There And Back Again (and other alternative book titles)

So we saw off the Boks, just, which allowed us the opportunity to crow mildly at the racist madwoman who was hosting our Airbnb and gave Andy the excuse he barely needed to drink some beer!

The next day saw Gillie reach the ripe old age of…hrumph, hrumph…so we walked east along the glorious coastal path to a little restaurant on the beach, called Dutchies, where we proceeded to enjoy a delicious fish lunch and some very pleasant Cape wine, before walking back and stopping to watch the whales and the sea. 

Hermanus is an attractive little seaside town, which benefits at this time of year from the residency of the Right Whales, with people spending hours sitting or standing and watching them from the shore, or taking boat trips out to get a closer view. It works hard to keep itself trendy, arty (there was a ‘gallery walk’ marked by orange – orange?!!– balloons while we were there, which enabled visitors to drink lots of free wine and look knowingly at local art that they never had any intention of buying) and attractive – especially for the rich white folks. But we did notice more diversity in some of the shops, bars and restaurants than in other spots i.e. it wasn’t just black people serving white people – although the service personnel are overwhelmingly black, but there were some non-white faces on the other side of the counters sometimes. Are times changing?

As our journey the following day took us inland and wasn’t too far, we decided to take a seaside route, ignoring Google Maps and following the – wait for it – Road Atlas that we bought in Stanfords, the famous map shop in Long Acre that will soon be closing its doors forever [sob, sob – Ed.] and which, Gillie insists on saying every time we refer to it, cost us a lot of money. Anyway, we set off, heading for Pearly Beach, Die Dam and L’Agulhas. Little did we realise that we would be going through Stanford on our way…[spooky – Ed.]. Nor did we realise, until we arrived on a particularly cold and blustery morning, that L’Agulhas is actually the southernmost point of the African continent – exciting or what! [what – Ed.]

After all that excitement, we headed off without further ado to our next destination. Gillie had had a whim, based on the experiences of others, to take a bit of a detour when we left Hermanus, so we drove inland to a place called Swellendam, arriving in the cold, grey afternoon at a rather cheerless guest house. We took a rather chilly walk into town – ‘perfectly safe, even at night’ (!) – then retired, still scratching our heads as to why we had really bothered. Apparently the town has a rather interesting museum. Ho hum.

Departing the next day after a hearty breakfast, we drove quite a long way along the famous Garden Route to a place called Wilderness, which wasn’t a wilderness at all, but very pleasant, with a lovely beach just over the road that annoyingly we had to drive to as there was a motorway separating us from it, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. We were staying in a little guest apartment in the main house’s garden, with a view from the front garden over lush green forest that had, the previous year, been completely burnt away by the wild fires that spring up in this area every year. Nature had recovered spectacularly, so there is hope for SoCal, if not the big mansions that have been destroyed there.

We were heading towards some other areas that had suffered recently from wild fires and people had been telling us for more than a couple of weeks that roads were closed and passes were impassable, we were really lucky and managed to miss the worst of the disruption caused by the fires as we only had a short drive to our next destination, Knysna (pronounced Nyzna), one of the jewels of the Garden Route, defined as it is by a stunning lagoon. Our Airbnb had a balcony that gave us outstanding views over the lagoon, but Gillie was not too enamoured of the rather lived-in odour emanating from the bedroom.

Our boat trip across the lagoon brought us close to The Heads, not a grandiose name for a toilet in a ship, but two headlands that almost join to form the entrance to Knysna Bay and Lagoon, and which was called by the British navy ‘the most dangerous harbour entrance in the world’. So much for the history lesson. We managed to find a local brewery on the Saturday that was showing the rugby and spent the afternoon alternating between explaining the laws and intricacies of rugby union to an interested, but annoying Dutch chap, and shouting at the incompetence of French referees. But, as they say, look in the paper on Sunday…

Onwards to Plettenberg Bay and some famous surfing beaches. Once again a lovely Airbnb and this time we could walk to the beach, even if the walk took us up some monstrously steep hills (‘good for the buttocks’ Gillie kept reassuring us!). We sort of expected something a bit surfer-shabby/hippy-chic, but were surprised to find a rather sedate, quiet town patently (sic) on hold until the season starts next month.

While we were there, we saw shoals of dolphin swimming very close to the beach and enjoying surfing in the rollers. A chap who had been out on his catamaran saw the dolphins and ran out to swim with them – literally only standing chest-high they were that close! ‘If I’d had my cozzy on, I would have been in there too – freezing sea and all!’ – Andy, later.

