In 1971 I moved from the UK to CapeTown South Africa. I was one of the riders that followed the cattle wagons on a re - enactment of that very trail. We went from Sir Lowry's Pass over the mountain and finished at Oak Valley Farms.My friend Diney Rawbone Viloen's family own it still today. We were all in costume it was an incredible effort even in the 70's. You young men probably weren't even born then😊

@PowrAl

4 ай бұрын

Old men weren't even born then. I'm 48 and born in 76.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

That’s awesome!

In 1988 het n groep mense van Bredasdorp en Overberg met voortrekkerwaens hier oor berg gegaan na swellendam en Overberg. Hul het ook plekke opgespoor waar water was. Ons het hierdie geskiedenis ook in skool geleer en geweet van die spore van waens in die klip oor die berg. Ek was darem in 1972 in Matriek. Lank voor 1994.

History is being forgotten and not taught anymore, so sad. Thanks for the info.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

True

@jennychurchill2716

4 ай бұрын

Wow!! Thank you , may all caring South Africans absorb and ensure the hey teach their children to appreciate and be passionate about history!!

I always wondered about that building on Sir Lowry's Pass thanks for sharing

This made me so so proud of my Afrikaans blood line… ❤

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Happy to hear that 😊

@darrenmanuel509

4 ай бұрын

dont u mean dutch. afrikaners are the coloureds

@former9085

4 ай бұрын

@@darrenmanuel509 "dont u mean dutch. afrikaners are the coloureds" The Dutch weren't the only people at the Cape. May I suggest you define Afrikaner so we know what you mean?

@darrenmanuel509

4 ай бұрын

@@former9085 afrikaner refers to the creole native/slave descendents of the cape colony, afrikaans is a dutch based creole language created by the creole slave population

@former9085

4 ай бұрын

@@darrenmanuel509 "afrikaans is a dutch based creole language created by the creole slave population" Correct. The first Afrikaans book was written in Arabic script. But that doesn't define an Afrikaner. Afrikaner is a culture of the Afrikaans speakers. There are more than six well defined Afrikaner cultures.

WOW our history! I am so proud of you creating this channel! Getting to learn about our ancestry is AWESOME!

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Thanks so much 🙏

It was not only for the people to seek groener weivelde, my fore fathers had to go back of the mountain from Swellendam every time they had to sell their produce. You should tell the rest of the story. When ships arrived in the Cape used canons on the hill tops to signal the arrival to the farmers in the Overberg.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

We totally missed those!!

My Basson family would have used this route to Graaf Reinet where they stopped. An amazing experience to have shared - thank you.

@Deontjie

4 ай бұрын

Gantouw means Pad van die Elande. Farmers departed from Cape Town. They took one full day to travel to the foot of this pass. The young boys was send out to hunt for dinner on their horses. They camped at the foot of the pass. The next morning they hand carried the cargo up the pass. Two teams of oxen was fastened to one wagon to pull it over the pass. Then they overnighted at the top of the pass. There is an old signal canon nearby. The toll office and house did not had anything to do with Gantouw. It was only use for Lowrys Pass.The derelict and stripped building is Steenbras station. One steam locomotive with wagons departed from Cape Town. Then it was hooked to two additional locomotives at Lowrys Pas station. At the top, at Steenbras station, the two extra locomotives was unhooked. So the train could carry on to Protem with only one locomotive. The two extra locos was again attached when the the train returned.

Were taken there on a school trip in 1976. Have a photo of those tracks somewhere and every time I cross Sir Lowry’s (a few times a year) I think about these.

Looks like a better road than I've got in the heart of joburg 😅

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Yeh JHB is a sad story 😢

Nice one lads greetings from Ireland

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Thanks 👍

I love south African history. Nice.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Yeh, it goes back 1000's of years!

Imagine the amount of trade going back and forth over the mountain. Farm implements coming from Cape Town, produce coming back from the farms. Hats off to the teams that took the wagons over.

Yes, I personally saw those tracks when I first did that hike in 1980, starting at the top of sir Lowry pass to landroskop hut 21km away..enroute we came across those tracks .

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

That’s awesome!!

Wow!!! Thank you!! Ek is n trotse Afrikaner...🎉🎉

great video. The Gandoupass is well known to Mountain bikers riding the Wines2Whales 3 day event. We push our bikes up or down it each year. It is amazing the first time you see those wagon tracks in the stone.

We found those same tracks on the family farm in Houhoek going over the saddle to Claitzdorp., but not as clearly defined. Perhaps there were other directions they split up and went to after clearing the first big pass you've shown. Anyway, that was a very nostalgic look at the countryside I wandered about in, now I wander about in NZ!

Those days it was hell I'm sure... Hats off to u pioneers

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Hard times!

I'd love to hear Bev , geeking out on this stuff. I love it too

Nice one, keep em coming, ex-Cape Town living in Cusco, Peru 😊

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

You bet boet!

