Author: Rudy

Unlike yesterday morning, when we both slept in and nearly missed breakfast, this morning we were both up before 6am. We had set the alarm for 6:45 in order to meet Paul and Shirley down at the beach by 7:25 for a walk along the beach. The sun rose at 6:30 and low tide was at 7:35 today, and according to Paul and Shirley, going for a 12km walk on the firm sand left by the tide was one of the best things to do in Hermanus.

Robert and Arlene needed both their alarms to get up in time to join us. The four of us drove down to the beach parking lot where Paul and Shirley were waiting for us.

The plan was to go for a brisk walk along the beach until we reached ‘the rocks’ just over 6kms east, and then return to the parking lot. Along the way we saw thousands of mussel shells (the seagulls seem to have no issue with ‘red tides’ which have kept fresh mussels from being served at many of the restaurants we’ve visited). We saw other shells too, and a couple of stranded jellyfish. We even saw a dead seal that had been left behind by the tide. Although it was sunny at the hotel when we left, a heavy mist was rolling in from the ocean and for most of the walk we couldn’t see the mountains that run alongside the coast. So much for the scenery, but it sure made for a comfortable walking temperature.

Not too many other early-morning walkers out, although we DID meet a few, some taking their dogs for a run as well.

When we got to ‘the rocks’ there was another group (about 6 people) who were stopping there for a quick energy bar before continuing their walk. I climbed up to a ‘fort’ in the rocks — apparently someone actually lived there for a time during the war.

And then we walked back. It was nearly ten o’clock when we got back to the parking lot. The sun was doing its best to get through the fog and it was warming up. And there were quite a few more people out on the beach now.

We made it back to the B&B before they stopped serving breakfast (7:30 to 10:30). Good thing, too, because we’d worked up a powerful hunger with all that walking (and talking)! After a quick shower I headed down to the dining hall and had my scrambled eggs and sausages.

We sat in the upstairs big room for part of the morning. Shirley Martens stopped by to drop off a bottle of Ratafia for Arlene. They had been looking for Ratafia yesterday but apparently the liquor store was sold out. After making a call to another wine store and confirming that they had a dozen bottles in stock, we decided to combine a Ratafia run with a visit to the town centre for our lunch stop.

And so we went to town. Parked the car, got the wine, and ended up at the ‘La Pentola’ restaurant which had been recommended to us by our B&B host as well as the couple behind the counter at the wine store. Good choice! Four lovely plates, good drink, nice friendly service, and a view of the ocean. THAT’S why we love South Africa.

By 4 o’clock we were back at the hotel — and still the rain forecast for 2pm had not arrived! But a cloudy, misty, windy afternoon, especially after a long lazy lunch with a glass of beer or wine, easily lends it self to a bit of meddach-schlop.

And then it was time for happy hour. Our host lady had tried to get dinner reservations at a few nice restaurants for us this morning, but it’s Friday — the weekend — and the restaurants she tried were all booked up. So I’d called ‘Dutchies’, the little beach restaurant a few hundred metres down from our place, and confirmed a 7:30 table.

As we sat in the big room, having a glass of wine, the rain started. A little late, but at least the iPad weather app was not a complete write-off. And it rained pretty hard. This would be a good test for our new ‘water-proof’ rain jackets! We decided to take the car down to the restaurant.

When we got there we thought that likely the bad weather had scared off all the customers — there was nobody here! But after parking our car and opening the door to the restaurant we learned that bad weather was NOT bad for business! The place was full of customers!

We got a table in the corner and ordered our drinks. Then dinner. Not bad! We had a fine meal and even better dinner table conversations. Around 9:30 we finished our ice-cream dessert and got back in the car, headed for home.

We met again, this time in the ‘big room’, and shared a glass or two of Ratafia, from the bottle that Shirley had brought this morning for Arlene. It’s our second last night in Hermanus — our second last night together with the Dycks. It’s been fun. We’ll miss them when they go home on Sunday.

Sue and I slept in this morning. We almost missed breakfast, and that would be a BIG mistake! Although Sue gave me a little talk this morning about how I would need to make friends with our treadmill again when we go home, I could not help myself and ordered the full breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, and white toast) when I sat down at our table. Everyone else showed some restraint, so I felt a bit bad about that.

It was raining again when we woke up and it looked like it might be cloudy and rainy for much of the day. What to do? Well, one old guy (by that I mean a LOT older than us) and his wife, upon leaving the breakfast room, recommended we go visit the Lembu Art Gallery in town. Why not!