On to another bay – Jeffrey’s – next - and the famous Supertubes, some sort of special waves that allow the surfer to ride along the crest for a goodly time before the surf breaks, he said knowingly. Probably should say ‘it’s an A-Frame, with a backdoor and a barrel, top curls and a great face where you can rip on a great set’, or something. Down with the surfer slang. No idea what it means…Anyway, it was great fun watching their endeavours, even if there was only one surfer a day. The accommodation in JB left a bit to be desired, but it was on the beach, so we forgave it. Nuff said. 

After the rather cramped conditions of Jeffrey’s Bay, we moved on to a nothing of a place called Colchester – literally a couple of streets of houses with a garage and a ‘Kwik Spar’ at the end of the road. Its significant feature is that it is on the Sundays River, so very popular with boating types. 

All the houses (white-owned), as we have noticed around South Africa, had high walls and electric gates, many with electrified fences. Many security firm signs advertise ‘Armed Response’ and one of the most common selling points for Airbnb and other accommodation is ‘safe and secure – even at night’. This seems to be a population that lives in fear and is constantly trying to close itself off from the majority of the population, which only serves to heighten tensions – especially in more heavily populated areas.  

Colchester’s other attraction is that it is close to entrances to Addo Elephant National Park and we had booked a game drive for the Saturday, so off we went. Our guide was not as friendly or informative as those we had met in Botswana and Namibia, but tried his best (unsuccessfully) to find some lions. We did see lots of lovely elephants and a water buffalo – so two of the Big Five – and as we had already seen lions and rhino, we weren’t too disappointed.

Back to our spacious Airbnb to watch another glorious sunset and follow England’s stuttering progress against Japan via BBC Livetext (how unsatisfactory!) until a more composed second half enabled a relaxed view of the sun setting on the Cherry Blossoms.

Our route on Sunday took us inland to the ‘dreaming spires’ – Lonely Planet South Africa – of Grahamstown, a seemingly wealthy Rhodes University town with an arty reputation. As we arrived on a Sunday everything was very closed, but we couldn’t help but notice how ill-maintained everything was: huge and several were the potholes in the roads; litter blew up and down the streets and the pavements – when there were any – were broken or damaged. We strolled past three private schools into the deserted centre and couldn’t help but wonder how the local council spends the money it presumably receives, as it certainly ain’t on infrastructure.

The lady whose house we were staying at had two very yappy Jack Russell Terriers, who thankfully didn’t keep us awake at night, but one, when we said goodbye the next day, decided to bite Andy, hard enough to draw blood in two places! Won’t be staying there again!

Heading further north on the Frontier Route, we drove up into the mountains to the delightfully-named Hogsback – no relation to the line of hills in Surrey, but a reference to three large mountains with rock formations along the crest that resemble a hog’s bristles, which overlook the town.

We had been recommended this place by our guide in the desert at Swakopmund (remember, dear reader, the German version of Scarborough on the coast in Namibia?) and decided that we had to add it to our route. It boasts such places as Hobbiton, Lothlorien Cottage, Middle Earth Nursery, Away With The Fairies Backpackers and The Fairy Realm, so it’s fair to assume that they play heavily on the Tolkien connection in these parts. In fact, we were told that JRR himself used to come here on holiday when he was very small and that his maid came from Hogsback and they took her back to Bloemfontein with them where she proceeded to fill the future genius’s head with woods and fairies and elves and what not. All somewhat unlikely, but, it makes them happy.

Anyway, we arrived at our Airbnb after an exhilarating ride through the Ecca Pass, to find a delightful little village and an outstanding rondavel-type apartment with the most amazing views over The Hogs. We went for a short walk in the evening to The 39 Steps Fall, then a longer walk the next day, ‘aided’ by possibly the most useless ‘map’, that took us along a cliff edge, where we proceeded to get lost, so found a quicker walk back and sat and watched the rain sweep over the valley as we lit a fire (!) in our little house.

Tomorrow takes us further north, into Lesotho, then on to The Drakensberg, before starting to trace our way back towards Cape Town, via Tolkien’s birthplace, Bloemfontein, so prepare for several pix from there!

