For a Durbanite like me, the “Cape trip” is probably part of your travel history – something you feel called to do every few years or so. Mostly, you drive the roughly 1,800km each way, because – magical as Cape Town is – it’s as much about the journey as it is about the destination.

Not that driving is cheaper than flying. South African fuel prices are at an historic high, plus there are toll fees to be paid. And to make the most of the journey, we limited our daily mileage to around 400 or fewer kilometres.

Since my first trip to Cape Town with my parents at the age of 14, I’ve done it more times than I can remember – with best friends and with boyfriends, and of course fairly frequently with Roy during our 26 years together. In fact, it was during our first trip that I fell in love with him, under the oak trees at Clos Cabrière wine estate in Franschhoek, as he masterfully wielded a sabre to whack the cork end off a bottle of Pierre Jourdan Méthode Champenoise* bubbly.

(* This we must now call Cap Classique to avoid annoying our French friends.)

Day One – Durban to Bethlehem (389km)

Roy prefers to ease gently into his day, so it was only the threatened 7am arrival of the painters we’d contracted to paint our Umhlanga Rocks flat while we were away that got him up and ready to leave before 8am. (The painters were late, of course.)

Once you’re well past Pietermaritzburg, the N2 traffic calms down, the driving becomes less crazed and you start to enjoy the landscape.

Exactly halfway between Durban and Bethlehem, just outside the town of Estcourt is Midway service station and restaurant. The local Eskort bacon and sausages are famous, so to refuse the Farmer’s Breakfast (R50; about five Singapore or Aussie dollars) would have been rude.

It was extraordinarily good value, too: I continued to taste those bangers – or snags, for any Antipodeans out there – over the next seven hours.

Bethlehem (O little town of…)

The north-eastern Free State town of Bethlehem has an impressive number of churches – around 60 of them for just 16,000 souls. What came first, Roy wondered: the biblical name of the place, or its churches? (Do note, however, that no. 60 is the Bethlehem Muslim Association.)

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Despite our arriving a couple of hours early, manager Christha welcomed us warmly to Krith Guesthouse. We had No. 4 of six rooms, the spacious family suite; its daybed allows for a third occupant. Well-appointed with on-site parking, a big, comfortable bed, an immaculate ensuite bathroom and a useful kitchenette, this is a place I’d recommend to anyone who has to overnight in Bloemfontein.

In hindsight, however, we should instead have chosen to stay at Clarens, just 40km away and a lot more fun. (Its relative paucity of churches – only four! – may have something to do with that.)

Clarens

Never mind, we took a 40km (each way) afternoon drive from Bethlehem to  view the artsy little shops, boutiques and galleries of Clarens, and to soak up its laid-back ambience over cider and ale at Clarens Brewery.

As it surrounds a large central common, the village itself is in encircled by both the Maluti mountains and the Rooiberge; 17km away is the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, home to some fabulously scenic sandstone outcrops.

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Wary of driving back from a Clarens restaurant in the dark, and loth to settle for a mall Spur or Ocean Basket, we booked for dinner at Lavender Hill’s Jenka restaurant, just 4km out of town back on the N5 towards Harrismith. Wonderful décor – lustrous woods, silky fabrics, vibrant oils – and friendly service; but mediocre food.

More interesting were our neighbours, a local Bethlehem couple (pictured with Roy below). His dream is to retire to Luderitz, where the fishing is phenomenal. Meanwhile, he spent most of dinnertime on his phone, organising next year’s fishing trip with his buddies to  Namibia.

Day Two – Bethlehem to Bloemfontein, 245km

I feel that I’ve never properly appreciated this landscape before – tremendous sweeps of grassland and harvest-stubbled fields, relieved by the odd flat-topped hill. Perhaps I’d just forgotten it.

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Arriving in Bloem around noon, we headed for Loch Logan Mall, the self-styled “biggest shopping centre in central South Africa”. The main task was to get dental glue for Roy’s temporary crown, which had fallen out. (Again.)

Tredenham Boutique Hotel on the outskirts of Bloem is part of Tredenham Valley, a heavily gated residential development. As we turned through the gates, a small herd of springbok was tripping its delicate way across the driveway.

We found a beautifully appointed little hotel. Our room (No. 104) was spacious and immaculate, on the ground level and with doors that opened to the garden. From there, I spotted a family of meerkats gambolling on the lawn, a magical sight. Unfortunately, I never saw them again.

Tredenham restaurant deserves the good reviews it gets. Roy started with butternut soup (R50) served in a ridiculously tiny bowl; the kitchen came up with a refill. I had the Asian-style salmon ceviche (R90). He went on to the slow-cooked pork belly with lots of veggies (R160); I had the whole trout (R170), served off the bone with a pile of delicious zucchini strips and baby potatoes. With that, a bottle of Zandfliet Shiraz (R170), a standard that was just as nice as I remember it being.

Generally super service, including from Johannes at dinner, and from front desk manager Esmeralda who was there when we retired to bed and still there when we came down for breakfast under the pergola. (Tip to management: invest in a couple of teapots. No tea-drinker is happy to be served a cup of rapidly cooling water with a tea bag on the side.)

Day Three – Bloem to Graaff-Reinet, 430km

Somewhat monotonous scenery for the first couple of hours’ drive on the N1 motorway from Bloem to Colesberg, the main route to the Cape. (By the way, if you’re ever thinking of overnighting in Colesberg, don’t.)

We found the essential two-hourly pit-stop (piss-stop?) at a Caltex Fresh Stop 10km before Colesberg town. And, despite Roy’s fears concerning the coffee – he’s a bit of an UltraCity man at heart – the Seattle Coffee Company brew here proved perfect.

Crossing the wide Orange River into  Northern Cape province, you find very different terrain from that of the Free State: semi-desert and hillier, it includes the Lootsberg Pass. After that, it’s a relief to turn off the N1 on to the N9 to Graaff-Reinet, which has only a small fraction of the number of massive lorries that ply between Joburg and Cape Town.

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Drostdy Hotel and Graaff-Reinet

After checking into our huge Executive Room (R1,950, with a lucky upgrade from booking.com) at the lovely Drostdy Hotel in central Graaff-Reinet, I had to bribe Roy with Five Roses tea and seed biscuits* to come with me for a walk around town.

(*We’re still trying to avoid refined carbs and sugar, one of us perhaps less enthusiastically than the other.)

Apart from being South Africa’s fourth-oldest town, after Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Swellendam, Graaff-Reinet is said to have the highest number of national monuments. Here’s just a small sample of the architecture:

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Also, on the recommendation of our friend Jeff Simpson, we needed to pop into the charming Polka Café, located  just 500m from the hotel.

Dinner at the Drostdy’s magnificent Camdeboo restaurant was outstanding. Pickled fish is a Cape speciality that we haven’t had for ages, so we shared the generous starter portion (R100). My rolled pork belly (R185) was delectable; better than Roy’s slightly dry duck confit (R185)– it can be hard to get that right. As for the Rupert & Rothschild Cap Classique (R200),  that was perfect.

Breakfast next morning on the restaurant’s alfresco terrace was a delight: creamy oats porridge topped with caramelised banana for Roy, bobotie* mince topped with a fried egg for me.

*Bobotie is a traditional Cape Malay/Afrikaans dish made from spicy, fruity minced meat – usually beef, lamb or a mixture – baked with a rich, savoury custard topping

Part Two of our Cape trip will be about the fascinating Karoo town of Prince Albert – watch out for that!