Cogmanskloof

You are through the tunnel before you can turn the radio down. According to the Montagu Museum it is only 16 metres long and 5 metres high, and it is said to be the oldest road tunnel in South Africa. The stretch of the R62 between Ashton and Montagu is about 7.5 kilometres.

opening, English Wikipedia also says 1887

1877

tunnel in the Kalkoenkrans, also given as 15 m

16 m

Ashton to Montagu

7.5 km

road

R62

Thomas Bain started in 1873. His 32 labourers blasted the tunnel through the Kalkoenkrans first with dynamite, then with black powder, and the road cost 12,282 pounds. The museum gives the opening as 28 February 1877, performed by Magistrate Hodges. English Wikipedia disagrees with itself. One sentence of the same article says 1877, another says 28 February 1887. The museum has the more detailed chronology, so 1887 is probably a typo. Other figures vary too: German Wikipedia dates construction to 1872 to 1877, and English Wikipedia gives the tunnel as 15 rather than 16 metres.

On 21 November 1931 the road reopened with a tarred surface, and 1953 brought new bridges and a wider tunnel. German Wikipedia dates the realignment to 1951/52 and mentions an upgrade from 2015 to 2021. On top of the rock stand the ruins of Fort Sidney, built by the British army in 1901 during the Second Boer War and a national monument since 1999.

Time needed

Robertson to Montagu through the kloof about 30 minutes (27 km)

When

all year, in daylight

Our tipPair the drive with a soak in Montagu: according to the operator, the water at Avalon Springs comes from Cogman's Kloof and rises at 43 degrees.