Midmar to Piggly Wiggly Farm Stall (6 km)

With Pietermaritzburg in the rear-view mirror, I take the Howick/Midmar turn-off from the N3 and the change is immediate: The R103 is from an earlier era – narrow, with crumbling verges, and cows grazing lazily on tufts of grass where the emergency lane should be.
During the early 1900s, motorists who journeyed through the Midlands had a tough time. Back then the road was a wagon track that became impassable after even a sprinkling of rain. It was so bad that a retired colonel apparently wrote to the provincial roads authority requesting a submarine, claiming he couldn’t reach his farm near Nottingham Road without one.
Soon, the R103 skirts the eastern shore of Midmar Dam, site of the well-known Midmar Mile swimming race. The dam is bigger than I expected it to be, and I’d imagine the prospect of swimming a mile across it is far more daunting when you’re standing on the bank than when you agreed to do it in the pub six months earlier.
The Midmar Resort is a good spot for a picnic, though. The grounds are well kept; green lawns slide into the water and yachts bob on their moorings just offshore.
Just past the dam the commercial Midlands Meander begins, with a flurry of signboards advertising everything from reiki healing to Swiss cheese. If you arm yourself with the official Meander handbook (available almost everywhere along the route), you can track down hand-made hiking boots, embroidered tablecloths, Eisbein and cabbage, wooden wind chimes, glass lampshades… and at least one person who can communicate with angels. But I don’t want any of these things; I want a cup of tea.
After a bit of deliberation I see it: the Piggly Wiggly Farm Stall, just after the Dargle Valley turnoff. I choose a table overlooking the courtyard and order a cup of Earl Grey, watching the visitors as they shuffle out into the sunlight clutching jams and rusks. This is exactly how I pictured the Midlands experience to be – my tea even comes with a little biscuit.
Everyone looks relaxed and happy; you’d never guess that the N3 was just over the hill.

Go! says: If you’re lucky, Midmar’s sluice gates might be open when you drive past – it’s a spectacular sight.

Cost: A day pass to the Midmar Resort is R17 per person before noon and R10 thereafter.
Contact: Midmar Resort 033 330 2067; www.kznwildlife.com.
PigglyWiggly Farm Stall 033 234 4738

 

Piggly Wiggly Farm tall to Michaelhouse (19 km)

After tea, I putter through the Balgowan Valley, alongside the Midlands’ iconic railway line, on my way to the elite boys’ boarding school Michaelhouse, where John van de Ruit’s best-selling novel Spud is set. I’m quite keen to have a look around.
I have an appointment with Alan Corfield, the head of the maths department. Alan and his son, Josh, show me around the grounds, which are what you would expect: clipped lawns, red brick buildings and sunlight streaming through avenues of pin oak trees.
Afterwards, as we bump up a dirt road to the new Oribi Reserve in the hills behind the school, Alan tells me about the post-Spud publicity: “What people forget is that Spud is a work of fiction. Fans come here looking for a theme park experience. Obviously, they’re going to be disappointed.”
But way down below us I see the school dams sparkling in the sun and can’t help picturing the Crazy Eight sneaking off for an illicit night swim. Even if the details aren’t spot on, it’s always nice to visit a place you’ve read about.
At the reserve, Alan introduces me to the head of biology, Iain Guthrie. The reserve is Iain’s pride and joy. “It’s still in its infancy, but we’re hoping to open it to the public soon,” Iain says. “It’s mainly an oribi conservation area, but we also have a blesbok. There it is.”
On cue, the blesbok raises its head and snorts at us.
Most impressive, however, is Iain’s herd of Nguni cattle, which he uses to manage the grassland areas in the reserve. He explains: “Although fires are natural here, they’re extremely detrimental to plant diversity and lethal to small animals. The cattle keep the grass low and manageable, and reduce the fire risk considerably.”
The cows are moved around using a portable electric fence, often with the help of boys doing detention duty. Iain loves his cows; each one has an ID card with a name and a photograph.
The sun is low in the sky when I say goodbye. There’s a cricket practice on a field near the gate, so I stop to watch for a while, thinking of Spud Milton and feeling nostalgic for my own days in the under-16C team.
The batsman hits a lofted cover drive that bounces once, twice, all the way to the boundary in my direction. I pick up the ball and throw it back.
“Thanks, sir!” the boys chorus. 
I suddenly feel very old. Sir? Was under-16 that long ago?

Go! says: The chapel at Michaelhouse is also open to visitors. Highlights are the Ervin Bossányi stained-glass windows and the solid teak pews.

