On the way to Cape Town

The weather forecast wasn’t good for the days ahead as we left Oudtshoorn to cross the Little Karoo. Our plan was to take Route 62 West all the way to Montague where we were hoping to get in some hiking. We stopped at the Jam and Tarts Restaurant in Barrydale for some coffee, but our stomachs were calling for lunch so we dined on wood-oven fired pizza, soup and hot chocolate. Sun turned to rain as we ate, but it stopped before we finished our meal. We told the restaurant owner we were headed to Montague for some hiking but she thought it would be probably be raining there and suggested hiking the hills that overlooked the town just North of the restaurant.

The trail was well marked and started at the East end of town circling around back to the road at the West end. It sounded like a great idea and we were itching to get some hiking in, so we paid the bill and drove down the road only about 150-200 yards to find the trail head quite easily. We scampered up to find a wonderful view of Barrydale and the surrounding valley. It was a great hike along the mountain ridges and had great views the whole way.

I got a kick out of taking a great zoom shot of the Jam and Tarts from the ridge above; that was, after all, the genesis of the hike.

View of the Jam and Tarts from the mountain

We got back in the car and continued our journey to Montague. The weather quickly turned very bad and we found ourselves driving through a fierce storm with driving sheets of windblown rain. The mountains that lined the road were invisible, shrouded in clouds and rain. The rain stopped just as we got to our guest house in Montague.

On the road to Montague

The next day was also planned as a hiking day and our luck and the good weather held out. On the way the trail we passed a small pond/conservation area that delighted us with its many birds.

Cape Weaver

African Sacred Ibis

Little Egret

It was even warm enough to hike in a t-shirt, and I though, “Wow, this is winter!”. We hit the Badskloof trail which ran through a spectacular gorge alongside a riverbed. It was lined with wonderful quartzite formations and was a bit of an obstacle course as we had to cross the river several times via rock-strewn crossings. Those quartzite shapes never ceased to amaze and delight.

Quartzite formation on the Badskloof trail

Winter hiking….in a t-shirt! Yeah, baby!

Expecting the weather to turn at any time, we felt very lucky again as the rain held off until we were on our way to Hermanus. Two hikes in two days dodging the rain. Sweet!

The landscape changed again as we moved inland on the way to Hermanus

We went to Hermanus for the reputed shore-bound whale watching and booked ourselves into a luxury hotel in to treat ourselves for our birthdays. Cindy’s was the 13th and mine the 17th. Hermanus and our hotel didn’t disappoint. We saw whales about 100-200 yards off shore the afternoon we arrived and the next two mornings we woke to see whales from our room and then continued from the restaurant as we ate breakfast. Incredibly, they just hung out wallowing in the seas off the shore. They even seemed to lie on their backs with dorsal fins up and out of the water. There were several whales including a mother and her calf.

Getting them on camera was not an easy task, however, especially with a compact camera. Often, the whales would surface, sometimes even exposing large parts of their bodies, and I’d click the button only to find the focus and shutter delay too slow to catch any good action. It took some patience but I was able to catch one or two decent shots. Cindy won the prize with this one, though………….

Wallowing whale from the shore of Hermanus

While there, the weather turned bad once again with rain and driving wind but we were snug in our large room and a wonderful sea view. Indeed, it was a nice birthday treat.