Taylored Trips – Rusk RunAfter returning from a two-week trip to the Eastern Cape, KZN and the Drakensberg we had depleted our rusk supplies down to zero. We decided to take a trip out to Moorreesburg to replenish our stock.Yes, rusks are available from

any store and farmstall and we even went right past Swartland Rusks, the gourmet rusk makers in Riebeek West to get to Moorreesburg. This time though we wanted the traditional homemade rusks only available from Mrs Kotze in Moorreesburg. When I first went there many years

ago, she told me what she bakes with a distinct Swagrrtland bgrrei (a typical accent of the area). She and her team of girls make boegrr beskuit, kagrringmelk beskuit, semil met pit beskuit, mos bgrrood and suugrrdeeg bgrrood. I didn’t know what boer beskuit was and she said if I didn’t know suurdeeg then I

wouldn’t like it because it has a distinct taste and smell. Well I said I was willing to try it and we have been buying it and her other rusks ever since. It’s a long way from Wellington to Moorreesburg, the only word other than bookkeeper to have three consecutive double letters, so we don’t go

out there too often but it is always an enjoyable trip, especially this time of year with the wheat and canola fields at their pristine best.

Wheat fields

Crop sprayer spraying canola fields

We took a gravel road detour just after Hermon and ended up at Deli-Co, the Truter family farm butcher who now also have Pot Belly in Klapmuts. As we had just stocked up on meat at

a very good price from Spar, we were not in the market for meat but we took a few photos.

Deli-Co stock

The gravel

detour took us back to the picturesque town of Riebeek Kasteel and the neighbouring Riebeek West, home of Swartland Rusks. We passed through the towns and beyond Riebeek West we turned left onto another gravel road detour and made our way anti-clockwise around the stand-alone mountain of Riebeek

Kasteel and ended up at the brand-new farmstall called Nuweplaas – shop l eat l play, at the intersection with the Riebeek Rivier gravel road and the R46.

shop eat play

We had their burgers, which were very nice and somewhat different to the norm, with coffee and fruit juice

(not licenced yet). Verine was in two minds whether to have the burger or their Koek-in-kas (a selection of cakes and tarts in a glass cupboard) and she vowed that we will be back. We then made our way back over Bothmaskloof Pass to Riebeek Kasteel where we stopped at the very inviting Mama Cucina’s for

some refreshments. Note the very seductive Sophia Loren on the menu. They even have a pizza named after her.

Mama Cucina

We eventually got to Moorreesburg where we

purchased our rusks and a suurdeeg bread and after driving around the town a bit we headed back on the N7. We always pop in at the local abattoir outlet in town for some reasonably priced meat but as we were already all stocked up, we gave that a miss this time.On the N7 just before Malmesbury is

another farmstall which used to be called Annex Kloof. I see it is now D’plaasopstal and we stopped off here for a coffee and ended up with a bottle of Swartland Jerepigo, a bottle of salad dressing and some animal interaction.

D'plaasopstal

In the parking area is a very busy tree which was buzzing with hundreds of weaver birds, all chittering and

flapping and trying to seduce the female species into their nest.

From the N7 before Malmesbury there is a good

view of the distant stand-alone Riebeek Kasteel Mountain which we circumnavigated earlier in the story.

Riebeek Kasteel Mountain

In Malmesbury we marvelled at the intricate detail of this beautiful church.

Beautiful church

The R45 back to Wellington was looking especially nice in the afternoon sun and some more photos were necessary.

R45

At the Boesmanfontein turn-off is a very classic little koppie with a lot of farm implements which just begs for a photo to be taken.

A farm koppie

So, when we need rusks and meat and wine, we consider ourselves very fortunate that we don’t have to go down to the local supermarket, because we have a host of other

options to choose from and it makes for a very pleasant outing.Until next time, “Keep on Tripping!”