Travel day

We only had about 170Km to drive from Stanford to De Hoop on Sunday morning and no chance of checking in until after 2.00pm. So, it seemed appropriate to find a lunch stop along the way and where else than Black Oystercatcher Winery which has grown a bit since our first visit – they now have brewery to complement the winery, tasting room and restaurant.

Luckily, we were able to get an early lunch table for a very good plate of pork loin and a bottle of Rosé, and be on our way as the bulk of their lunch guests arrived - quite a few of them flying in in their private planes. A short drive to Bredasdorp for petrol and some essential shopping and then onto the 50Km dirt road heading for De Hoop.

This is our fourth visit, so we know our way around and not much has changed. This time we are in one of the larger cottages – Fish Eagle – and we were settled in with time to have a walk along the side of the Vlei (lake) for an hour or so before heading home for a sundowner – the Fynbos Purple Haze gin was so good we might have to make a detour for another bottle to take home.

Light supper with a glass or two of Sir Robert Stanford Sauvignon Blanc, and a roaring log fire to keep us warm.

A Day Off

We've had a busy week, so decided to have a long lie this morning. After a leisurely start, we stopped at the farmers market in town to stock up on goodies for the next week, and had a very good brunch at a cafe called Graze.

Next stop was the Klein River Cheese Co for a bit more deli shopping, then on the way back to town we stopped at the Birkenhead Brewery to taste a few beers and buy some essential supplies and finished up with a visit to the Fynbos Distillery for a bottle of their 'Purple Haze' Gin.

By the time we got home, we had taken care of most of the shopping for our week of self catering at De Hoop, although we still need some essentials such as meat, vegetables and firewood - which we can pick up at the supermarket on our way south tomorrow.

Finished the afternoon with a 2 1/2 hour stroll around the Stanford Wandelpad - a footpath around the outside of town which follows the River and the Vlei and was great for bird-watching - saw a few of our old favourites but also managed to spot a couple of new species and Linda got a great shot of a Damselfly along the way.

Home for a quiet glass of Lomond Sauvignon Blanc while I caught up on the day's sports results. Tremendous wins for the Springboks over the All Blacks and for Argentina over Australia  and even better to see that Simon Yates is almost certain to win the Vuelta a Espana - and Arsenal won away from home as well!

Dinner was a Bobotie Pie which we picked up in the market washed down by a bottle of Veldfire Pinotage - a great way to finish a very relaxing day.

PS: Internet access may be limited for the next five or six days.

Stanford, another landlady and a good meal

We spent a couple of nights in a lodge just outside Stanford on a previous visit and always planned to return at some point. Our self-catering cottage - Tranquillity Cottage - is spacious and comfortable but lacks any effective heating so still cool in the morning when it is below 12C. Our landlady - Robyn - gives the impression of an ageing hippy but is very pleasant and has offered lots of helpful suggestions.

When we told her that we had booked a table for dinner in the local pub - which had been recommended by someone along the way - her response was less than enthusiastic. So when we walked into the place on Friday evening to find that we had the only reserved table and that the place was open to the bar where it seemed that most people were smoking, we beat a hasty retreat.

Luckily we chanced upon 'La Trattoria' - a family run Italian restaurant - which served us  an excellent dinner and even persuaded us to abandon our 'local wine' rule and offered a very good Italian red. To finish off, they even offered a complimentary glass of a local Grappa - from the Fynbos Distillery - Linda's quite keen to visit them to see if they make any Gin.

Robyn had recommended another local bar where there was some live music but by the time we got there after dinner, the music had finished - apparently they have local curfew at 9.00pm - so after a  nightcap it was time to head home.

Whales and Sea sickness tablets

As I lay in bed on Friday waiting for the alarm, I was listening  to the wind outside and a little apprehensive about the weather for our whale- watching trip - Linda seems to have lost her sea-legs  and was relying on some 'Kwells' to keep her well.

The wind had dropped a bit and it had turned into a bright sunny day with clear skies by the time we got to Dyer Island Cruises in Kleinbaai. However there was still a substantial swell running so we were fitted out with full oilskins and life jackets - after the coffee and muffins that were there to welcome us. Following a brief but effective briefing we were off down to the jetty to board 'Dream Catcher' in company with about 40 other visitors.

