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😊
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.
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.
@@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?
@@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
@@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.
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.
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 .
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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 ...
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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 😢
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.
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.....
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).
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.
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. 😲
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😊
Old men weren't even born then. I'm 48 and born in 76.
That’s awesome!
History is being forgotten and not taught anymore, so sad. Thanks for the info.
True
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
WOW our history! I am so proud of you creating this channel! Getting to learn about our ancestry is AWESOME!
Thanks so much 🙏
My Basson family would have used this route to Graaf Reinet where they stopped. An amazing experience to have shared - thank you.
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.
I love south African history. Nice.
Yeh, it goes back 1000's of years!
Nice one lads greetings from Ireland
Thanks 👍
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.
This made me so so proud of my Afrikaans blood line… ❤
Happy to hear that 😊
dont u mean dutch. afrikaners are the coloureds
@@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?
@@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
@@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.
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 😅
Yeh JHB is a sad story 😢
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 .
That’s awesome!!
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.
Nice one Adam. I paraglide from that pass and often visualise the wagons struggling upwards.
Nice one
Just came across your channel. Definitely subscribing and looking forward to more historical sightings!
Welcome aboard!
Nice one, keep em coming, ex-Cape Town living in Cusco, Peru 😊
You bet boet!
Those days it was hell I'm sure... Hats off to u pioneers
Hard times!
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!
I'd love to hear Bev , geeking out on this stuff. I love it too
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.
We totally missed those!!
Wow!!! Thank you!! Ek is n trotse Afrikaner...🎉🎉
1:37 Was so relatable and funny! Enjoyed the video RSA interesting history
Bev knows a lot!! 😊
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.
Really well presented and interesting bros 😃😄
Awesome video one of my great great grandfathers was a transport rider.
Very cool!
hahaha, you guys rock! Bev geeking out so funny. lov ya meneer
Wonder Filled! We need to start thinking about pre-industrial tech again...
I live in Gordon's Bay and regularly go up there with the doggos - nice vid! Subscribed
Great stuff ✅
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.
I’ve heard! You’re welcome to dm me pls 👍🏻
I love what you do 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
Thanks so much 😊🙏
Sending chills down my spine!
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.)
When you put it like that, yeh it’s insane!!😮
This shud be part of history lessons, excursions to these parts to see what u are learning abtm that its not just stories.
Outings at school!
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 ...
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.
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!
The little house is hard to get to. No place to stop safely on the N2 😂
Those were the pioneers of this country that built it. Planning into the future, forward thinkers, brave and courageous.
I remember hiking up there in the late 70s and seeing this
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.
You explored the tracks. Someone else discovered them. Two very different things. 😉
They took the trouble to record it and make it publicly known! Give them their due, please.
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.
And what did you do?
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
True, it was a jol and so much more up there.
good show bud!
Thanks bud!
from ox wagons to havals wow what a sign of the times
There are wagon wheel trails at World's View in Pietermaritzburg too.
Adam could you post the trail route on All Trails please? Would love to go look
Subscribed 🤙
You can find the same ox wagon marks over the Outeniqua mountains at George
I’m sure!! 👍🏻
New sub, this is awesome.
What are you up to next.
Now that would be telling! 😂
These were discovered decades ago Bro!! you are just hilarious! 😂
Not by me 😅
Great!
The trails were often first carved out for the post wagons.
Amazing, but how can wooden wheels, probably lined with steel plates, make such deep ruts in rocks?
amazing
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. 😂
Hottentots Holland Mountains
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.
Nice one guys next time you do this route please use a metal detector 😊
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.
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.
Was probably mostly used by the Trekboere that later became the Grensboere and later the Trekkers that went on to found the Boer Republics.
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 😢
I know, I didn’t know they were there.
@@AdamSpiresWannabeVloggerUNsubbed 😂
😅😅😅
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.
Where there is will, there is a way...😮😊...😅😂.
100%
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.....
1660....Only 6years after Jan v Riebeeck arrived in Cape Town???
Really ????
First recorded pass in 1664
Hence the other side is called 'Overberg'
I won’t lie, I’ve never thought about or put that together 😂 makes total sense though.
Sad what happened to the Khoisan
Proof of how desperate people were to get away from British oppression.
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.
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).
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.
Cycled that route on last stage of Absa Cape Epic
That’s awesome!!
Have you seenbook old capehighways by dr e.e.mossop
Didnt catch where it is exactly guys .... ???
Sir lowrys pass 🎉
DIT is sooooooo cool (nie die haval deel nie🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣)
ook die Haval 😅
Thats why we have Oranje today
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. 😲
Apparently there were poles in the ground and they were slowly let down with ropes 😮
Good thing there was no such thing as woke back then, only real men and women.
😂 of course they also had “woke” people. It’s all relative
The road grandpa had to take to school
Gee. To carv i to rock must have been lots. Or is the rock soft?
Both actually. Softer sandstone rock and a lot of wagon traffic!
@@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
why are the videos so short need atleast 25min videos
Yoh but it takes long hey and I’m super busy with work and family 😅
Too short , elaborate more on the history you are visiting!
They should have ordered Land Rovers from the UK
Today they would be going the other way.
And the Khoisan followed the elephants.
Yup amazing!
With the widespread deterioration of our roads we will soon be back on the old wagon trails......
Metal detect around the toll house
You have one? 😮
@@AdamSpiresWannabeVlogger nee het nie. But you can get great artifacts. I think
haval ? ha val die deur af ! ha val die die tyres af !
Not the history we want to remember because you keep reminding us of how y’all took everything 😢
Bru bru bru bru lol
yeah nah lakka bruh
lekke
I Love to see other South Africa's supporting Chinese communism so openly.
Wrong video bud! 😂