commander. The following year the next Governor General, Sir Harry Smith, also stayed at Widow Hartley's Inn (as it was then known).

In 1849, the inn was painted in oils by famous English explorer and artist Thomas Baines. Sarah Hartley died later that year, leaving the inn she had made renowned in the colony to her son, Thomas Hartley Junior. In 1852 Jeremiah Goldswain bought the inn from Hartley junior.

The inn acquired its current name about 100 years later, when soldiers from the Royal Air Force were stationed nearby. They decided to name their new pub after their local pub in England, thus the Bathurst Inn became the Pig and Whistle.

The Pig and Whistle today still going strong.



A juvenile Crowned Hornbill in Bathurst.



The bridge over the Kowie River in Post Alfred.



The view from our B&B Milkwood Manor looking over Bushmans River mouth and the Indian Ocean.



END OF DAY 7.

[Lisbeth]

You sure are collec ting a lot of history and a lot of beautiful views on your trip