I didn't recognise you with your trousers on!!

I was slightly nonplussed to be met with this greeting from Ally Legge when we arrived for our hike with her, Lyn, Wilma, Trish, Estelle, Petra and a number of others at Muizenberg on the back side of Table Mountain Park this morning - however I was probably wearing a kilt last time I saw her!

Great hike on the Ou Kraal trail - about four hour round trip with a lunch stop on Muizenberg Peak - with good company great views -

and almost perfect weather 20C and sunshine at the start and 24C at the end with a strong cooling breeze. 

Reminded that other people sometimes have different dietary requirements when Linda offered around Jelliatric jelly babies

- a present from her sister - they had to be examined and then declined because of the gelatin content - reminded how lucky I am to have avoided such dietary restrictions! 

While I had a recuperative glass of Chenin Blanc followed by ice cream on the front at Muizenberg afterwards Linda settled for a Rooibos & Lemongrass Kombucha (???) - although we both decided to skip the fish and chips that were offered. 

After a quick stop on the way home at a garden centre on the N1, we managed a glass or two of Rosé in the sunshine on the deck followed by a chicken casserole washed down with an excellent 2011 Delheim Chardonnay. 

Might have to rest tomorrow

We thought it was all over.....

A surprise this evening, when we arrived for dinner! The lodge staff had set up a private dining table for us in the library to celebrate Linda's birthday 

The wine pairing dinner was excellent and of course there was a birthday cake 

delivered along with a birthday message from Jeanette, Debs and Jade which explains how they found out!

To quote Kenneth Wolstenholme - ' They think its all over - it is now!' 

Definitely!

Another excellent recommendation

We have followed in the footsteps of Ali T and Neil at Timbavati, in the Kruger, in Stellenbosch, at a number of Edinburgh restaurants and again today in the Cederberg. In each case we have thoroughly enjoyed their recommendations and the Cederberg Ridge Lodge is no exception. Great location, excellent service, great food and a good selection of local wines - what's not to like?

After breakfast this morning we joined a visit to a number of rock art sites on the Sevilla farm - which also involved about 3-4 miles walking across the landscape.

Excellent guide - David - and a very friendly group of fellow travellers, including - almost inevitably - an English couple and their daughter who also have a home at Pearl Valley.

Managed to get back in time for Linda's spa treatment, a late lunch and then a glass or two of fizz to celebrate her birthday - in among the almost constant phone pinging with facebook, messenger and whatsapp messages. 

Dinner this evening will be the last of the celebrations for this year. Thanks again to all of you who sent messages or joined in the celebrations. 

Did I Mention Load-Shedding?

 A feature of life in South Africa, which I have mentioned once or twice before - going back as far as 2015 in our experience - is the continuing propensity for ESKOM - the national electricity generator - to be unable to generate sufficient electricity to meet the national power requirement. As a result they offer a series of rolling power cuts - known as 'Load Shedding' - which usually last for two hours at a time and can sometimes occur 2 or 3 times a day - and occasionally even more.

There are Apps which give the local schedules and provide notifications so we were probably not surprised although perhaps disappointed when my phone pimged on Saturday evening to tell us that the lights would be going out at 8.00pm. Luckily we still have candles, blue tooth speakers and head torches but still ...

Same thing Sunday evening - we'll need more candles! Hopefully the Lodge at Cederberg will be prepared.  

Our first week

There seems to have been a lot of shopping - but I guess that was to be expected after so long away. We've caught up with, or bumped into quite a lot of the folks we knew when we were last here. 

Mildly envious of Chris Wilson and his AC Cobra - but he lives here full time and has space in the garage for a plaything - he's been a useful source of information on how to do things here but he's a bit of a geek and teetotal as well - not a great combination. Think I'll just settle for my Ford SUV!

 

We restarted our yoga classes with Carelene - and had a great yoga session with her - and a few others -

yesterday morning at Hey Joe's Brewery followed by beer and burgers.

Also had our first gym session with big John at the Yard and we're set up for regular classes from 1st November. 

There's wine and beer in the cooler, food in the fridge and it was 34C on Wednesday. We had a bit more Edinburgh weather yesterday - 16C and rain. However the sun returned this morning and it looks settled for next week .

