Some of the best days start with bad weather and zero plans.
It was a Saturday in late January. The sky was low and grey, the kind of Cape summer morning that makes you look at the weekend and wonder what to do with it. Someone suggested a drive. Nobody had a better idea. We were in the cars inside twenty minutes.
The Old Houw Hoek Pass
The modern N2 between Grabouw and Caledon runs smoothly and efficiently past everything interesting. The old Houw Hoek Pass does the opposite — it climbs the mountain the way the original road engineers intended, a dirt track cut into the fynbos that runs parallel to the railway line and gives you a proper look at the terrain the modern highway buried under tarmac.
In the mist and drizzle it was something else entirely. The mountains closed in on both sides, the fynbos was that deep wet green that only happens after proper rain, and the cloud was sitting low enough that the peaks disappeared into it. Atmospheric doesn’t cover it.
The track is not technically demanding — you don’t need lockers or low range — but it rewards taking it slowly. The surface is loose in sections, the drop-off to the railway below is worth respecting, and the views when the cloud lifts for a moment are the whole reason to be there.
We stopped partway up to stretch and look around. The rock formations along the ridgeline are genuinely impressive, especially on a moody day when the light is flat and everything looks slightly ancient.
The convoy spread out along the road, everyone finding their own pace. That’s the thing about a route like this — there’s no need to rush it. The pass isn’t going anywhere.
Rusty Gate
Coming off the pass, the next stop was Rusty Gate.
It’s a well-known spot among the Cape 4x4 crowd — a proper offroad venue in the Houw Hoek area where you can put the vehicles through their paces without heading two hundred kilometres out of town. On a day like this, with the ground soft and everything slippery, it had that particular energy that offroad venues get when the conditions are properly interesting.
There was a good mix of rigs — Hiluxes, a Land Rover Disco, a lime green Suzuki Jimny that attracted attention wherever it went, a Ford Ranger, and a few others. The kind of lineup that makes for an interesting parking lot whether you’re a 4x4 person or not.
We didn’t spend the whole day here — this was always meant to be a day trip and the clouds were starting to lift. We moved on.
Lunch in Stellenbosch
The last stop was the best one.
By the time we reached the wine farm outside Stellenbosch, the weather had made up its mind to behave. The clouds that had been sitting on the mountains all morning had thinned out, the sun was finding its way through, and the estate looked exactly like you’d want it to look on a summer afternoon.
We found a table outside under the trees — the kind of old, established trees that only exist on estates that have been here for a very long time. Gravel underfoot, dappled light coming through the canopy, mountains sitting behind the vineyard in every direction you looked.
The wine was good. The food was good. The conversation was better.
That’s the part that’s hardest to write about — not because it wasn’t there, but because the best parts of a day like this happen in the gaps between the destinations. Around the table after the drive, when the adrenaline has worn off and everyone is warm and fed and talking too loudly. Those hours have a particular quality that doesn’t photograph well and doesn’t summarise easily.
We stayed longer than we planned to. That’s always a good sign.
The drive home was easy — full stomachs, good roads, the kind of satisfied tiredness that comes from a day that started with no expectations and delivered more than it needed to. The old Houw Hoek Pass in the mist, Rusty Gate in the wet, and a long lunch in the Cape winelands.
Not a bad way to spend a rainy Saturday.
The full day is on the YouTube channel — the pass, the trail, and the long lunch. Watch the video above.