It was the year 1915 - early May. The folks on the farm Welvanpas
(down in the valley between Bainskloof and Groenberg), belonging to
Mr Retief, were going through their normal morning rituals. The
first one up had to go down to the stream to fetch fresh water to
drink and to wash. But something was wrong that morning. The water
tasted funny! It took them a while to figure out what the taste
was. And then it suddenly was not a thankless chore anymore but a
huge rush to go fetch as much water as you can.
Bainskloof was still a dirt road then (it was only tarred in
1934). Earlier that morning a traveller from Worcester, when coming
down the mountain on the Wellington side, noticed how the fresh
tracks of a wagon ahead of him were wandering all over the road.
With each turn it got dangerously closer and closer to the edge.
But the spoor somehow managed to safely make it round each bend,
particularly the more dangerous ones higher up. The road was busy
levelling off with just one or two sharp bends still ahead. As he
came round one of the final long hairpin bends, the tracks suddenly
disappeared over the edge! The inspanned team of oxen were standing
safely in the road. The only sign that they were pulling a wagon
was the stub of a broken disselboom, still tying them together.
Rushing to the edge, he saw the wagon with its load of raisins and
brandy (most barrels now broken) spread all over the kloof. Luckily
the driver was unhurt. Actually, despite his dismal situation, he
was in quite a happy mood - mostly just worried about the loss of
good brandy which he had been sampling along the way from
Worcester.
It should be clear by now where this bend got its name,
Brandewyndraai (Brandy Bend), from. But not so
obvious is its other, earlier name of Morrie-se-draai
(Morrie’s Bend). The locals’ name for the famous
Rev Andrew Murray was “Mr Morrie”. When he started his
ministry in Wellington in 1871, he was apparently met by the
congregation at this spot.
As the result of a number of researchers digging up many of
these forgotten stories in the archives, Mr M. Austin, road
engineer of the then Paarl Divisional Council, in 1988 started
erecting road signs with the names of Bainskloof’s historic
sites. The signs were unfortunately badly vandalised, with
Brandewyndraai topping the popularity list. After all, who
can not wish for a better sign to hang over your bar than this
one!! If anyone has a picture of an original Brandewyndraai
sign, please send it along.
A brochure is available at the Wellington Museum (S33 38.267 E19
00.734) which is a nice self-guided tour of Bainskloof’s rich
history. At the Museum you simply zero your trip meter (on your car
or GPS) to easily find the locations mentioned at the odometer
distances given. A basic one can be printed here.
The cache itself has a bit of a history too. It was discovered
in Duiwelsgat when we placed the Geocache presently there, where it
was hidden a year-and-a-half earlier by Craig & Kelley Boshard
but never properly registered. I managed to track down Craig and
got his consent to place it somewhere else. During its first
winter, the road washed away and Bainskloof was closed for quite a
while. In the meantime the path got completely overgrown such that
the cache had be relocated (with a new cache) since the valley is
unfortunately not accessible any more.
Please hide it well afterwards. Remember, this is baboon
country!
