THE HALFWAY PASS

Van Reenen’s Pass was once a migratory route for farmers who moved their livestock down the escarpment during winter, from the dry Free State to the plentiful grazing in present-day KZN, and back up again in summer.

Later, Frans van Reenen – the pass’s namesake, who farmed at its base – used the route to lay out a path for wagons tacking up the rock-strewn slopes to carry supplies to the gold mines of the Highveld.

In 1891, the trails gouged by wagon wheels were replaced by railway tracks. This engineering feat birthed the village of Van Reenen, and its hotel, in 1892. Half a century later, in 1948, the hotel was named The Green Lantern, after a green light that glowed in the fog to show travellers they’d reached the summit – as good a time as any to come in for a drink or two.

Now the pass is tarred – part of the N3 highway – and it scrapes past the villages of Van Reenen and Swinburne on its way to an altitude of 1 646 m. But just because the road cruises past these places doesn’t mean that you have to. Here’s why you should linger longer next time you’re on your way to the coast.

1 Guest star in Fawlty Towers

Stepping into the foyer of the Green Lantern Inn feels like you’ve been written into an episode of Fawlty Towers, the cult British sitcom from the 1970s about a hot-headed hotelier wrestling with unravelling calamities.