A rest day - The ninth step ... Somewhere in South Africa - CycleBlaze

December 11, 2020

A rest day

Carnarvon

The first part of today was taken up completing some work.

Then on the advice of Leonie Yendall we visited the local museum.  Leonie is a seasoned cycle tourist and traveled through this area some years back on a trip from Upington to Bathurst, where she and her husband Flash farm Nguni cattle just a few kilometers away from my sister who also lives north of Bathurst.  Flash, and his brother Speedy, and I were at school together in the seventies although he was three years ahead of me.

It took a while to find the museum which is quite amazing given that Carnarvon is such a small town.  Google had its address wrong and had physically placed it in the veld north of the town.  Our impressions of the town didn't improve much during our search for the museum.  The museum itself, however, turned out to be a bit of a gem with lots of interesting bits of information as well as an example of one of the Upper Karoo's well known corbelled houses that had been dismantled and moved from a farm to its present site at the museum in the eighties. 

A 1929 Chevrolet kitted out as a hearse.
Heart 1 Comment 0 Link
My favourite - a 1979 Radio Shack TRS-80. The full kit including a disk system and dot-matrix printer.
Heart 0 Comment 0 Link
Heart 0 Comment 0 Link
The involvement of people of colour from South Africa in the two world wars is probably under reported. Here is an article about a local, Willem van Wyk, who was a bombadier in the second world war.
Heart 0 Comment 0 Link
An old paraffin stove. A bit heavier than my Whisperlite.
Heart 2 Comment 0 Link
Heart 0 Comment 0 Link
Heart 0 Comment 0 Link
View of the museum from the gallery.
Heart 0 Comment 0 Link
A NatGeo article about the Upper Karoo corbelled houses: https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2014/06/25/the-historic-corbelled-houses-of-the-karoo-in-south-africa/
Heart 2 Comment 3 Link
Jacquie GaudetVery interesting, though I wondered what a "corbelled house" could be. As a (retired) structural engineer, I think of a corbel as a structural element projecting from a wall or column to support a structure above so my first though on seeing this photo was "what's missing?" (We never used corbel as a verb.)
Reply to this comment
3 years ago
Jean-Marc StrydomTo Jacquie GaudetHi Jacquie

A snippet from the Northern Cape Heritage Trust's site describes it as follows (when talking about early Dutch settlers to the area):

"They discovered that trees were sparse and set about building their dwellings using the only available material, stone. As there could be no wooden trusses to support the roof, they made use of an ancient method of construction known as corbelling. This technique was implemented by placing successive courses of flat stone, each one extending a little further inward than the layer beneath, until the walls almost met at the apex. The remaining hole over the roof could then be closed with a single slab. The corbelled buildings of the Northern Cape are the only examples in Southern Africa that still stand today and represent a special phase in the history of vernacular architecture in South Africa."

Regards
Jean-Marc
Reply to this comment
3 years ago
Jacquie GaudetAnd here I thought the corbels were the stones protruding to the outside--but I couldn't figure out what they were meant to support.
Reply to this comment
3 years ago
Interior of the corbelled house.
Heart 0 Comment 0 Link

The staff of the Lord Carnarvon have turned out to be delightful, particularly Rebecca who has gone out of her way to make our stay comfortable.  This might be the last comfortable accommodation for the next few days so are enjoying it while we can.

Today's ride: 5 km (3 miles)
Total: 642 km (399 miles)

Rate this entry's writing Heart 6
Comment on this entry Comment 3
Leonie YendallMy husband Rodney's brother (Nigel) was called Speedy. My hubbies nickname was Flash.

Glad you found the museum and that it was of interest. Rebecca is brilliant and she is a real asset to the museum. 😊

Good luck with your piece to Williston. I've not yet done that part of SA, so I am very much looking forward to your reports.
Reply to this comment
3 years ago
Leonie YendallMy husband Rodney's brother (Nigel) was called Speedy. My hubbies nickname was Flash.

Glad you found the museum and that it was of interest. Rebecca is brilliant and she is a real asset to the museum. 😊

Good luck with your piece to Williston. I've not yet done that part of SA, so I am very much looking forward to your reports.
Reply to this comment
3 years ago
Jean-Marc StrydomTo Leonie YendallSorry about the confusion on my part. I remember now that Speedy was the elder brother.
Reply to this comment
3 years ago