When we met the Dycks downstairs, all ready to go — they were wearing their snazzy red and green rain jackets and had hiking poles in hand. What’s this? Are we walking to town? No, let’s take the car.

We parked near the center of town and headed for the art gallery. Not NEARLY as exciting as Mr Old Guy made it sound, although Sue did come out with a little shopping bag in her hands. We wandered around for a while, and then decided that this would be the perfect time and place to look for rain jackets for Sue and me. And after not too much ‘shopping’ we found some!

Well, after all that ‘work’ it was time for lunch. We’ve been looking through some discount coupons we got from our friend Helene (in Sea Point, Cape Town) and we found a coupon for a restaurant called ‘Lemon Butta’. The menu looked okay. We went up the stairs and got a good table where all four of us could sit and look out into the bay (where big Right Whales play in October and November). All we saw were divers looking for crayfish and a misty horizon. We ordered fish (Hake) and chips — except for Sue, who ordered a salad. A couple of old-timers at the next table interrupted our conversation a few times, giving us some ‘advice’ and sharing some local insights.

After lunch we took a short walk around the bend from the point and saw a few ‘dassies’ (Rock Hyrax, or rock badger) relaxing and playing on the cliffs. Robert and Arlene took the car to go look for some special ‘port’ while Sue and I started along the cliff walk heading back to our B&B. It was cloudy, not hot, very comfortable for a walk. Along the way I got a Facetime call from Alex and Max — it’s Thursday morning at home. They are leaving for Grand Forks after school today. Max was happy and interested in seeing the vegetation and the ocean and beaches on our walk, and was quite talkative. It was great to visit a bit and show him where we were.

We got back to our room, showered, changed into the clothes we’d bought in town earlier today. Then we joined Robert in our upstairs ‘lounge’ for happy hour. I called Lizette’s to make a 7:30 dinner reservation.

We headed out onto the street at 7:15, walking the 10 blocks to the restaurant. We got an outside table and ordered, but soon asked to be moved inside because it was cooling off outside. We got a text message from Paul and Shirley — they are on their way home from another day of wine-tasting and would be joining us in about half an hour. We’d finished our food by the time they arrived. True to form, they brought another fine bottle of wine with them and while they ate their food we visited and drank some of their wine.

At the end of the evening (10 o’clock) we arranged to meet Paul and Shirley down at the Grotto Beach tomorrow morning at 7:30 for a brisk 12km walk along the beach BEFORE our breakfast. Whoa! That means we will NOT be sleeping in tomorrow (like we have been most of our mornings here). We may even miss our great breakfast here at our hotel. But we’ll get to experience the beach, the sand at low tide, and a great walk.

Another great ‘Saturday’-style breakfast at our B&B — scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes. Then at 10:30 we squeezed into our car and drove up the five blocks to Paul and Shirley’s house. From there they led us out of Hermanus and out into the surrounding countryside for a day of wine-tasting. Shirley had made a few cheese-cakes which she was delivering to some of the vintners whose wine the Martenses import into Manitoba.

Our first stop was at the Bouchard Finlayson Winery. There we were introduced to the owner, Mr Peter Finlayson. He was working in the back, but when asked if he would do a tasting with us he immediately left what he was doing and took us to the tasting room. He asked for the ‘big’ glasses, even though we’d been instructed not to swallow, to use the ‘spittoons’ on the table or we might not make it through the day! The Martenses credit Peter with ‘opening doors’ for them when they first started in the import business. He sat at the end of the table and called for one wine after the next. He had a quiet demeanor, and as we tasted the various wines, gradually working up to some very expensive vintages, he would make comments about each one and ask for our ‘opinions’. Peter reminded me of Ernest Hemingway, and it felt a bit like we were in a movie, sitting around a big wooden table, with the godfather at the head.

Because of the big traffic jam on the main highway into Hermanus, we had changed our route this morning. To get to the next winery we took a ‘shortcut’, or at least an alternative road. We drove through some very beautiful country, but quite bumpy gravel roads, for about 45 minutes. After passing through the tiny town of Bot River, we turned into the driveway to the farm and the home of Luddite Wines. A big truck was just delivering a load of grapes to the wine press. It is harvest time in the wine region; we are visiting wineries at their busiest ‘work’ time of the year.

We parked and walked up to the home of Niels and Penny Verburg. They welcomed us warmly and introduced us to their friends, Melissa and Ewen, who were joining us for a homestyle dinner. All ten of us sat around their big dining room table. Niels, who came in from the shop wearing big rubber boots and grape-stained shorts, began pouring glasses of wine for us to taste. He also told us how he started making wine 16 years ago, after working with wine-makers around the world. Niels is a big burly, sunburned, cheerful South African. He LOVES making wine ‘the old way’. Less technology, less additives and manipulation and interference of the process, and smaller batches. His newest wine, Saboteur, is a bit of a surprise hit, and there is a sense (and maybe a bit of regret) that it may force the Luddite winery to scale up their production. Niels said he didn’t care about the money, he just wanted to live a good life on his farm, make wine and play golf. I believed him.

