Corker of a day

I slept early and woke early, which created the all-too-rare feeling of being wholesome whilst in the mountains. Mosquitoes were an irritation during the night and I had to periodically rub any exposed skin with repellent stick. Malaria isn’t present here but if it was I’d definitely be struck down with it in 7-10 days from now...

The sun illuminated the top of the closest mountains as I sat on the veranda, with more clothes than normal against the cold. It was a beautiful and tranquil start to the day.

The holiday is drawing to a close so I drove back south towards the Cape Town area, noticing some ostriches pecking in a field and a foolhardy tortoise on the main road which a line of traffic was being careful to avoid. In backwater towns I bumbled around and came to the realisation that I look like a burly local citrus farmer based on the number of people who addressed me in Afrikaans.

I drove to Stellenbosch as Robbie, an old flame from Cambridge lives there, and he’d arrived back from his Christmas break the previous day. We had coffee and the South African speciality of milk tart at the botanical garden and then went to one of the wine farms in the hills around town. The view pictured is from a chi chi wine farm which was packed out and where we did nothing other than soak up the surroundings. We left for a tasting session at a more down to earth place between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, and I had my most involved wine experience to date under a tree between a lawn and some centuries-old farm buildings. I bought a bottle of wine with ‘apricot notes’ as it had gone down well.

After a sit down and a strong coffee to ensure I was under the limit, I drove on to Gordon’s Bay which is, like everywhere else in the Western Cape, in a beautiful setting. I took the B&B owner’s recommendation for dinner at a local tavern, the Thirsty Oyster, where a schnitzel with mushroom sauce overfaced me.