A tout alors…

PS Hello Gillie here.  We’ve just passed our two-month anniversary of leaving the UK. Wow! I’ve just realised when Andy was writing about Elephant Park he forgot to mention the tortoises. One even began to cross the road as we were driving to the park a few kilometres from the entrance! I know they are not part of the Big Five but they were so cute and lovely to see them in the wild.

We are in love with Hogsback (xx). Such a surreal place high up in the mountains away from anywhere. It confirms my view of the diversity of Africa, before we came I would never have believed that places like this existed here. Our Airbnb has surpassed all expectations too, with million dollar views from our sitting room and bedroom. Talking about diversity, the weather is joining in too.  We arrived yesterday in 30C hot sun, today we woke up to blue skies and have been walking in the forests with 26C heat. By the time we got back at 3pm the clouds were rolling in and the temperature dropping. We’ve lit the wood burner so are now lovely and cozy.  Tomorrow the forecast is rain and 11C! So there you go just like home.

We are enjoying being on the road again after a rather sedate start to our trip. It is very different from last time though, as when we were in our camper we unpacked and that was it. Everything came with us, was unpacked and we knew where everything was. Now however we are packing and unpacking (well I am, Andy’s clothes are in a bundle at the bottom of his rucksack) and trying to remember where the bathroom is in the middle of the night can be rather taxing on the brain! But we are loving it as it is a totally new experience, we are meeting so many interesting people and staying at some amazing places. Let it continue!

Bye for now much love Gillie  xxxxx

Aaahh...

Bubbles on Knysna Lagoon

Outeniqua Pass - note the fire damage

Obligatory sunset picture - this time in Colchester

The view from our Airbnb in Hogsback

The view from our walk in Hogsback - as you can see we were hopelessly lost!

Why did the tortoise cross the road?!!

Birthday photo - sorry it's a bit blurry

Straddling two oceans - at Africa's southernmost point

It's bloody cold here

But not here - at Wilderness!

Gillie sporting new hat and bag - Plettenberg Bay

Dolphins surfing

Bloukrans Bridge - world's tallest Bungey jump

Elephant selfie

Three Hogs in the background. Flowers in the foreground

More flowers

Part of our walk when we weren't lost

Lost - obvious really, isn't it?

On our way, sort of

Blog no. 4 is being written with a mixture of trepidation and frustration – trepistration, perhaps? The trepidation arises from the fact that England face South Africa at Twickenham tomorrow, so by the time you read this, the matter will probably have been decided and it will be a case of ‘what’s all the fuss about?’ The frustration comes from the fact that the computer has decided that it would be good fun to sporadically suspend access to the top – qwertyuiop (that took 15 minutes to type, by the way) – line of the keyboard, so sometimes nothing happens for five minutes of fruitless jabbing at the keys, no matter how much we swear at them. When this is finished it will be 3 am on Sunday and we’ll have lost the will to live. Ho hum.

We left you pre-braai in Windhoek at the end of the last blog post (wanted to say ‘last post’ but that sounds a bit military). Anyway, the braai was lovely and our hosts were charming – lots to talk about re Namibia and southern Africa in general. Ronelle is the news editor of one of the country’s main newspapers, so worth taking note of. Her observations were very measured and the love of her country was evident in what she said. And we got lots of excellent advice about our onward route. 

The bus ride to Cape Town was not as alarming as we feared, except the 2 am border and customs check. Could’ve done without that…

Our Airbnb in CT was in an area called Bo Kaap – previously known as the Malay Quarter - which tells you nothing, as there are few, if any, Malays living there. Anyway, it’s full of very colourful houses and close to the main part of the city, only 25-minute walk to the V & A Waterfront, for example. Imagine a giant, very expensive version of Westfield, mixed with Meadowhall and Canada Water shopping malls (notice how egalitarian/cosmopolitan we’re being?), in the open air with lots of millionaire yachts and apartments and you get a vague picture of V & A Waterfront. Fun though.

To orientate ourselves, we took an open top bus tour of the city and surrounds and made some important decisions about our onward journey. We definitely didn’t like the look of Hout Bay, so decided to decamp to Camps Bay after our sojourn in the Mother City, but more of that later. Cape Town is dominated by its famous mountain (Table), but Lion’s Head next door and the Twelve Apostles (of which there are 17 apparently – don’t ask) are almost as fascinating and equally picturesque. Lion’s Head is very tall and requires some climbing – more of that later, too.

