The first hints of summer are in the air, and maybe the fourth surge of Covid 19 will not materialise in December. If the weather holds and Covid stays away, thousands of tourists, holidaymakers and owners of family holiday homes will be travelling to destination Hermanus in December. Their travel may be short and by car, say from Cape Town, or longer, involving air travel, from, say, Johannesburg, the UK or the USA. But, we have built the town, it is now open, and they will come!

Hermanus has always been a destination. The first European settlers travelled a few kilometres from Hawston in 1855, when it was known as Herries Bay. And visitors and settlers kept coming through the 19th and 20th centuries. So, in preparation, here are three accounts of travel to Hermanus. The first dates from about 1890, the second we know was undertaken in the year 1900 as reference is made to the travel restrictions associated with the Anglo-Boer War, and the third in 1922.

The Pienaar Family (1890)

S J du Toit has recorded a journey made by the Pienaar family from Somerset West to their holiday camp in Voëlklip:

Ds. Pienaar and his family travelled by ox-wagon, and taking the seaside route past Rooiels and Kleinmond, arrived at Voëlklip (then known as Mosselrivier).

As the wagon was loaded with provisions and camping equipment, most of the children had to walk all the way, next to or behind the wagon. One of the smaller girls once could not keep up the pace and was left behind. When it was discovered that she was missing, some of her brothers had to walk back a long way and found her where she was docilely ambling along.

One of the small boys, on another occasion, becoming very tired, wanted to know why “Jesus had made Kogel Bay so very far.”

There were no proper bridges across the Steenbras or Palmiet Rivers, and crossing them often posed a hardship. During years of heavy summer rains in the area, the Steenbras River was quite deep for the wagon and oxen to ford, but they managed to get through. At one time, Mrs Pienaar had to wade through the river carrying her baby on her shoulders when, much to her dismay, her baby’s dummy was washed away seaward!

Today, it takes motorists less than an hour to cover the distance between Somerset West and Hermanus. By ox-wagon, in those days, it was a three-day journey. Their first outspan and overnight was at the Steenbras River and the next night at the Palmiet River. It was pretty late on the third day when they arrived at Mossel River. The camp was pitched near the present Kammabaai, and freshwater could be collected from the Mossel River. Huge milkwood trees gave protection, and there was a natural kraal where the oxen could sleep at night. They grazed in lush grass in the clearing between the trees.

To follow next week: The Gearing Family

And then: The Napier Family