The Old Wa Pad Traditional Cache
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3 bits of this area's history can be seen at this site including the Old Wa Pad (Old Ox-wagon road) as can be seem climbing up the mountain to the North, the Uniondale Poort road which runs from Avontuur to Uniondale, and the "Skanse" which were used as shelters during the Boer war.
In 1860 Thomas Bain, son of the famous road engineer Andrew Geddes Bain, received the 'opdrag' from the then Cape Goverment to build a road from the coast at Knysna to the Longkloof and on to the Karoo. From 1863 to 1868 he built this road through dense forest and over rugged mountains. The last part is over the famous Prince Alfred's Pass and over Zondagh-se-berg.
While he was constructing the Prince Alfred's Pass he also built the last section between Avontuur and Uniondale over the Witberg. The Old Wa Pad was used from 1867 to 1928 and again for several years when the newly built Uniondale Poort road was washed away in 1931.
From Avontuur the road runs parallel along the Western bank of the Kammanassie River for about 4 km. It then turns west into a kloof at the farm Gold Diggings. (This is also where the Boers (Under Commandant Scheepers) and the British troops (10th Hussars) engaged in a battle on the 18th August 1901. Today you can still see some of the "Skanse" that were built. (This battle at the foot of Bains Pass is also described by AJH van Greunen in his book 'Kommando's deur die Klein Karoo.')
The name Bains Pass was seen on a large scale map of 1882 in the S.A. Library in Cape Town.
Extensive research among local farmers that have been living in the area shows that they have no knowledge of the name 'Bains Pass'. Yet it could not be otherwise. One should take note of the way that the dry stones have been packed and that remain intact after so many years. Graham Ross describes the pass in his book "Romance of the Cape Mountain Passes." He gives a good description of the pass but mentions no specific name.
Bains Pass was re-named to The Old Wa Pad in 1999 and is the pass which challenges around 3,000 mountain bikers during the Karoo to Coast cycle challenge in September each year. The mountain bike race starts in Uniondale, heads over The Old Wa Pad, over the Prince Alfred's Pass, along Kom-se-Pad and on to Knysna.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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