The next day, after acquainting ourselves with a lovely Spar supermarket (think Marks and Spencer with home-made food at half the cost), we enjoyed one or two sherbets at the Waterfront, as you do, and explored some more of the city. There is a perception that Cape Town is a safe and welcoming city for European (white) tourists and that’s probably the case if you stay in the main busy areas and be aware if going out at night. So we did. It apparently has a higher violent crime rate now than Johannesburg, so we didn’t piss about sticking our noses into badly-lit alleys etc. It is a very interesting place, with bags of history, but still a sense that the ordinary (black) people are being shat upon from a great height by both their own politicians (the ANC) and the wealthier white citizens.

We visited both the Bo Kaap Museum and the District Six Museum, which told the story of struggle and oppression, but with a sense that something is emerging, definitely a sense of pride in their identity and the freedoms they are now starting to enjoy. Nelson Mandela, Madiba, is rightly revered across the country and his legacy – of reconciliation and hope – will eventually win. You have to hope so, or you become like a Brit, viewing with despair the wreckage that is Brexit and the fuck-up that the Conservative party has visited on our country for the last eight years (political rant over – for the time being).

Forgot to mention – as we were staying in a Muslim part of the city, part of the deal is being awoken at about 4 am every morning by the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer!!! 

On the Thursday, we met up with one of the lovely people we had met on our safari in Namibia. Yvonne is from Germany and is one of many independent young people we encountered. If the world has such people in it, there is hope…She gave us lots of tips, many of which we followed over the next few days. In the afternoon, we decided to walk up Lion’s Head. We had been told that it wasn’t too difficult a climb and would take about an hour each way. 

The weather was fine – hot and sunny - so we caught an Uber (v cheap) to the starting point and off we set. The trail leads round the mountain, becoming increasingly narrow and more precipitous the higher you go. After about half an hour and several hundred feet (metres), we noticed that the weather had changed and the clouds were starting to come in, swirling round the peak and obscuring the wonderful view we had enjoyed. It was also very cold. Undeterred, we continued, if anything slightly grateful that we couldn’t see how high we were and how sheer the sides were. Some of the climb (not hike any more!) involved ladders and staples hammered into the rock face. Undeterred, we continued, until we reached a point about 15 metres from the peak. To reach the peak, we had to climb more ladders and hold on to more staples as the face was sheer. We couldn’t see much more than about 10 feet in front of us - certainly nothing around or below – and the wind was blowing a gale, so we figured wtf. 

It took us about an hour to get back down and we were passed by hordes of cubs – boys and girls – going the other way! Some sort of rite of passage, I guess, or ‘if it’s Thursday it must be Lion’s Peak – anything to keep the kids quiet’. Nobody seemed to be complaining though. We were also passed by a family from Holmfirth!!

On our way up the peak, the male member of the party started noticing some slight throbbing [this is a bit unnecessary – Ed] – in the mouth. By the time we reached our room, the pain was unbearable. Eight paracetamol and five ultra-strong toothache painkillers later it was morning, so after a phone call to the nearest dentist, the start of root canal remedy and antibiotics, all was well.

Beer was essential after that, so a walk to the Ferrymans Tavern in V & A – recommended by our good friend Hans – and a general mooch and all was, well, better with the world.

On the Saturday we went to something of a Cape Town institution – Marco’s African Place – made all the more appealing, as it was literally a two-minute walk from our accommodation. This is an African restaurant with live music and a generally good vibe. The food was excellent, as was the music, and we had a great time.

The next day we went to one of the best places in Cape Town – the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The weather was beautiful and we spent the day wandering around some of the loveliest parts of the gardens – overlooked by Table Mountain – and admiring the plants and general loveliness. Rounded off by a scone with jam and cream at the Tea Garden!

Monday brought a day that we were somewhat hesitant about arranging in the first place, but had been encouraged to do so by friends of ours – the Township tour and Robben Island. Our guide Lindizwe picked us up and drove us to Langa – the oldest township, established in the 1920s. We saw how the people there were working together to create businesses and become much more self-sufficient. We then went on to Khayelitsha, the largest township, with over 390,000 inhabitants. There are still lots of people, young people especially, with nothing to do, but the township tour organisers and several other agencies are working hard to give people a focus and help them out of their poverty. 

A couple of highlights: we visited a shibeen – pub – and had some home made maize beer. Very tasty, but not too strong. It’s made by the women for the men to drink [nothing wrong with that – Ed]. And we visited a school, where the children were very keen to show us their singing (and in some cases fighting) skills. A lasting memory is of Lindizwe confirming a couple of times: ‘we may not be out of poverty yet, but we are free.’