It was definitely a bumpy ride as we headed out of the harbour, but we encountered our first Southern Right Whales - mother and calf - withing the first few minutes. We spent the next 15 minutes or so watching her - 60 tons of whale and a 8-10 ton calf - as she made her way slowly round the bay - trying to stay in shallow water and to keep herself between our boat and the calf.

We stopped to see two other mothers and their calves before we headed for Dyer Island and 'Shark Alley'. They claim that this is the Great White Shark Capital of the world but there are very few of them around at this time of the year. I seem to remember that Neil was on a shark diving trip here - after a heavy night out in Cape Town.

Anyway - no sign of Great Whites today - so we headed around the island where we saw African Penguins and a huge colony of Cape Fur Seals - best to be upwind of these guys as they do pong a bit!

We also spotted a variety of sea birds before the fast bumpy ride pack to port -

glad to say that Linda didn't suffer from the motion at all and we were both more than ready for the hot bowl of soup that was waiting for us when we got ashore. All in all a good experience - would have been good to see a few more whales but that's always going to be pot luck - we were really lucky with the weather after all.

A walk in the woods

Did I mention that it is a little cool here in the mornings - and no sign of any central heating? This morning was no exception - the outside wall on the bathroom extension of the cottage was a single layer of tongue and groove with gaps which allowed the wind to blow right through.  No hanging around outside the shower here - even had to get dressed before I went back in to shave.

Sean prepared an excellent breakfast and we were ready to go by the time Christophe arrived at 8.30. Shorter trek today - only 8km with a lunchtime finish - but we still climbed and descended a few hills and valleys through the forests. There was a strong wind blowing all morning which kept us cool even though we had plenty of sunshine.

No new bird species today, but we did see a number of new flowers and the usual display of Pincushions, Proteas, Fountain bushes and Cone bushes. We also came upon a Mole Rat who was so intent on digging for bulbs that he didn't even notice us and crawled right over Cristophe's boot.

Another great day of hiking but again we were both glad when we arrived at our destination - Grootbos Family Lodge - for a very good lunch after which Christophe dropped us back to our car and we headed for our cottage at Stanford.

Lancastrian Landlady!

Our landlady at the B&B in Darling was a British expat who had followed her banker husband around the world for most of her life while raising 4 sons. On their retirement they had bought a home in Darling which included some extra rooms  and started the B&B to keep them occupied – as well as being pillars of the community.

I could tell you more because she talked at us non-stop over breakfast each day but I’m sure you would be just as bored as we were. On the other side, she was so uninterested in her guests that she only knew our names and address because they were on the booking confirmation and didn’t bother to ask anything else.

The food served at dinner at Bistro 7 – the only place in town that was open on Monday night – was good although due to the cool weather most of our fellow diners were wearing sweaters and jackets and a few of them were a bit disgruntled because their main courses had been mixed up. Being a ‘modern place’, they had replaced the table candles with coloured bottles with sparkly lights – none of which were working because the batteries were dead.

Probably summed up the place – we were quite happy to get on the road on Tuesday morning heading for Stanford and our three day Fynbos Trail hike.

Fynbos Trail – Day two

It was definitely a bit cooler in the bedroom and bathroom of the Fountain Bush Cottage than we are used to. However, there was plenty of hot water for the shower and we soon warmed up. Michael arrived at 7.30 to prepare breakfast for us and by the time we had finished it was warm enough to sit outside with coffee and watch the male Cape Weaver birds busy building nests for inspection by their prospective partners.

Cristophe arrived by 8.30 and we started with an hour or so bird-watching around the cottages and the dam. We have already recorded 304 bird species on previous trips to SA but still managed to add a few more before we started on our trek for the day.

About 12 Km today beginning with a steep climb over Grootberg – or Ben Lomond as it was named by the Captain of the Birkenhead which was shipwrecked not far from here. Coffee stop by a waterfall, lunch along the way, lots of bird sightings and amazing flowers species – all in all a great hike. However, I would have to admit that I was quite glad when our destination for the night – Witkrans – came into view.

Greeted by our host Sean – who is the botanist/conservation expert for the Conservancy project – with a bottle each of Rosé, White and Red wine from the local Lomond Winery. In typical SA fashion, after we had chatted for a while and tasted the three wines he headed off to sort out dinner and left us with the remaining bottles to keep us company.

Still relying on a wood-burner for our only heat source so very grateful for the cosy quilt on the bed.

PS: there are more photos to accompany this but they will have to wait for a future since our current WiFi is a little limiting.