Contact: 033 234 1000; www.michaelhouse.org

Michaelhouse to Nottingham Road (10 km)

A funny thing happens in the Midlands. On a glorious, sunny summer afternoon, you can round a bend and drive straight into a cold, clinging mist. The temperature drops, your windscreen fogs up and the roadside vegetation takes on a spindly, ethereal quality.
And then, out of this misty netherworld, comes one of the most welcoming pubs in the world: the Nottingham Road Hotel Bar, or Notties Pub to those who drink there regularly; and by the look of things when I pull in, that includes the whole district.
A sign outside, No Bulls Parties, warns that this is Sharks territory. Inside, local farmers, schoolteachers and hippies share fly-fishing stories around the original wooden bar dating back to the mid-19th century.
Any building more than 100 years old (the hotel was founded in 1854) should have a ghost, and Notties is no exception. Charlotte is her name, and she worked as a prostitute more than a century ago. She died after tumbling over the balustrade in front of her favourite boudoir, room 10. Whether it was an accident or a suicide is uncertain, but apparently she can still be seen, blonde hair and white shift glowing in the moonlight…
I spend the night in room 6 (room 10 was taken) and wake only once, when a train clatters through the station across the road. It’s hardly an interruption; there’s something wonderful about the sound of a train at night, especially when you’re snuggled up in such a creaky, debonair hotel.
Before the mist descended yesterday evening, I visited another bar – The Boar’s Head, at Rawdon’s Hotel, a few kilometres before Nottingham Road on the R103. It’s famous for its range of beers produced on the hotel premises by The Nottingham Road Brewing Company: Pickled Pig Porter (a kind of stout), Pie-eyed Possum Pilsner, Whistling Weasel Pale Ale and Tiddly Toad Lager.
Barman Sicelo Zulu’s shirt read, “Beware the Pig!” I agree. The Toad was much friendlier.
After a solid breakfast, I set off to look around the town of Nottingham Road. You could easily spend a day here: There are art galleries, coffee shops, bookshops, boutique furniture stores and a fly-fishing emporium complete with a rainbow trout in a tank. But if you’re just passing through, don’t miss St John’s Gowrie, a lovely galvanised-iron church dating to 1885. It’s just past the turn-off to the hotel.

Go! says: For a taste of all of The Nottingham Road Brewing Company’s beers, buy a tasting palette from The Boar’s Head for only R8. Bargain!

Cost: Accommodation at Notties Hotel, breakfast included, is R345 per person sharing during the week and R500 on weekends.
Contact: Nottingham Road Hotel 033 266 6151; www.nottieshotel.co.za Rawdon’s Hotel 033 266 6044; www.rawdons.co.za

Nottingham Road to Mooi River (19 km)

“Wine” and “KZN” don’t usually appear in the same sentence, but The Stables Wine Estate, between Nottingham Road and Rosetta, is looking to change that.
The Stables is the only estate in KZN that produces its own wine. But haute vino it’s not. Winemaker Tiny van Niekerk produces easy-drinking blends, all with a rugby theme. You can buy Raggie Red, Silver Tip White and Zambezi Pink (all with the Sharks rugby logo) as well as the flagship wine, Springbok-themed The Time is Now Red.
The time is now, indeed; we’ve won the World Cup, and tasting assistant Elmarie van Sittert pours me a sip to celebrate. Not bad, and it probably has a longer shelf life than a Springbok rugby player.
So the R103 winds onward towards Rosetta, a little blip on the map, but first I pull in at the Midlands Nursery, where a big banner advertises cut-price fruit trees. But it’s the roses that catch my eye, hundreds of varieties in pastel colours, standing to attention in the dappled sunshine: Gold Reef, Don Juan, Zulu Royal.
If you’re a rose fan, this is your Mecca; many Highveld gardeners make regular trips to the Midlands Nursery to stock up.
After Rosetta (aptly named, in hindsight), the R103 crests a few more hills, then makes a beeline for the escarpment. It’s a clear day and I can see the peaks of the Drakensberg in the distance.
In a perfect world I’d take the Kamberg road and keep driving… Maybe try my hand at fly-fishing, renovate a rustic farm labourer’s cottage and start a pottery studio. Learn to weave. Breed Nguni cattle. Turn 60, barefoot in the shadow of Giants Castle, while a harpist plays Scottish airs in the garden.
But the little blue-and-yellow N3 sign blinks again and again: home, work, responsibilities.
I sneak one more look at the fair, green Midlands as the needle climbs to 120 km/h, faster than I’ve driven in days. It’s terrifying. I aim for Joburg and hold on for dear life.

Go! says: If, unlike me, you’re at liberty to extend your drive, the views of the Drakensberg from the Kamberg Road (which joins the R103 at Rosetta) can’t be beaten.

Contact: The Stables Wine Estate 033 266 6781; www.stableswine.co.za
Midlands Garden Centre 033 267 7153