We were up promptly this morning as we were checking out of The Crystal, our home for the last 4 nights and leaving for Franschhoek. We had a car delivered by Avis at 10am, bang on time, and my initial worries about it not being big enough for the 5 of us and all our luggage quickly changed to delight that we had a VW transporter, just like our van at home. Having a right-hand drive and driving on the same side of the road to the UK was also a real bonus!
We made our way out of Camps Bay and into Cape Town before saying our farewell and final goodbye to Table Mountain as we left on the N2 for Hermanus. The taxi strike had thankfully finished so life on the roads around the Cape were back to normal. On our way out of Cape Town we passed the Nyanga Township, one of the oldest and most dangerous Townships in Cape Town. We were shocked by the sheer size of it. It went on for miles and there must be millions of people living there.
The drive to Hermanus was 125km and took just over 1hr40m. From the N2 we turned off onto the R43 which then took us all the way to the coast and Hermanus. We parked up and had time for a stroll along the coastal path.
It was beautiful and we were able to see whales in the bay which Hermanus is famous for and the reason we wanted to visit! We also came across lots of Rock Hyrax’s that live on the clifftops and seemed very tame, although we didn’t get too close!!
We had booked lunch at Bientang’s Cave restaurant which had tables overlooking the bay and spent a lovely hour looking out for the whales as they came up to breathe. Catching them on camera was more of a challenge!!
We then set off on the journey to Franschhoeke, another 122km, which took us up and through the Mountains and the scenery was absolutely stunning, particularly through the Franshhoeke Pass, with lots of hair pin bends, steep climbs and sharp descents.
We arrived mid-afternoon at our cottage on the Boschendal wine estate – Cottage 1685. It’s very colonial and apparently one of the former homes of Cecil J Rhodes, a controversial British imperialist who was a former Cape Prime Minister and also conquerer of Matebeleland, later named Rhodesia after him and now known as Zimbabwe. We settled in and had supper in the Deli restaurant on the estate before returning to Cottage 1685 ready for bed!
The Perry’s Travel Blog 