After several glasses had been poured it was time for lunch. Penny served the delicious cold tomato gazpacho soup she’d made. Fresh bread. Two huge platters of salad with barbecued steak, tomatoes, feta on a bed of lettuce. Paul and Ewan were sent down to Niels’s wine cellar to select a dessert wine to go along with the homemade cheesecake Shirley and Paul had brought. We felt like we were part of a big family here — everyone sharing stories, laughing and talking, and getting to know each other.

Niels’s day had started off a bit late when the first truckload of grapes arrived at noon instead of at 9 in the morning. He needed to get back out there. So we said goodbye to our new friends and headed out to the shop to have a quick tour before going on to our next winery. Again, Niels took time to show us the workings of his small-scale operation. As busy as he was, there was always time for friends, even if they are new ‘friends of friends’ as we were.

Our last tasting was at Gabrielskloof. Peter-Allen is the son of Peter Finlayson, the owner of the first winery we’d visited today. Paul and Shirley describe him as one of the new young ‘rock stars’ of the South African wine industry. Again, he was busy working in the shop when we arrived, but immediately volunteered to take us for a tasting and a tour, not doubt due to the promise of some of Paul and Shirley’s homemade cheesecake. We again sat around a large wooden table in one of his big luxurious tasting rooms and began another round of swishing and spitting. We each had 3 big glasses in front of us, and Peter-Allen poured 3 whites followed by 3 reds for us to taste.

Then we left the tasting room and headed for the ‘factory’. Where Niels’s operation was all-natural and back-to-basics, this one was all high-tech and big volumes. We walked through 3 floors of all-steel refrigerated vats and new oak barrels and crates and palettes of bottles. Peter-Allen pulled a big syringe of wine from assorted barrels and squirted a sample into each of our glasses for us to taste. Spit into the gutter, move on, do it again. I think we tasted nearly a dozen wines at the Gabrielskloof Estate.

Paul and Shirley had one more winery to visit (and deliver cheesecake to) but it was after 4 o’clock and the Dycks and Nikkels were tired from all that ‘hard work’ and ready to head back to our hotel. We retraced our route through the countryside and got back to Hermanus around 5:00. Just in time for happy hour in the big common room over-looking the ocean. For once we could sip our glass of wine and not spit!

What should we do for supper? Our lady suggested Harbour Rock and offered to call them to make a reservation for us. So at 7:30 we were at this busy ocean-front seafood restaurant at the ‘New Harbour’ in downtown Hermanus. The girls ordered fresh prawns, Robert had a seafood platter, and I had sushi. We were nearly finished our dinner when my phone chimed — a text from Paul and Shirley: Casper and Meghan have invited all of us to their house for dinner Friday night! Wow! How can you help but not fall in love with this country? Good food, great wines, and marvellous friends!

After another fine breakfast at the Lavender Manor Lodge we got ourselves ready for a hike up the ‘Overberg’ mountains just up the street from us. Paul and Shirley had offered to lead us up to the top — Robert and Arlene decided they would not go up today and rather wait until Arlene was feeling a bit better. We also wondered if we should go — it was very misty outside, the top of the mountain was shrouded in dark grey clouds, and there was a bit of rain on and off. Maybe the trail would be too wet? So we sent a text to the Martenses — no, they were ready to go!

We set off up the road at 9:30. The road leads up to the base of the mountain and from there we took a short turn and then followed the path as it ‘zig-zagged’ up to the top. The mist was cool and a bit uncomfortable — we were soon sopping wet, water dripping down our faces and shirts soaked right through — but this was still a lot more comfortable than a super hot day!

The fynbos vegetation was lush and green. We visited all the way up, so the actual climb was probably less challenging than what we had imagined — but TALKING and hiking at the same time does present some extra difficulties. Not to be deterred, I just kept yapping away for most of the morning hike.

We got to the pole at the top of one of the craggy hills — time for a photo before turning around and heading back. It actually cleared up a little as we made our way down, but by the time we dropped off Paul and Shirley at their house and got back to our B&B it was raining again. So we had to take off our shoes and tip-toe up to our room and get showered and changed. We hung our wet clothes on the adirondack chairs on our rooftop patio and hoped the sun would come out sometime later today so things would dry out.

