Montagu to Barrydale

Barrydale

The distance between Montagu and Barrydale is only 62km or about 50years. Montagu was an epicurean delight with tasteful galleries and well spoken ladies of a certain age tottering around its clean Victorian streets, Barrydale is South African modern with garish tourist haunts on the main Route 62 but the town away from all that is more laid back with some hidden gems. I am staying at the Blue Cow Barn in a barn conversion, the owner also runs The Blue Cow Cafe @ the Barrydale Waterfront which is a cafe overlooking a large pool which contains masses of huge Koi carp and surrounded by nesting sites for brightly coloured native birds a lovely place for breakfast and lunch.

 Jacaranda tree with  bougainvillea growing through it

My room at the Blue Cow Barn

Looking back at Montagu

I spent a lot of time just exploring the town on foot but i did take a trip over the Tradouw Pass which was a pleasant drive with great but not spectacular views. Again I can recommend Barydale for good honest South African food by that I mean meat, the Art Hotel is a case in point, an award winning chef immaculate service and all for the cost of a McDonnalds in the UK. I also tried the local Pakistani take away, they seemed very surprised to see me but the chicken curry and roti took me back the my last visit to the sub-continent fantastic taste and so far nearly 24 hours later no repercussions.
Today I stopped off for a 3 hour lunch on the way here to Ladismith and I am now going out for a Friday night burger, more soon

Another gorge walk.

We left the excitement Friedenhof on Saturday morning and on our way to Montagu in the Little Karoo we slowly went back in time. I struck lucky this time, of all the places we passed through and explored on the way here Montagu is definitely the most pleasant with more restaurants and art galleries than would be expected in such a small provincial town. I am actually sad that I will be here for only 3 nights as I have not had a bad meal so far and there are places that I haven't tried yet.

Brilliant roadside stall on R62 which sells everything you might need

Harry and Marmalade strapped in.

Jacaranda trees near the Bree River

The temperatures are more pleasant with an expected high of 28C but even so I went early today to avoid the midday heat on a gorge walk up to the Avalon Springs thermal resort, this was a little less strenuous than the Samaria Gorge in Crete a distance of only 3km each way with refreshments at either end, you would have loved it Jane, just enough of a challenge to make you feel that you had earned that beer at the end, thought it was a little intimidating expecting baboons, snakes and leopards to ambush me at every turn but as it turned out that besides the myriad of birds that kept me company the only animal that contested my passage was a tortoise.

Did I just hear a baboon?

Cool place for a panad.

What lurks down that tunnel or in the bamboo???

He did't even blink as I walked past.

Ducks 'n stuff continued.

I had intended to climb Table Mountain this week but with a near three thousand feet climb and temperatures approaching 40C I took the adult decision to say no and I will try again next time. I have been stretching the legs at various wineries and I can recommend Spier Winery in particular, it has a huge acreage which you can walk around including trails of 5 and 10km and there are three eating establishments and a wine tasting centre with knowledgable staff. I must admit the diverse low priced good quality food over here is going to be my downfall even more so than the diverse low priced good quality wine and beer so in five weeks time the blob will be landing at Heathrow unless I up my exercise regime.

Ducks 'n stuff.

The duck parade

The duck wrangler with 4 eggs picked up en route to the vineyard

Yesterday on the recommendation of my host at Friedenhof, Kyle, I went to Vergenoegd Wine Estate to see their duck parade, every morning at 10:30 they release up to 800 Indian runner ducks into their vineyards to keep down the bug and slug populations, i got there early and had their interpretation of Eggs Benedict (not duck eggs I hope) at a ludicrously cheap price followed by the best cup of coffee I have had for six or more months.

An interesting few days.

We are now in Montagu on the edge of the Little Karoo and the weather has changed, not quite long trousers but blissfully cool after the last few days.

I have enjoyed the last four days at Friedenhof the location is midway between the winelands of Stellenbosch and Cape Town itself, I did try to pay a visit to Cape Town but traffic has increased hugely since my last visit here two years ago so I gave up that thought and went to Groot Constantia for a few bottles of my favourite Cabernet Sauvignon and then went to have a look at Century City - bad mistake, it is retail hell with over four hundred retail outlets but I did find an excellent samosa shop and the tourist information office. It was very crowded so much so that I now do not believe that there is a recession here in South Africa.

Friedenhof was a quaint little place, there were chickens and LOUD roosters and six dogs who defended the boundaries vociferously, I also had a male secretary bird who practised his display routines whilst  was breakfasting on my patio.

