During December of 2013 we took a quick pre-Christmas break to Hogsback to celebrate our daughter’s successful academic year. The road took us high up into the Amathole mountains amongst cloud and rain. As we arrived at the beautiful Hogsback Arminel Inn the rain was pouring down and our hopes to do some walking diminished. So we were on to plan B at J R R Tolkien’s place of Hobbits and fairies!
The Hogsback Arminel Inn
Plan B included driving the road (indicated on maps as a normal road, but do not be fooled as this has degraded to a 4×4 track) from Hogsback to Seymour, which was on hubby’s to do list, as well as picking up some caches in the area. However the weather did not have a sunny outlook so we followed the road less traveled through the forest to Keiskammehoek
A track leading to Keiskammahoek
Thanks to Geocaching we passed traditional huts and villages, beautiful mountain farms and forgotten small churches in this spectacular area surrounding Hogsback, Seymour, Cathcart and Keiskammahoek.
Road side to Carthcart
A small church perched on a hill
When the sun peaked for a moment through the clouds we took a walk on leave covered paths in the park and saw some magnificent birdlife, huge California redwoods, waterfalls in flood due to the incessant rain, fairy mushrooms and lush plantations. A photographer’s dream!
Waterfalls dotted all over
Another beautiful, almost fairy-like, place visited in my own country – a tick and a smiley 🙂 on my travel bucket list!
A massive Californian redwood
Too quick the exploring of tree filled lanes in the quaint village with green pastures and good food came to an end and we left with only the memories.
