Winelands and The Garden Route

Today we leave Cape Town and start our drive around the Cape to the Cape of Good Hope, prior to our visiting the winelands and embarking on the Garden Route. Along the way we stopped at some beautiful bays: some with white, sandy beaches and others craggy with the ocean crashing onto the rocks and plenty of pretty seaside villages. All with stunning views. We drove along Chapman’s Peak, a pretty coastal pass hugging the shoreline, down to the Cape. This isn’t the most southerly part of South Africa, but is the most southerly part of Western Cape. From the lighthouse at Cape Point you have unparalleled views of the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Point is one of the highest sea cliffs in the world, at 249 metres above sea level.

We stopped at Boulders Beach, which in itself isn't amazing, but the penguins are!

We stayed overnight on the eastern coast of the Cape in a small town named Kalk, a lovely seaside town. We hadn’t pre-booked any accommodation for this part of our journey but decided to take our chances with the Guest Houses along the way. Our first attempt confirmed this to be a very good move. All the Guest houses we stayed in were beautifully clean; the owners and staff were all extremely friendly and helpful and, to cap it all, they all had pools!

This brought us to the end of what had proven to be a truly memorable visit to the Cape, as we now looked forward to the Winelands and the Garden Route.

From the Cape we made our way to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek to explore the winelands and partake in a little wine tasting. The route takes you through some stunning scenery, through the Huguenot Tunnel and past some of the many wineries open for tours and tastings.

We stopped for a short while in Stellenbosch, a pretty little town with guest houses and coffee shops galore, then drove on to Franschhoek, where we stayed the night in the Plumwood Inn (www.plumwoodinn.com), another delightful guest house, and made good use of their two pools!

There are hundreds of wineries you can visit which make it hard to know where to go. I decided to pick a style of wine and then selected the venue. I was surprised at how cheap it was: at the venue we chose it was just £8 to taste 5 wines. None of this ‘sip and spit’ malarkey either!! The staff serving were all very knowledgeable and keen to advise and inform. There are companies offering ‘hop on¬-hop off’ buses to take you on a round trip of certain wineries, which means you don’t need to worry about driving, but they are quite expensive and there is only a certain amount of wine you can sup before it all starts to taste the same!

This was a wonderfully relaxing start to our few days saunter along the Garden Route. The drive takes you along the Indian Ocean coastline, from Mossel Bay to Storms River, and has some of the prettiest and some of the most dramatic views we have seen.

The area has something to offer everyone: There are so many lovely coves and bays to visit; little towns to stay overnight and places to explore. There are lakes, beaches, lagoons, otter and dolphin trails, hiking, ocean trails, sailing, canoeing, cycle trails, Elephant Park …. the list goes on and on. Again, my only regret is that we didn’t have enough time to explore the area as I would have liked.

One of our stopovers was in Knysna, acclaimed as “South Africa’s favourite holiday town”. (www.visitknysna.co.za). Knysna is a friendly little town in the heart of the Garden Route, with many places to eat, lovely beaches and a lively waterfront area. We had one of our best meals in a restaurant overlooking the harbour, which, as the evening drew in, was such a pretty picture with all the lights shimmering.

Whilst planning our trip we decided not to visit any National Parks. Time was precious and felt we wanted to experience the culture and history of the country. However, we have not been disappointed: we have seen zebras, springbok, baboons, turtles (crossing a main highway!!) and penguins. All of these in their natural environment without visiting any specific areas.

I have omitted to mention, in these musings, the amount of shopping we have done! We thought we did well in Nepal but that was nothing compared to the two weeks in SA! We have given up counting what we have spent and just keep making trips to the post office to send parcels home! Everywhere we have been there have been good quality souvenirs, from ceramics to jewellery to recycled artwork. Bring an empty case or plenty of wrapping paper to send things home!!

In our two weeks we have only managed to scratch the surface of this vast and beautiful land. We have a mere snapshot, but one that will leave a long and lasting impression. There is a great big world out there that but I hope that I find time to return here.