A bridge too far
This is the 15th milestone along the Queen's Road between Grahamstown and Ford Beaufort. It was built by Thomas Bain's father - Andrew Geddes Bain. The major pass along this road is the Ecca Pass and it was here that the budding geologist and engineer (Andrew) discovered and named the Ecca formation. We take a deeper look at the tough life of Bain Snr and his progress from immigrant becoming first a saddler, farmer, road engineer, geologist, author, and artist - and all of it self taught.
We explore his young days and his two great claims to fame of siring South Africa's most famous road engineer and himself becoming the Father of South African geology. It's a fascinating story of overcoming hardships and winning through in the end with sheer guts and determination.
Did you know that Andrew Bain was also responsible for building the highest bridge in South Africa at that time - the Fish River bridge.
The link will take you to our latest news page and from there you can go to the Ecca Pass. It's all free for the next 7 days. Enjoy!
We also take a squiz at a remarkable bit of modern engineering where we unpack the new bridge being built at Ashton which will be transversally moved into position when completed. This one promises to be a hit and the entire operation will take place over a single weekend.
https://bit.ly/2N4g9F6
Thanks Trygve for bringing us the Ecca pass. The Ecca pass is indeed a very special pass, like so many many other passes in the Eastern Cape.
Besides the history associated with the pass and the surrounding area, it is very pleasant to ride. The pass is not for fast riding (the corners are too tight), so one can really enjoy the scenery.
Below are two photos taken from the same spot. The first photo shows an oxwagon creeping up the original Queens pass (ca 1840 / 1850 ?) towards Grahamstown.
The second photo was taken in 2016, from the same spot. Look closely in the near-field - you will see the line of the original Queens pass above the present Ecca pass. Faraway, going up towards Fort Beaufort, the light grey line below the tarred road, is most probably the old Queens road.
The third photo below was taken from a where the Ecca pass starts on the Fort Beaufort (Northern) side, effectively in the opposite direction as the first two pictures.
Just look at those curves snaking up towards Grahamstown. Here you see about half of the curves.
Very interesting pics! may I have your permission to add the black and white photo into our web page? It deserves to be there.
I found the picture on a website about my home town, Fort Beaufort.
https://www.facebook.com/415657125232895/photos/a.415726761892598/514316838700256/?type=3&theater
So I imagine it would be fine for you to use the picture.
The link to the FB website is:
https://www.facebook.com/Fort-Beaufort-Van-Ouds-en-Nou-415657125232895/
There are a few other pictures that you may find interesting, such as this one of the original Victoria bridge connecting the Queens Road into FB.
And the wooden bridge in the Katberg pass. I believe it was built using Stinkhout.
Many more old photos is/was/should be in the Fort Beaufort Museum (what is left of the museum....)
Fort Beaufort is tremendously rich in history. It could have been turned into a wonderful tourist town, attracting visitors (and their spending money) to the Eastern Cape. So sad that all the old buildings and the town as a whole is neglected and left to deteriorate.
Many thanks. I will add some of those where applicable. I couldn't agree more on the degradation of some (most) of the old frontier towns. especially if you grew up there and returned 30 or 40 years later to witness the carnage.
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