The Bald Journaller
- Sep 9, 2023
- 3 min read

A long walk and a lazy day

Well, the Robberg Peninsula didn't disappoint.

In fact the opposite - what had been billed as a reasonably easy 6km stroll actually turned out to be bit of a hike and scramble.

Sufficiently beautiful and relaxing to be enjoyable and sufficiently hard for us all to be slightly knackered by the end of it!

But there was a very convenient coffee van in the car park to greet us on our return some 3 hours later. And oat crunchy biscuits. Heaven.

From spotting Cape Fur seals from the high cliff tops...

to gambolling down the sand dunes, it was yet another fabulous morning.

And we really did intend to go swimming in the ocean as soon as we got back to the hotel, but lunch called us, and then it just cooled off enough for us to declare it beer o'clock with not a swimming suit in sight. Maybe tomorrow we said!

Which we had very intention of doing (again), until the lifeguards shut the beach because at high tide the rip currents are too dangerous. As the sun had hidden itself temporarily, this was not the worst news I had ever had so it was we wandered back to our lovely little hotel to while away the afternoon with a book, or writing this bilge. But with the added bonus of southern right whales, gently swimming across the bay in front of us. Barely visible on the iPhone photo, even with the help of a big black arrow, so you'll just have to take my word for it! Of course they breached and dived - whilst I was looking somewhere else! Hoping for better views in Hermanus in a week's time.

We spent his morning exploring Plettenberg Bay town. Which actually threw up a couple of interesting moments. The High Street is populated with upmarket trendy shops, mostly empty of customers and so presumably almost entirely aimed at the tourist and rich local market. And the "season" hasn't quite got started yet. The prices were off-putting even with our relatively generous exchange rate, but further down the road we came across the, what seems to be almost ubiquitous, shopping mall. Here the shops were full of goods you actually need and were patronised by a full cross section of the community. Probably the first place in South Africa, on this trip at least, where I have felt we were in a real mixed community. I rather liked it, and a real estate agent, clearly spotting my affinity for the place, tried to sell me a luxury home overlooking the Indian Ocean. Only briefly tempted! Forgot to take any pictures other than of the angelic Andy!

We also managed coffee and muffins - muffins the size of my fist!

And so our "beach" part of the holiday draws to a close. The weather hasn't been quite as kind as we might have hoped. Plenty of sun (apart from today), but it is actually warmer back home, and the late afternoons and evenings have sometimes been decidedly chilly. So might not get that swim in today either. But then we are only just out of winter here. Tomorrow we head a little further along the coast before heading inland to the Klein (little) Karoo, semi-desert. The vegetation, the climate and the landscape will presumably change again. Variety, as the say - spice of life.

We are heading for town this evening to eat and watch the opening game of England's Rugby World Cup campaign against Argentina. Then all I have to do tomorrow is find place to watch Scotland take on the Boks. On a game reserve in the middle of the desert. Shouldn't be too hard!

So to call it a day once more, I will if I may, include a couple of pictures, I have now managed to extract from my camera, having purchased a card reader in Plett. Maybe more to come when I have sorted them. That is a big mouth!