This is historic wine and apple country in South Africa and I am proud to share this wonderful part of the country with all of you today.
Now before we go to the bridge I want to show you in the next 2 pictures about some of our beauties here.
The picture above is one of the old wine farms backed by the "Jonkershoek" mountains near the town of Stellenbosch that was founded in 1679!
Join me in this travel story!
Here we have a typical African dream as seen on one of the sculpture farms in the area.
Now we move to another town and we have a picture of the bridge built in 1938 that I mentioned in the post title!
I had to source another photo of the bridge to show you that this is a verifiable post!
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_West
I am one of those investigative souls and climbed down the other side of the bridge to have a look at the river!
The commissioning of this double wagon bridge, meaning that two wagons could pass in opposite directions, was done by a guy that was at the battle of Waterloo!
Ah! Look What I have found here under the bridge?
A blue Darter Dropwing Dragonfly.
Oops! I stumbled upon their bedroom!
But they seemed happy to pose for me!
The male at the front holds the female's head with his tail, while she reaches underneath the males torso to access his sperm sac.
Pity the spider was out shopping, but this web made a nice picture!
Here is the blue guy just to show you how beautiful he is!
The one at the top is a blue Damsel Fly and at the bottom is an empty shell of a dragonfly nymph. One of the dragonflies here was in that shape before they emerged in their full beauty.
I just loved to hear the water's whispering burbles over the stones.
An Acraea Papillon also came to say hello!
So, the next time you end up under a bridge, have a look at the local residents Lol.
The sunset softly coloring the Hottentots mountains behind our place.
Finally, this carved stone initials "W.S.C." captured my imagination and I decided to do a bit of research.
This is what I found;
"Old Lourens River Bridge in Kalamunda, Somerset West, Western Cape
Second oldest surviving bridge in South Africa
Due to the “appalling condition of the roads in the colony” a Central Road Board was formulated in 1843".
"The Colonial Secretary, the Hon. John Montagu, who had fought as a subaltern at the battle of Waterloo, was the force behind this body. One of the Central Road Board’s first tasks was the construction of a hard road across the Cape Downs and the Lourens River was bridged in 1845".
"National Monument"
"The work was undertaken by Lt Col Charles Mitchell, Surveyor-General and Civil Engineer of the Cape Colony, who had built Sir Lowry’s Pass in 1830. In 1938, the same year in which the new bridge had just been completed, the double-span Lourens River bridge was proclaimed a national monument".
"There is a plaque on a rock from the Lourens River, engraved with a short memorial to those connected with the building of this distinctive historical bridge, that is hidden, almost unnoticeable in the garden of the Old Bridge Pub Beer Garden".
The historical plaque reads:
"The Lourens River is named after Corporal Lourens Visser who arrived from Holland at the Cape in 1666.Colonial Secretary Sir John Montagu started the road building programme in the Cape and was responsible for the construction of the road from Cape Town over the Hottentots-Holland Kloof".
"The bridge over the Lourens River was completed in 1845 under the supervision of Architect WS Chauncey. Making it the second oldest surviving bridge in the country".
Imagine that, visiting a National Monument!
"In 1952 an old-fashioned post cart drawn by six horses was driven across a strip of wet concrete on its way to the tercentenary celebration at Cape Town. Imprints of the Horses hooves and carriage wheels in the concrete remain as a record".
"Horse hoof and wagon tracks can still be seen embedded in the uppermost layer of the Old Bridge".
Source:
https://pathfinda.com/en/somerset-west/kalamunda/attractions/old-lourens-river-bridge
NOTE: Only the 3rd picture and the sections quotated ("") are not my own and are duly source cited!
All other photos and words are my own
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