Friday 15 June 2018

Fri-Yay, it's Ladismith!

Happy Friday, fellow Yarnerinnas! What a week it's been in my little corner of Crochetland. We have had the best weather EVER...rain, hail, thunder, lightning and gale force winds. I'm in my Pluviophile element! This is exactly the sort of weather we had on our road trip, the one I am reminiscing about through the Karoo Vintage Mystery-A-Long.




In Part One, I mention how we began our trip with a hearty breakfast in darling little Darling! The next leg of our journey found us on the N1 headed North because somehow, in our mind's eye, we imagined The Karoo was "North", seeing as if you headed South you'd end up in the ocean. My husband doesn't do maps but at our next pitstop I snuck into the curio shop and pinched a few travel pamphlets of the area...well, pinched is a strong word, they were free!😃

By this stage, we'd traveled quite a way up the N1 and if we'd carried on just ten hours longer we'd have arrived in Johannesburg and been very cross indeed! Of course, the road we'd missed was Route 62 so now, how to get to Route 62 which ran parallel to the N1 "only" divided by The Swartberg ( The Black Mountain ). and a few hair-raising passes? Our only option was to either go back and start all over from Darling, or find a way across to Route 62. Which we did.

We almost missed it, a tiny faded road sign to our right that read Ladismith. My little tourist map showed Ladismith on it and it seemed a really short cross-over from the N1. Oh, my...it took three hours of sand and stone "roads", winding like a snake drunk on fermented marula fruit, roads that climbed steep enclines then lurched madly into boulder-filled gullies. How we ever got through this and actually arrived in Ladismith is a miracle. We felt not unlike aliens from a distant planet who had landed in a bad neighbourhood with flying saucer engine trouble! I'm referring to the road-of-hell, not Ladismith! Ladismith, lovelies, was LOVELY and we had the best hot chocolate I've EVER tasted ( real dark chocolate at the bottom there. None of that powder stuff!😊 ) whilst looking out onto the snow-capped peaks of Towerkop Berg ( Magic Mountain ). There is so much to say about Ladismith but I'll leave you to explore in your own good time with the links I have inserted. Really worth a visit!




We also spotted this amazing looking Cat!


Visited the old graveyard ( not to be missed, in these tiny towns! )


And marveled at the Volstruis Palaise ( you must click on the link to see how absolutely lovely the interior is! ) charming relicts from by-gone days when Ostrich farmers became filthy rich selling Ostrich feathers and skins to the well-heeled in Europe! Most have now been renovated and turned into gorgeous, gracious old-worlde Guesthouses.


But let me not keep you as I'm sure you're impatient to begin the next stretch of  Karoo Vintage?😊 I really hope you enjoy Part Two of our crochet journey. See you in Crochetland! You can find the pattern HERE!

Jen

4 comments:

  1. SANDRA CHRISTIANSEN15 June 2018 at 12:05

    I just love all your designs. I'm getting to the point in my crochet journey that I want to try some of your patterns. I have a bunch of them saved in Ravelry and this one is definitely on the top. Stay warm and cozy as we start to warm up (Seattle)!

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  2. Hi, I found this beaty with a promise that there would be a free pattern. But I can't find it.

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  3. Можно мк по коврика

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  4. Beautiful designs!! I purchased the Durban Spice Girls pattern on Ravelry. Have a need for the videos Rnd 11-end but can't seem to locate them on YouTube. I was able to find Rnd 1-10. How can I find them?
    Thanks

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