I recently decided to take a break and head for the picturesque vacation town of Clarens for a long weekend. A friend went with me and we hit the road at 16:00 the Friday afternoon. It's about a 3 to 3 and a half hour drive there, so plenty of time to get there to collect the keys for the townhouse in which we would be staying. We had to collect the keys at a local restaurant before 10, when the restaurant closes. Not a problem, plenty of time. What could possibly go wrong?
All was going well until we hit Johannesburg, where we got stuck in heavy afternoon traffic. And seeing as it was a long weekend, something that inspires people everywhere to get in their cars and go somewhere scenic, there was more traffic than usual. In fact, it took us two hours just to get through Johannesburg. After that the road quietened down slightly (but only slightly) and we could get moving again. At about 19:00, still nowhere near our destination, we decided to pull over at a petrol station for some dinner. Sounds simple enough. But no, the cars were queuing at the rate of 4 cars per pump for petrol, and the parking lot was completely full. So I did what any self-respecting BMW owner would do, and parked illegally. Thankfully I parked in a parking space reserved for a shop that was closed, so no-one minded. And oddly enough, as soon as I did, so did everyone else, who were apparently just waiting for that first brave soul to take the risk. Inside the petrol station it was absolute chaos! People were queuing out the door to buy snacks, so we decided to sit down at the restaurant (which was oddly empty) rather than risk dying from boredom in a queue. And once again, the moment we sat down, everyone else thought "What a good idea!" and soon the tables were full. After a thankfully quick meal we hit the road again and made some good time. We turned off at a small town called Warden which (at night) sort of resembled any run-down ghost town filled with zombies, gangsters and the occasional ghost. In short, not a place to linger if you wanted to stay in possession of your car and/or wallet. After getting slightly lost we managed to find the right road and were soon zooming along. At Bethlehem (no, not that one, the one in the Free State) we filled up our car with petrol and arrived at our destination about 25 minutes later. We got to the restaurant 20 minutes before they closed and managed to collect our keys and swallow down a celebratory glass of gluhwein. Which, seeing as they got the spice/citrus ratio wrong, tasted rather hair raising. But, we didn't care. We were there! And just in time too!
The following morning the rising sun revealed the glorious view of the Clarens mountains. It was magnificent! But something was bothering us. Something that we couldn't quite put our fingers on. Then it dawned on us. It was quiet! Not a bird or a car or a single human voice could be heard. The silence was so thick you could wrap yourself in it and cuddle it gently. It was absolutely amazing!
I am sad to say that the weekend went past way too quickly, and all too soon we had to hit the road back to Pretoria. Thankfully this time it took us 4 hours instead of 6. After dropping my friend off I arrived home and, after unpacking, clambered into bed. And realised immediately that I was back in a major city, with barking dogs, revving engines and screaming sirens. I was almost tempted to just pack up and drive back to Clarens again! They say that all good things must come to an end, but I wish that this end could have stayed away a bit longer.....
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