Robben Island is now a Unesco World Heritage site. We were shown round by a former political prisoner who spent seven years there and told us quite dispassionately about his and hundreds of others’ lives there, including Nelson Mandela, who spent 17 of his 27 years’ imprisonment there. Were we witnesses, observers, or ghouls? Still not sure.

Onward to the seaside the next day – all the way to Camps Bay, about 10 minute’s drive! Well, why not? A lovely Airbnb, with a little kitchen (as opposed to the last place, which had a fridge and microwave, but no plates, cutlery or anywhere to wash dishes?!!!!) and some charming outside space. Just a short walk to the beach, we spent pleasant days just watching folks having fun in the pretty extreme surf. The beach was very noisy – especially at the weekend when it was packed – as everyone had to make as much noise as they could whenever a big wave came in. Africans can be VERY loud!

You may have noticed, dear reader, that we have barely mentioned The Mountain. Well, we decided to scale that particular – can’t really say peak, can we? – from Camps Bay, as it was within walking distance. One of Seven Natural Wonders, instantly recognizable, iconic, etc etc. No, we didn’t climb it, but took the cable car, which was quite an experience in itself. It is quite lovely when you reach the top and we loved it. Sod the two and a half hour climb…

After our lovely stay in Camps Bay, we took a great drive about 120 km along the coast, taking in more penguin sanctuaries and awesome scenery, to reach our current abode in Hermanus, the land-based whale watching centre of the world [should that be in caps? – Ed].

We are staying with a rather eccentric/drinking/racist/Trump-admiring lady in a garden studio in her amazing house, but enjoying walking along the coastal path and watching the right whales, who are very entertaining (in Yorkshire, they would be righti.e. proper whales – spot the difference?). Hermanus is a delightful seaside town, blessed with spectacular scenery around, some great bars, delicious wines - and whales.

Monday we move on and our itinerary – still quite fluid – becomes more short-term stays, so next blog will be????!

Stay cool xxxx

P.S. Hello hello hello.  Gosh what a lot has happened in the last three weeks!  One minute we’re scaling sand dunes in 30+C heat and next we’re scaling Lion’s Head in what felt like -30+C cloud and mist. This certainly is a country of contrasts and sometimes (especially here in Hermanus a pristine seaside town) we have to remind ourselves that we are still in Africa.  

Before we left Camps Bay we spent the day exploring the Cape by driving down to Cape Point and The Cape of Good Hope.  This was via the lovely penguins at Simon’s Town and avoiding the baboons while eating our picnic lunch on the cliffs above the meeting of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.  The scenery here is spectacular and as it was very windy it literally blew our breath away.  

We now have a car for seven weeks so it’s great to be mobile and be able to go whereever we please (without missing the Intercape bus too much!) This afternoon we are joining our host in her AMAZING house (think Grand Designs meets Space Ship) to watch the rugby… watch this space. Tomorrow is my birthday wheeeeeee – thankyoyu thankyou thankyou- so the cunning plan is to finish the last third of the 12Km cliff walk which ends at Grotto Beach and have lunch in the lovely restaurant there which is right on the beach. So fingers crossed that the weather is kind to us.  Time to go now as Andy needs the table to start to wrap all my presents [really? – Ed.].

Love and best wishes to all

Gillie xxxxx

PPS.  We just LOVE the whales and feel so lucky to have been here the same time as them!!

PPPS Somebody commented on the last blog, offering to send me some marking!!

Colourful Bo Kaap. Note the vintage Corsair!

That Mountain

Arty farty pic from Kirstenbosch

Kirstenbosch again - just lovely colours!

Mandela's cell

Lion's Head - we climbed that!!

Arty farty pic from top of Table Mountain

Obligatory sunset pic - from our Airbnb in Camps Bay

On the way to the Cape

Penguin at rest

A whale's tail...

Lovely bar on the rocks (whales behind - no, not whale's behind!)

Our view from the top of Lion's Head!

Gillie back to school!

Dinner ladies and gentlemen 

Glorious Camps Bay - with Lion's Head in the background. Did we tell you about...

Top of Table Mountain

Gillie sporting her new hat in our Hermanus Airbnb

A goose and some goslings (aaahhh)

More penguins (and us)

Look no hands - the girl to my left is trying to stop her dress blowing over her head!