This past weekend we headed back to Simon’s family cottage in the Cederberg for a relaxing weekend away with his folks. The cottage is a two and a half hour drive from Cape Town and we hit the road on the Friday after work. We stopped to watch the sunset on the Piekeniers Kloof pass and it was an amazing sight to behold. What a way to kick off the weekend!

We arrived at the cottage at about 6:30 pm and were greeted by Simon’s parents who had prepared a delicious chicken potjie. We sat outside in the crisp night air and had a catch-up.

On Saturday morning Simon and I prepared some Jaffels on the fire and after a scrumptious breakfast we set out on our the day drive that Simon had meticulously mapped for us the previous week.

The route’s end destination was Wuppertal, s a small town in the Cederberg mountains. It was founded in 1830 by two German missionaries of the Rhenish Missionary Society (Rheinische Mission), Theobald von Wurmb and Johann Gottlieb Leipoldt, grandfather of C. Louis Leipoldt - some 100 years before the city of Wuppertal was formally established in Germany.

In 1965, after the Rhenish Mission had gradually scaled down their activities in Southern Africa, a decision was taken that Wupperthal in future should become part of the Moravian Church, which by that stage had already made the transition from a mission to an autonomous church in South Africa. The town remains a Moravian mission station to this day.

We started off taking R303 from Cirtusdal towards Ceres and turned off 2km before Oppieberg towards the Cederberg Wilderness area.

The route was filled with awesome sights and we found ourselves stopping at every other corner to take some photos of the snow which had fallen the week before.

We stopped on the way there to make some lunch and had a great time relaxing in the sun.

 We then continued along a dirt road to Wuperthal. On top of the mountain, we drove through a secluded settlement called “Eselbank”. I took some pictures that I feel encompasses the feel of the landscape. There is a waterfall that we didn’t have time to check out but we will be sure not to give it a miss next time we pass by.

 This road to Wuperthal is filled with amazing scenery and I would recommend it to anyone travelling through the Cederberg.