After another lazy morning and breakfast at home we set off on the hours drive to the Mouth of Storms River (which signifies the end of the Garden Route) in the Tsitsikamma National Park only to quickly turn back as Eliza was wearing sliders, not the best footwear for a days hike! This led to the first drama of the day as when we eventually got back and collected her trainers, one had a scorpion in it!! Needless to say, we will all be checking our shoes a bit more carefully in the future!
We were soon back on the road though and enjoyed the ride out from Plettenberg Bay. It was a stunning day with barely a cloud in the sky and very sunny. Along the way we crossed the boundary between the West Cape and East Cape which is a large bridge spanning a deep valley and pretty cool!
We eventually reached the car park, right on the coast, deep inside the Tsitsikamma National Park which covers 650km2 between Plett and Humansdorp as well as spanning over 80km of coastline. The route into the park took us through numerous sites of deforestation as well as lots of evidence of the replanting of trees. It is a beautiful place and well worth a visit.
We hiked the Mouth trail which took us down to the coastline and across 3 magnificent suspensions bridges which spanned the valley formed by the mouth of Storms River. Crossing these was great fun as they swung and bounced as we walked across.
Once across the bridges we then began a very steep ascent to the lookout point, right on top of the ridge line of the hills framing the valley. It was very hard work, particularly on such a hot day, but the views were stunning and well worth the exertion. After lots of pit-stops to catch our breath we eventually reached ‘Lookout Point’ and we weren’t disappointed with the views.
We made our way back down considerably quicker and rewarded ourselves with an ice-cream from the shop before returning home for a shower.
We spent the evening at Nguni, a lovely restaurant in the heart of Plett and had a great meal. Load shedding tonight was during the antisocial hours of 8.00pm-10.00pm so the power cut out during our meal but the restaurant are obviously used to it and carried on regardless. It just meant we couldn’t have a coffee at the end.
We then made our way back to Fynbos Cottages which was quite surreal, driving at night in a blackout. It also means this blog is slightly later as I have had to wait for everything to come back on before I can post it!!
The Perry’s Travel Blog 