Rothman Manor Swellendam

... lit garden surrounded by backlit exotic plants we both again had the sampler dish – this time, lamb, springbok and ostrich, each in their own distinctive sauce. To finish, I just had to try the peanut butter ice cream (tasty and very more-ish) whilst Vanda settled for drinking chocolate with kalaur.

Because of our late start and early stop, we felt we had been chasing the day today and had fewer sightseeing stops. In future must try to get away earlier and pace the day better.

... I hired a car instead of taking the bus. The only thing that would make it better was if I had my BMW with me.

We arrive at Hermanus and find the restaurant that Mark from Saltycrax recommended, Bientang's Cave. It's a seafood restaurant and is very expensive compared to everywhere else we have eaten. Nearly £10 a meal! The restaurant is in a cave with decking overlooking the bay.It's an excellent spot to watch the whales from as they play in the bay only meters from where you ...

... eclectic with stalls including from furniture, pancakes, books and alpaca products. We headed back through the hole in the wall and then on to take brief look around Swellendam which I thought was not so attractive as Montagu being somewhat more commercialised. Our route back took us over the spectacular Sir Lowry's Pass just out side Cape Town and so home in time for Helen to treat me to a lovely birthday meal at a fish restaurant called Millers Thumb.

We set off for Montagu and Route 62, calling in at the Olympia Cafe in Kalks Bay for a take-out coffee and a quick look at the harbour and the local fish. Then we hit roadworks for 30km.... Finally arrived in Montagu late afternoon, which is a beautiful little village set in a gorge. We found a very nice place to stay, wandered around a bit and then found a very nice place to eat dinner, in the courtyard of a Cape Dutch mansion under a 100-year-old pear tree.

... bought in Franschhoek. The next day we decided to walk around the town a bit, visiting a few shops on the main road. There we met Ester, a really sweet young woman who had just opened up a shop selling crafts from around the country. We talked to Ester and her boyfriend for a while and promised we'd visit if we're ever back in the area (Ester promised her boyfriend would take us fly fishing) - something not at all hard to imagine . . .

... with her choice, and Duncan will have to come back with a girlfriend for a second go at it.  We were going to try to make it back to Hermanus or there abouts to have another attempt at shark cage diving but the evening was drawing near (a dangerous time to drive for many reasons) and as we approached Barrydale, passing farms of sheep, cows, ostriches and the occasional baboon at the side of the road we decided this was the type of trip where we could afford to stop anywhere we liked ...

... to go to Holland, so I think I will have to make a trip there sometime in the future. That's the great thing about travelling, you end up meeting great people along the way and then have more excuses to travel again. I love it!! Today I am still in Swellendam but I am leaving this evening to go to Hermanus. The Baz Bus doesn't come until the evening as it is coming all the way from Port Elizabeth and Swellendam is only 250kms from Cape Town ...

... we got a much better look than off the Cape Point tour I was on a week before. There must have been a couple thousand of them, barking and yapping, they sounded like goats kinda. Or sheep maybe. Not what you'd expect anyway. Oh and they stank man. But they were cute and awesome and playful and fun. We threw some bait in the water and pretty soon the sharks started coming. The texas couple went in the cage first and I stayed up on the second deck watching the sharks swim ...

... of a stop, so we decided to spend the night. Driving through town we were amazed at just how deserted everything was. No one on the streets and nothing open (except the ATM. AVOID Standard Bank, they said 'your card issuer is unavailable', but when we got home there was a withdrawal on our statement!). Even the tourist information center was closed. Luckily Alison had found out about a great farmhouse B&B on the web and we decided to pop in and see if they ...