The Cape Epic finished on the estate this morning - pairs of Mountain bike riders at the end of a fairly challenging 7 day stage race - we were able to cheer them on as they passed by the end of our road. We managed a quick visit to the Freedom Market and then a leisurely lunch under a huge oak tree at the Lynx wine estate - perfect Sunday afternoon.

Away for a few days next week - Cederberg Ridge Lodge, recommended by Ali and Neil - for the last of the birthday celebrations. It means I've been able to defer the list of jobs that seems to be growing by the hour until the beginning of November.

Rental Co finally delivered!

A busy Sunday and more

 We changed our plan for a leisurely lunch at Delheim as a result of an invitation from the Andersons for sundowner drinks and a braai. 

We still managed a light lunch followed by wine tasting and serious shopping in the winery before we headed over to their place - great deck, fabulous views and their South African son-in-law manning the braai!

We had a very enjoyable evening which went on longer than intended and included more wine than planned - don't they always?  And that's before we started on the Mauritian Rum!

Getting up at 6.25 this morning for the walk up to the Paarl monument - which seemed like a good idea after dinner - was little harder than expected but it was a beautiful morning and the sky was so clear we could see Table Mountain on the horizon.

 Coffee and brownies at Fleet Coffee as a reward on the way home  and then a fairly lazy day - still getting things sorted in the house.

Wine tasting always makes me happy

Sunday lunchtime at Delheim in the tasting room Our friend August was plying us with some of their great wines - came away with a few cases - just in case there's another lockdown 

Arrived Safely - getting settled in!

So, an uneventful journey - a bit longer than Mr Shatner's recent space trip - but probably less controversial and more comfortable! If I could get Scotty to man the transporter room and beam me up from Edinburgh to Pearl Valley instantly, I'd be quite happy but in the absence of that option, the Qatar flight from Edinburgh to Cape Town via Doha is probably as good as it can be. 

The Port Health and Immigration clearance in Cape Town was efficient enough - about an hour in total from landing, while the bags were waiting on the Carousel as we got to the baggage hall. The weather was decidedly more like Edinburgh - cool and wet - but that had been forecast. 

Then the Car Hire company had to spoil the whole experience. I'm not going to name them yet on the basis that they have promised to make everything right - watch this space..... 

Despite having booked a specific vehicle on a long term mini-lease about 3 months ago, it took them nearly an hour to tell us that they didn't have the vehicle available and could only offer us a smaller temporary replacement. It was only a small SUV for god's sake - nothing special! 

They promised to deliver the correct vehicle today and failed - again - apparently they cannot find an available vehicle in this class in the whole region??? 

Our drive home was fine - a little wet, but the house was in good shape and the rain stopped as we unloaded. Amongst the unpacking - and figuring out again how everything worked - we managed a quick shopping trip into town and got a replacement SIM for my SA phone which had been disconnected while we were away - I'm sure this will generate a few more problems with online banking and a couple of other services - but thats next week's problem.

One day on and we're pretty settled - everything unpacked and in its place - wine and beer in the fridge - Friday night cocktail and Sushi in the clubhouse and a very pleasant Elgin Sauvignon Blanc from Vrede & Lust to accompany our fish stew.

Tomorrow is promised wet but then the Sun is due to return and the southern spring will be here. We've already booked Sunday lunch at our favourite winery

Of course, there had to be a glass of FIZZ!

505 days

Heading for the airport and our flights to Cape Town via Doha with Qatar Airways.

72 weeks since we arrived back on our repatriation flight.

Definitely out of practice, packing seemed to be a chore and we're not travelling light.

However, we're ready to go in lots of ways. I'm sure SA will throw up it's own challenges but it'll be good to leave Nicola and Boris and their respective dysfunctional circuses behind us. 

Hope that the predictions of doom and gloom are as inaccurate as some of SAGE forecasts.

Any bets on the next targets for panic buying - hope you've all got plenty of candles, Christmas crackers and of course wine and whisky.

Our first visitors are all ready booked in and Linda's been busy organising the social calendar.

Watch this space and stay safe and well.