On an overcast Sunday, we took our daughter, visiting from Switzerland, on our favourite route through the Overberg. The Franschhoek Pass was lost in clouds and the vegetation damp and glistening, What we had not expected was to find the wheat fields under a dramatic sky with occasional soft rain, most unusual for this time of the year but the impressive cloud formations and filtered light enveloped this landscape of many hills in a moody atmosphere.
Van Gogh regularly painted the wheat fields of Provence, with thick bold brushstrokes which reflects the motion of the wind blowing through them. For him, wheat was a symbol of the eternal cycle of nature and the transience of life and probably the reason we so enjoy visiting the Overberg in different seasons driving through luminous greens and yellows or an assortment of reds and browns, peppered with bales of hay.
It was another beautiful day. In the early light, the strong wind blew the clouds over the fields accentuating the topography and where I could isolate lines and shapes in the landscape with my 400mm lens to create cameos of abstracts designs in the sun-drenched wheat fields.
For over 150 years, the notorious “Cape of Storms” has been dominated by the famous Cape Agulhas Light House which guides the ships around its treacherous continental shelve. It must be one of the most photographed light houses in the world and we also succumbed to its appeal, Guy having found a good spot from the pebble beach nearby.
The southernmost tip of the African continent is the official meeting point of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and the point of convergence of the Mozambique and Benguela currents. Along the gradually curving coastline you will discover few sandy beaches and many fascinating rocky beaches where the tide rolls the stones onto themselves creating the most riveting sounds.
Dominated by fog and mist, the weather was not friendly during our visit but the longer we explored the area the more we discovered its particular charm and made the most of the few clearer opportunities we got for a sunset or superb last sunrise.