Nice one Adam. I paraglide from that pass and often visualise the wagons struggling upwards.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Nice one

Just came across your channel. Definitely subscribing and looking forward to more historical sightings!

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Welcome aboard!

Those were the pioneers of this country that built it. Planning into the future, forward thinkers, brave and courageous.

Awesome video one of my great great grandfathers was a transport rider.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Very cool!

Gaan soek dieselfde in Nuwekloof waar treinspoor en pad ook saam loop. Daar sal julle ou teerpad en nuwe teerpad kry sowel as ou tweespoorpad aan dieselfde kant as die nuwe pad.

Wonder Filled! We need to start thinking about pre-industrial tech again...

Sending chills down my spine!

Remember these tracks vividly when back in day we could start the Hottentots Holland Hike from the top of Sir Lowry's Pass. Moordenaar's Kop waiting up ahead. We always promised newbees that there was a spaza selling cold coke on the very top. By the time they eventually reached the pinnacle of the kop, they were too exhausted to even be disappointed about the shop being closed.

It's known as the "gantouw pass". Read the book written by Peggy Heap : The Story of Hottentots Holland: Social History of Somerset West, The Strand ...

Great stuff ✅

I'm aware of this track, but have never been able to walk there. I'm also fascinated with old mountain passes and roads. There's also some very old paths going over the mountains at Franshhoek.

Wow! Thanks for sharing this piece of history! Do you guys know about the gold mine shaft on Lions Head? And the manganese mine in Hout Bay? I'll be glad to show you where these place are.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

I’ve heard! You’re welcome to dm me pls 👍🏻

I love what you do 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Thanks so much 😊🙏

I live in Gordon's Bay and regularly go up there with the doggos - nice vid! Subscribed

hahaha, you guys rock! Bev geeking out so funny. lov ya meneer

Really well presented and interesting bros 😃😄

I was wondering if you knew about the history of that little house and I was glad that you knew. Those are the kind of little things we should remember. There are similar marks in the Ceres Karoo near or on the farm Bizansgat. If I remember correctly those were from the people that were on their way to Kimberley to look for diamonds. Great video!

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

5 ай бұрын

The little house is hard to get to. No place to stop safely on the N2 😂

I remember hiking up there in the late 70s and seeing this

from ox wagons to havals wow what a sign of the times

1:37 Was so relatable and funny! Enjoyed the video RSA interesting history

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Bev knows a lot!! 😊

You can find the same ox wagon marks over the Outeniqua mountains at George

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

I’m sure!! 👍🏻

The trails were often first carved out for the post wagons.

This shud be part of history lessons, excursions to these parts to see what u are learning abtm that its not just stories.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Outings at school!

good show bud!

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

5 ай бұрын

Thanks bud!

You explored the tracks. Someone else discovered them. Two very different things. 😉

@peetduplessis7796

4 ай бұрын

They took the trouble to record it and make it publicly known! Give them their due, please.

@willievanheerden3703

4 ай бұрын

The Gantouw pass is well known (google it if you have any doubts), large mtb events use it regularly as portage. Other than the slightly misleading title a pretty entertaining video though.

@Sher5238

4 ай бұрын

And what did you do?

@peetduplessis7796

4 ай бұрын

As I am not a resident of that country and that particular province, there is not much I can do. I do however try to be civil in my comments. You also should try that. Nuff said! @@Sher5238

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

True, it was a jol and so much more up there.

Great!

amazing

Subscribed 🤙

There are wagon wheel trails at World's View in Pietermaritzburg too.

New sub, this is awesome. What are you up to next.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Now that would be telling! 😂

The families didn't always accompany the transporters; most of the journeys were to transport stuff to and from the Overberg i.e. in both directions, up AND down the Gantouw pass. The pass was in use for 166 years. In the mid 1830's, the Great Trek took place, but by then Sir Lowry's Pass was in use and only then did entire families accompany the ox wagons.

Hence the other side is called 'Overberg'

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

I won’t lie, I’ve never thought about or put that together 😂 makes total sense though.

The trail is actually marked with white painted rocks on the Outinqa mountains visible from George.

Which mountain range can you give me the area please. Cape Town is big. 😂

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Hottentots Holland Mountains

Proof of how desperate people were to get away from British oppression.

@Homoprimatesapiens

4 ай бұрын

Exactly. And later on the British empire come again to murder nearly 27k women and children to get their hands on riches that dont belong to them.

@tuckingfwit

4 ай бұрын

The British were not ruling the Cape in the 1660s. The Dutch East India Company was and many early settlers wanted to escape their corrupt and autocratic rule. Hence the trekboers established the cities of Paarl (settled from 1688), Stellenbosch (founded in 1679), and Franschhoek (settled from 1688). To escape the backward and restrictive rule of VOC Dutch rule that went on for hundreds of years they later set up independent republics in the town of Graaff-Reinet (1795), and four months later, in Swellendam (17 June 1795).