My room is on the left

In limbo

I am having serious IT issues and I cannot access the internet on any of my digital devices using Microsoft or Apple, I managed to connect to this site via Google Chrome so I aim to make the most of it.

Marmalade and Harry decided to accompany me on this trip, I think they got bored and cold last November whilst I was laundering my passport and picking up parking tickets in Spain, they are enjoying the temperatures over here but 35C was a bit too much for me in Stellenbosch at lunchtime today.

Anyway to start at the beginning, my good friends Peter and Helen gave me a lift to Llandudno Junction to catch the train to Heathrow via Euston, my seat ticket put me opposite Mike and next to Leonard a father and son team from Wisconsin who are travelling around the world for a year or so, they were good company after I got over the embarrassment of Leonard's conversation which mostly consisted of the F word and not in the quietest American accent I have ever heard, but the journey down to Euston passed quickly with us all telling tall stories.

Security at Heathrow Terminal 3 was a dream compared to Manchester Airport, the staff are efficient but personable and the queue was less than 15 minutes. In my estimation British Airways are coming on by leaps and bounds, not only was my seat in the World Traveller section comfortable with extra legroom but the attendant on my aisle was not only professional but young and took the time to make you feel as though you mattered, well done BA it has taken a while but you seem to be getting there.

Yesterday was a bit of a write-off, we landed just before 12pm local time and after an hour's queue to get through immigration/passport control my trainee counter clerk at Avis took another hour to sort out my hire car which is a very basic Hyundai i10 but to be honest it is fine for what I will be using it for and at less than £13 per day I cannot complain. I had researched the journey to my first stop between Stellenbosch and Cape Town and it worked perfectly, who needs satnav?  We arrived at Friedenhof to be greeted by Kyle who showed us to our home for the next four nights so after dumping the cases we did the normal orientation and necessities shopping before having a shower and a South African mega burger - no bun required, before an early night. 

Nine hours sleep last night, wonderful, and a relaxed start to the day with breakfast on the terrace and then some wine tasting and wine buying followed by lunch at the Deli-CAT-essen in Tokara winery outside Stellenbosch, this was a fortuitous find because it is not advertised in the tourist brochures and I only stumbled on it because I had arrived too early for the restaurant so I went for a walk in the grounds. The clientele were all local and I would estimate at the middle to top of the social spectrum which is probably why I was relegated to a bench on the edge of the patio but great plate of charcutterie and cheese along with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon along with this view made it a lunch to remember.

The view from my bench at the deli-CAT-essen at Tokara Winery

The winery wine-tasting/restaurant area from the 'Selfie Platform' ??

Saga in Crete

This trip was planned to tick off two items on my bucket list, the Minoan complex at Knossos and the walk through the Samarian gorge, both have been successfully accomplished.

The tour of the archaeological site at Knossos was interesting but the history of the Minoan dynasty was more so, I had not realised how powerful they were nor how far back their civilisation went, this is a subject for further research. I visited the archaeological museum in Heraklion which displays finds found throughout the island but mostly at Knossos and I was impressed with the quantity and quality of the objects on display but the items that stood out for me were 1. The Bee Pendant, a piece of jewellery more than three thousand years old which I doubt could be bettered today. 2. The Bulls head which was so beautifully made that despite being made from stone seemed alive. 3. The Snake Goddess, this lady showed her power in so many different ways.

Yesterday I did the walk down the Samarian Gorge to the sea, a total of 10 miles mostly on quite rough ground. I was fortunate enough to do the walk with six members of the Llandudno Social Meetup group so my thanks to David, Val, Pam, Linda, Keith and Jane for your valued company and support. The walk wasn't easy but I felt that I had really accomplished something and then this morning I was hit with the price of tight, sore calves and aching knees, just one more benefit of getting old!

Today I did have plans to go up to the fertile high plateau but it has now turned into a rest day.

I booked the trip as a Solos holiday with Saga but on arrival I found that there is a standard Saga holiday running alongside the Solos event. The Imperial Belvedere and its sister hotel the Royal Belvedere are one large complex outside Hersonissos and on an all inclusive basis are an ideal resort for families but not Sagaites who do not want wall to wall activities and an awful Europop soundtrack  until 11:30pm each night and the noise in the restaurant (which is more like a school canteen)  means that conversation over dinner is out of the question the only saving grace is the dedicated Saga lounge which provides a relatively quite haven away from the mayhem.