In the meantime, Robert and Arlene had put on their raincoats and walked the cliff walk all the way to town. Now we got a text asking if we’d like to join them. It was still raining and I figured they would probably want a ride back. So as soon as we’d showered we hopped into the car and drove to the point. We found the Dycks sitting at the Auberge Burgundy restaurant. They were waiting for us.

Sue and I shared a plate of calamari. The rain seemed to have stopped, but it looked like it might fall again any minute. We all got into the car for the ride back to our B&B. Back at the room, Sue had a bit of a nap. I worked on my Namibia desert photos — selecting and uploading them to my journal entrees from a few days ago. I had a LOT of photos, but managed to whittle things down to a more manageable size. (You can check out my photos here — Kulala Day 1 and here — Kulala Day 2).

Soon it was time for happy hour up in the lounge. Then we got our jackets and headed out, down our street to “The Grotto Beach”. We found our restaurant, “Dutchies”, and got a table for four inside. We ordered. The girls had kingclip, a local fish, and thought it was very tasty.

After dinner we walked back up the hill to our hotel. I got a text from Paul and Shirley — we’re all set for a ‘wine-tasting’ excursion, leaving from their house at 10:30 tomorrow morning. Yes!

Breakfast at the Lavender Lodge is great: bacon and sausages and eggs any style and toast and fruit and coffee, etc. It’s going to be a week of Saturdays for the Nikkels.

After breakfast we went on our first ‘cliff walk’. Robert joined us, Arlene stayed in bed to try to sleep away her stomach problems. Our first stop was at a little ‘OK convenience store’ not far from our place, where I ‘topped up’ my phone card — so now I’m good for another month. We went back across the street and headed for the cliff walk along the ocean. We walked for 3 or 4 kms until Robert thought he’d better go back and check on Arlene. Sue and I continued. The walk was mostly paved or cemented path in and amongst the rocks on the shoreline, sometimes weaving a little farther away from the shoreline, back through the fynbos that grows in the wild here.

At one point we headed back to the main road for a short stretch, but soon we were back down along the shoreline. After just over 6kms we were near the end of our walk — and we’d arrived at what we believe is the very apartment block where we stayed in December of 2001, and from where we’d watched the big Southern Right whales playing

in the bay with their calves.  I took a picture of the apartment building, for “old time’s sake”.

We walked around the little markets in this part of the city and finally we sat down under one of the big umbrellas at an outside ‘food court’ and had lunch: Hake and fries and a draught and a cappuccino. We did a bit of scouting around after lunch, even checking in with a real estate office to see how /what are the opportunities for us to perhaps rent a furnished apartment for 3 months here next winter — just checking.

After that we started on our walk back to our place. It took about an hour and a half to get back home, but once we did we made ourselves comfortable out on our balcony (over looking our parking lot, but looking out to the big mountain behind our place. Robert came up and joined us for happy hour.

After drinks and a quick shower it was time for supper. I’d called Lizette’s Kitchen to reserve a table for four for 7:00. We took the car the 10 blocks down our road and parked in the parking lot. We got a table — and a good thing that we’d reserved because the restaurant appeared to be fully booked. We had just put in our food order when Sue noticed Paul and Shirley getting off their little Vespa motorcycle outside. Ho, ho!

They join us, and the six of us move to a smaller room in the back of the restaurant for dinner. Paul and Shirley have brought 3 ‘new’ bottles of wine with them — this is a ‘tasting’ evening — they are making some decisions regarding what kinds of wine they will want to export to Manitoba — that is the business they are in. And tonight we will get to help them ‘choose’!

We share a lovely evening with them — and their wine. When, at around 10:00, we get up and say goodbye, we’ve arranged to run up a trail on the mountain behind our place together with them tomorrow after breakfast. And we’ll be going on a wine tour of some of the wineries they deal with on the day after tomorrow. This will be fun!

We all squeeze back into our Volvo 2-door and head back to our house, 10 blocks back up along 10th Street. I park the car and soon we’re joined by Robert and Arlene back on our patio. The evening is cool, but very comfortable. We can hear the crashing of the waves, and sometimes catch a whiff of the salty sea from our place up here, too.

By eleven the Dycks have said goodnight, and it’s Rudy and Sue alone in our first floor hotel room. We have a small old-style Sony TV — we watch a bit of CNN. I write in my journal and Sue reads her iPad until we are both tired and ready for bed. The cool breeze is blowing through the slatted shutters of our ‘patio door’. Let’s hope it’s a good day weather-wise tomorrow — I’m looking forward to climbing that big mountain.