@former9085

4 ай бұрын

Long before the British, my ancestors trekked to the Republic of Swellendam to get away from the Dutch East India Company repression. If you're using your real name, your ancestors were French Huguenots (Protestants) fleeing Catholic repression in France that settled around Franschoek.

Adam could you post the trail route on All Trails please? Would love to go look

It isn't that they were super tough or determined or whatever. That is just how they luved and they didn't know any different. Go visit Easter Cape (old Transkei) and you will see people living relatively contented lives and their most valuable posession is a plastic bucket.

You didn’t show the cannon at the top . This was used to alert the farmers that a ship had entered the bay and that they should bring their wares down to the harbor for sale. This was where the frequency of the wagons moving on this trail came from. A big missed opportunity to fully explain this piece of history 😢

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

I know, I didn’t know they were there.

@DaveZee01

4 ай бұрын

​@@AdamSpiresWannabeVloggerUNsubbed 😂

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

😅😅😅

These were discovered decades ago Bro!! you are just hilarious! 😂

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Not by me 😅

Was probably mostly used by the Trekboere that later became the Grensboere and later the Trekkers that went on to found the Boer Republics.

Think it was 2009/10 that the scouts obtained permission to fire one of the old signalling canons, use to indicate the arrival of a ship in Table bay, as part of a heritage day celebration from Gantouw pass at the wagon tracks.

Amazing, but how can wooden wheels, probably lined with steel plates, make such deep ruts in rocks?

Dudes - we have to walk up that thing every year in the Wines 2 Whales mountain bike race because it is a National Monument. The history is amazing but it is definitely not a new discovery !!! Getting to the top is a mission and just to think it took the wagons up to 3 days to get up there. Look out for the post office stones half way up and the oxen watering stations on the flat ground.....

come to tulbagh,there is more on the moutain of oudekloof farm, i wentup and down the mountain on the old track with a dirtbike.

Where there is will, there is a way...😮😊...😅😂.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

100%

Cycled that route on last stage of Absa Cape Epic

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

That’s awesome!!

Nice one guys next time you do this route please use a metal detector 😊

1660....Only 6years after Jan v Riebeeck arrived in Cape Town??? Really ????

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

First recorded pass in 1664

Thats why we have Oranje today

DIT is sooooooo cool (nie die haval deel nie🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣)

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

ook die Haval 😅

Sad what happened to the Khoisan

why are the videos so short need atleast 25min videos

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Yoh but it takes long hey and I’m super busy with work and family 😅

The road grandpa had to take to school

And today, we cannot find our own piece of land anywhere, no matter where you go some doofus will say: "If you want a piece of this, you must pay me" Me who??? That route is worth metal detecting, who know what dropped out of those wagons etc.etc.

Huh, why are you on the uphill (west, Cape Town) side describing it as the downhill side, which is on the east?! Also, they didn't lock brakes and slide the wheels downhill. That would cause total loss of control of the wagons. Instead, they (apparently) replaced the wheels with bushes and trees to drag the wagons downhill. It really is a fascinating landmark representing a key period in SA's history and you got some other facts right, but you've kinda broken the story. 😲

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Apparently there were poles in the ground and they were slowly let down with ropes 😮

Today they would be going the other way.

And the Khoisan followed the elephants.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Yup amazing!

Good thing there was no such thing as woke back then, only real men and women.

@nicobr00

4 ай бұрын

😂 of course they also had “woke” people. It’s all relative

Have you seenbook old capehighways by dr e.e.mossop

Didnt catch where it is exactly guys .... ???

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Sir lowrys pass 🎉

They should have ordered Land Rovers from the UK

Metal detect around the toll house

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

You have one? 😮

@vanzylbooysen4826

4 ай бұрын

@@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger nee het nie. But you can get great artifacts. I think

haval ? ha val die deur af ! ha val die die tyres af !

Gee. To carv i to rock must have been lots. Or is the rock soft?

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Both actually. Softer sandstone rock and a lot of wagon traffic!

@tinacarvalhoBodyandHealth

4 ай бұрын

@@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger either way I'm glad I'm born in our day. I love our country and all who manage to be here in xxxx

Too short , elaborate more on the history you are visiting!

Bru bru bru bru lol

With the widespread deterioration of our roads we will soon be back on the old wagon trails......

yeah nah lakka bruh

lekke

Not the history we want to remember because you keep reminding us of how y’all took everything 😢

I Love to see other South Africa's supporting Chinese communism so openly.

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

Wrong video bud! 😂

the more i live in the western cape the more i respect the voortrekkers. cruising with those oxwagens with no suspension, not only over all the fynbos and the mountains and what not and afterwards they hit the karoo and then imagine the bros that cruised through the eastern cape, "oh this seems like a decent path..." (boom, bloukrans and all the other crazy valleys.)

@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger

4 ай бұрын

When you put it like that, yeh it’s insane!!😮