The first Europeans to cross the Hottentots Holland Mountains followed the old Gantouw (“Eland’s Path”), which went straight over the mountain between the present Sir Lowry’s Pass Village and Grabouw. On reaching the top of this tortuous, almost vertical pass, the travellers would thankfully say they were “over het gebergte” (over the mountain), and this name, Overberg, came to be applied to the huge region that stretches as far as Swellendam and Cape Agulhas. It was only in 1830 that Col Charles Michel, Surveyor-General of the Cape Colony, completed the re-aligned Sir Lowry’s Pass, which made crossing the mountain less arduous. The pass was tarred in the 1930s, and the modern four-lane road (N2) was completed in 1984.
The old wagon route ran some distance to the north of the present N2, crossing the Palmiet River where the town of Grabouw was later founded in 1856.
Staying on the N2, continue on the old wagon route over Houw Hoek Pass, to the village of Botrivier and the historic Compagne’s Drift. From here one can take the Van der Stel’s Pass (gravel road) to Villiersdorp, and from there the Genadendal/Greyton road (part gravel) along the scenic Sonderend River.
For those who do not want to take back roads, the N2 continues over the hills and meadows typical of the Overberg. A tarred road to Genadendal and Greyton turns off the N2 just before one reaches Caledon, the administrative centre for the area.
Spend some time in Genadendal ('Vale of Grace'), established as a Moravian Mission in 1738, the first mission station in South Africa. The mission, at one stage the second-largest settlement at the Cape, was home to the first teachers' training college and its people excelled at crafts – it is said that every Voortrekker who ventured into the interior in search of a better life, had with him two items produced at Genadendal: a book of Bible texts printed there, and the locally designed herneuter knife. History seems to be alive here, with fields still ploughed with horses and classical music often to be heard around the church square.
Stopover in Greyton, a village that grew around irrigation channels and market gardens. Today it is a tree-lined retreat that epitomises sophisticated country life, with art galleries, regular music recitals and an annual Rose Festival. Follow the gravel road that was once part of the Old Cape Wagon Route along the Riviersonderend mountains, past Het Ziekenhuis and Lindeshof, to rejoin the N2 at the village of Riviersonderend.
At the given coordinates you will find a monument commemorating the Old Cape Road. Use the information found on the monument to find the final coordinates of the cache.
You will find the cache at :
S34 08.ABC and E019 47.DEF
Where:
A=first numeral of erection date
B=third numeral of erection date
C=A
D=second numeral of first date mentioned
E=D divided by 2
F=A multiplied by 4.