Day 12 the final day

 Our hotel in Constantia is a game of two halves. Very nice room in beautiful surroundings 

But last night we had the worst night's sleep ever. The hotel is on the 2 oceans marathon route this weekend. They started up the music and PA at 4am , which kept us awake for the rest of the night. We then found out that we couldn't get out of the hotel as the access road was closed off for the marathon until midday..... When I complained about the road closure and the noise , they said that I should have known about the marathon before we booked the hotel... anyway - I stole a kit- kat from our room when we checked out - that'll teach them eh..

The pesky runners

We went over to Camps Bay again to catch the sunset

And then went to another place for cocktails and pudding

And a nice view over CT

So that's our last day... a very early start tomorrow to the airport and home.

Our 8th visit to South Africa and its still a country that never fails to deliver - lovely people - fantastic scenery and great value.

Day 11 in the navy

 A lovely sunrise over Simon's Town this morning

We have a few hours to kill before lunch so off to the Naval museum

This was also a stopping point for several Antarctic expeditions. Shackleton and Scott both spent a bit of time here. And both HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were here in 1840 and 1843 - a couple of years before they both disappeared trying to find the North West passage on the opposite corner of the world. The ships were both found only 10 years ago. It's a fascinating story if you have time to delve deeper into it.

Anyway here's my lunch and a few other nice pics

Big beautiful oysters!

Big beautiful cocktails!

We moved on to Constantia via the beach at Muizenberg

Looks amazing but the water is fffreezing.

A nice view on the way to our hotel

A surprise side trip to Thomas & Tracey pre wedding do. Wonderful to meet the boys again - it's been a long while.....

Day 10 on the quay

 A three hour drive back to Noordhoek to meet up with L&D again. Some nice  lunch and then went went over Simonstown where were staying tonight

A nice room

And an even nicer view

This is the biggest navy base in SA. It's been a naval base for 200 years first for the Brits and then to South African navy.

Found one of my favourite things- a Martello Tower - this one is tucked away behind some buildings now - built in 1796 it's one of the first things the Brits built when they occupied the Cape - never used in anger.

And this is Just Nuisance 

He was a Great Dane who was the only dog to ever be officially enlisted in the Royal Navy between 1939 and 1944..... he used to follow the sailors around and would lie around the decks of the ships. He was allowed to roam freely and following the sailors he got on the trains and regularly ended up in Cape Town. He would wait for the train back or walk to another station. The railway company wanted to ban him and wanted him to be destroyed. So the Navy came up with the solution of enlisting him which would entitle him to free travel. He never saw active service but did a lot of promotional events. He was a big beast - over 6' tall on his hind legs - and allegedly killed a couple of  ships mascot dogs when they put into port so he wasn't all nice....

Baboon alert - this fellow just took a look over our balcony

And a nice sunrise over the bay this morning

Day 9 back in time

 Jimmy Logan - A Scots  ex railway man who joined the merchant navy got off his Australia bound leaky ship in Simonstown, walked to Cape Town and got a job on the railways. This was 1876 and this lad was 19 years old. He become stationmaster at 20. By 21 he was married and superintendent up the line at Touws River. It was a bustling place connecting to diamond mines in Kimberley and later the gold mines of the Reef and there were not enough hotels and places to eat. There were no dining cars on trains so he spotted an opportunity.

He got himself a concession for railway refreshment rooms and a lease on the local hotel

He moved up the road to Matjiesfontein and built himself an empire with refreshment rooms, hotels and land.

During the Boer War this area there were 10000 British troops and 20000 horses stationed here and the hotel served as a military hospital

It developed into a victorian health and holiday resort for the wealthy but by the '20s Logan had died and it had lost its attraction. By the '50s it was run down and shabby.

Then along came David Rawdon - 1968 he bought the whole village - pumped a lot of money in and got the place back on its feet

It's basically a Victorian tourist attraction now 

The Lord Milner Hotel

Coral pulling the levers in the signal box

Is that Sir Cliff??

It had a little motor museum

 

And a nice little bar

And dining room

All in all an interesting place to stay over and take in a large dose of Victoriana 

Day 8 on safari

 We checked out of Stellenbosch today to drive up the road to a little colonial town called Matjiesfontein. (Mickeysfontain - - it's a tricky one)

It's about a 2½hrs drive along a road that is stunning pretty much all the way. I wasn't expecting too much - I thought it was going to be dull and flat but it turned out to be the complete opposite.

   

How about this for your morning commute

But watch out for the baboons...

We took a little side trip to Aquila game reserve. A couple of hours game drive with our guide

We kicked off with some Ellies

Then some zebras

Lion

Rhino - they cut off their horn so they have no value to poachers

Some rhino poo - they don't poo randomly... they make themselves a designated area so it's all tidy

And some hippo

A great day - by the time we got to our hotel it was dark - total blackout dark and no street lights so I'll be keen to see what this place is like

Day 7 on the vine

 Time to sample the grape. We're in the middle of the Cape wine region so it has to be done.

We go down the road to Franschhoek - don't forget the double H ! - the name means French corner - 17th and 18th century French Huguenot arrived here and hence a lot of French names for the wineries.

We tried Paserene Estate first of all

Served by Yolande - a lovely girl from Zimbabwe - when I said we first visited SA in 1998 she told me she wasn't born then...... 😬 she's working her way to becoming an accredited sommelier 

The tasting consists of 5 wines - a rosé 2 whites and 2 reds - all for £6

The view wasn't bad either....

Peace and quiet- a gorgeous setting

We moved on  for lunch - a couple of platters of cheese and charcuterie 

This is one for Dexter 😁

The food is one of the nicest things here - you never get a bad meal and it's always beautifully presented.

A lovely day out and nice evening watching a bit of telly with a nice cup of tea - no more wine for me today 

We're off to a place called Matjiesfontein tomorrow