Needing first hand information to plot our road map this year we went on a 2 day road trip checking out caravan parks.

Left Tulbagh for Ceres early morning and got onto the R303 at Ceres and headed for Citrusdal, passed through Prince Alfred Hamlet and headed up Gydo pass.

Continued on over the Cederburg mountain range then went off road over the middleburg pass.

Returned back to tar road a little before Citrusdal, passed through the town and went to Kardosie caravan park about 10kms which i think is east of Citrusdal on top of a hill.

A small very neat private campsite with a pool that appears to be on a working farm with reasonable off season rates, we will stay here for a while this year, the pics are of the padstal below the campsite.

Next stop was Clanwilliam , a quaint little town however not much to see or do here . Continued on to Lamberts bay where we stopped in at Vanputtensvlei caravan park about 5 kms before Lamberts bay. again a small privately owned park set on the banks of what appears to be a stream, however the few sandy sites they have allocated for monthly stays are the size of postage stamps and our set up would never fit.

Pity, cause we would liked to have stayed here, the bigger grassed sites are for short camping only, there was one long termer there in a small tent that just fitted on the postage stamp.

Went of into lamberts bay to check out the municipal park, and its pretty good, spoke to people camping there and feed back was good, ablutions checked out, old but ok, park fenced of with basic security. We will stay here later this year, very good off season rates.

Just out the other side of Lamberts bay we stopped in at a campsite called Malkoppen, and i guess one's head would need to be in that mode to stay there, not that its bad its just very bland, its along side the main road , there was no one there, not a tree in sight apart from a hedge on one side, we could not see ourselves staying here.

Well the day was catching up with us and we headed for vensterklip caravan park about 10kms outside of Eland bay where we had planned to spend the night in our bakkie. arrived there and checked in on one of there private sites, again a nice little private park, they have really done a nice job considering what they had to work with, the only draw back is its in the middle of nowhere and for that reason only we would not stay here.

We drove in to Elands bay that afternoon to find not much, the municipal park has become home to mostly permanents which unfortunately is starting to look like a squatter camp, hard times call for desperate measures i guess, im not judging anyone, it is what it is.

We could only find a trading store come takeaway and a place they called a hotel in the town, we opted for the hotel for an early supper, the pics are from the out garden where we shared our fish and chips with the resident cat. The food was.........ok. before returning to Vensterklip for a good night sleep.

 

Up early the next morning to ... you guessed it .... load shedding, no big deal though, out with the gas to boil the kettle and after coffee and rusks we were on our way to Dwarskersbos. A large but nice municipal park , good security and lots of trees, although judging by the vans under the tree sites i think we will give the trees a miss. Reasonable off season rates, we will stay here later this year.
Drove through Veldrift and then through Vanrynsdorp on to Saldana where we met up with friends we had met sometime back on our travels who had invited us to stop in when in the area and we did.
Left there for Langebaan to check out Oosterwal and leentjiesklip, both are very nice parks but we have opted to spend some time at Leentjiesklip at one of there private stands later on this year.
Then turned inland for Tulbagh via Moreesburg for a little more off roading before Gouda then home. The trip meter read 655kms over 2 days. 

It seems the very pleasant resftaurant at Elandsbaai is no more. It was to the left of the square when you stood at the front entranve of the hotel facing away from the hotel. It was called Wit something or other and the seafood was very good, as was the admmophere. It is a pity. Malkoppan may seem bland but the ablutions were good when we stayed there and found it quite pleasnt. Lamberts Bay park was a no go at the time. I am glad it has been revived and will be there in a few weeks.

Nice road trip George. Kardoesie is a nice park we stayed there for a week last Sept on our way up to Pta. Very nice views from the park over the valley.

There is also a nice caravan park in Citrusdal  Citrus Creek  where we stayed at in Sep 2020. 

The views however at Kardoesie would be the better attraction for me, the little Padstal is well stocked although we never ate there. We and others (fellow campers and staff) however did pick up a tummy bug  we think from the water so rather drink bottled water while there. 

The valley views are from Kardoesie with the Padstal below and the other two from Citrus Creek

 

Hi brain, i didnot know about Citrus Creek, some how it just never came up on the radar, looks good on the pics. Do they have a pool there ?

George, off the subject. How is your new bakkie behaving itself?

Morning Hennie, having driven the Colt 2.8 TDI for 12 years i didnot think there was much else that was going to impress me after that, however the Triton 3.2 DID has grown on me , it does make towing the exclusive a lot easier. when i first got it i soon relized that i needed to stop comparing to the colt because its just not a colt. after almost 7 thousand kms done since i got it , it most certainly has grown on me.

The park at Citrusdal is quite nice with good ablutions and a pool. It is in town and the town itself is a bit bleak. When we were there a few years ago, the temperature was a sizzling 42 degrees. The valley which also houses Clanwilliam, probably is one of the hottest places in our countey. A few kilos south af Citrusfal is a camp called The Baths, reputed to be the oldest developed natural hot water resort in South Africa. It is superb with a few caravan stands squashed in wherever it was possible under shady teees. I think it is a bit expensive but worh every penny.

Thanks George

The baths, another one i did not know about. will check it out from Kardosie when we get there.

Good to know. I can remember that you were not impressed in the beginning. Especially with the sagging of the tail.

 

Yes they do unfortunately I don't have a photo of it.

We attempted to go in to have a look - security would not let us in as we did not have a booking. I was told the stands are a bit small with the biggest ones closer to the entrance which is quite a walk to get to the pools etc.

Hope you get in if so let us know

Very true,  i sorted that issue out by fitting a set of Air Helpers at the rear, when loaded and caravan in tow i pump the rear back up to level again and all returns normal, when the caravan is unhitched and bakkie unpacked i just let the air out and again all returns to normal, 

I could of gone with stronger rear springs but was concerned about the stiff ride when unladen, hence the Air Helpers. Im certainly liking it more and more............its growing on me. 

Missing the colt less now.......

 

We managed to get security to call someone and were given 10 minutes to have a look.

Exclusive with tents would only fit into 1 or 2 lower stands, as said above. Based on cost for a week with granddaughters during school holiday, it was quickly removed from possible option list.

There was also the park on Kardoesie ridge, (castle or crown something) I think Brian had a look.

And so you took a shortcut to bypass my village!! It will be on the shortest route when you return towing from Tulbagh to Moorreesburg. We head north on Sunday for a couple of months.

Nice drive, George, well described. Next time, stay over at Van Rhynsdorp municipal park, perhaps during a visit to see the Namakwaland flowers. We have been staying at the Elands Bay HOTEL site (only five sites) for the past five years. (Sorry, we book all five sites every year) The sites overlook the municipal park, which is almost empty, every year. The luxury of having the hotel sites is that we have the ablutions (fair condition, basic) all to ourselves, AND we can order fish and other food from the hotel. The hotel staff is eager to earn a little extra by taking care of our laundry.

Fred, that restaurant is non-existing. Previous years we could go there for a special fish dish, but at the moment is seems to be out of service, so sorry.  One of the photos shows a meal at this restaurant, years ago.

 

A pool is a make or break [ deal breaker ] this time of the year this side of the country, it gets really hot around here. we chose this private farm here at Tulbagh for 2 reasons, 1] to escape the seasonal bustle and 2] to do maintaince on the caravan [ axles ] but there is no pool here and being off the grid , whilst our solar system is adequate for our daily consumption it does not power the aircon. 

Anyway, objectives achieved its time to move on , Kardosie next.

Hi Richard, wheres your village ?