Bain's Passes

Seweweekspoort

ThomasDisputed

One account credits Thomas. Most heritage sources say Adam de Smidt built the road and finished it in 1862. Thomas's involvement may have been supervisory.

R323Route
18 kmLength
760 mSummit
GravelSurface

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Before you go

Gravel, generally well kept but often damaged after heavy rain. Concrete drifts and small bridges have no guardrails, and there are blind curves. Drive slowly. Best in winter and spring.

Road conditions change with weather, floods, fires and roadworks. Check the latest conditions with the road authority or local tourism office before you leave, and carry offline maps.

About this pass

Seweweekspoort is a gravel poort that winds through the Klein Swartberg from the R62 near Zoar and Amalienstein, joining the Little Karoo to the Great Karoo and the winter-rainfall region to the summer-rainfall one. The road crosses the river many times (one account counts 23), mostly on concrete drifts, small bridges and pipe crossings with no guardrails. Sandstone cliffs, folded and heaved up by forces inside the earth, grow higher as you drive north. Rock overhangs give shade at picnic spots, and a ruined toll-keeper's cottage and old cable-less telephone poles stand beside the road. Waterfalls often thin to mist in dry weather. Dassies live on the cliffs and eagles circle above. Leopards are present but rarely seen, and kiepersol (cabbage trees) grow along the route. The road is gentle enough that you hardly notice a rise of about 480 m. Seweweekspoort Peak above it, at about 2,325 m, is the highest in the Swartberg (another source gives 2,236 m).

The name is uncertain. The usual explanation is the seweweeksvaring (seven-weeks fern), which grows in damp rock crevices. Other stories say a missionary named Zerwick from the Zoar mission, travellers who took seven weeks to get through, or officials who took seven weeks to catch a cattle thief. SAHO says research found no Dr Zerwick at Amalienstein. The route was in use long before the road. A wagon road was built in 1860 by Adam de Smidt, Thomas Bain's brother-in-law, and only minor improvements have been made since. The geologist Andrew Atherstone visited in 1862 and called it the most wonderful gorge he had ever seen, and C. Louis Leipoldt counted it among the Seven Wonders of the old Cape Province. When the Gamkapoort Dam (1960) cut the old road to Prince Albert, the poort became the main route north. About 13 km in, Aristata lodge sits beside a spring. The pass lies within the Swartberg Nature Reserve under CapeNature. SAHO lists it among Cape passes on which convict labour may have been used, but gives only its location. Ross's chronology: Woodifield surveyed in 1859 and construction began with 108 convicts under Head Overseer George Apsey (said to have built the first Van Stadens Pass in 1865/66); A.G. de Smidt took over in 1860 after finishing Meiringspoort. About 10.5 miles (17 km) long, it was opened to traffic in June 1862 and finally completed in November 1862, cutting a four-to-six-day journey to three hours. In 1855 Sophy Gray took four hours to ride through, found it "very fine" and made sketches.

History

Built by
One account credits Thomas. Most heritage sources say Adam de Smidt built the road and finished it in 1862. Thomas's involvement may have been supervisory.
Built
1859–1862; completed November 1862.
Location
R323, Laingsburg to Ladismith, Western Cape
Notes
Attribution conflict. A lookout plaque states Thomas did not build it. Left on the map as disputed. Length is given as 17.7 km (SAHO, rounded to 18), about 20 km (Queen of Calitzdorp) and about 21 km (Daily Maverick), depending on where it is measured from. The 1860 date and Adam de Smidt as builder come from Queen of Calitzdorp, against 1859 to 1862 on the card. A road through the poort was planned from 1850.

Find it

Pin
-33.41360, 21.40690
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Sources

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