Sharon and Andy's World Tour 2006

And so, on Saturday 22 Jan we ate a huge breakfast then picked up our hire car (a newish Corolla, thank God for the air-con!) and hit the open road to Stellenbosch. This is the Wine Route, with plenty to satisfy the 'thirsty' traveller...

Stellenbosch itself is a large friendly town with a very cosmopolitan feel and a bit of a 'cafe culture'. We explored for a while, taking in the varied shops and the market before heading to our hostel (the Stumble Inn). This was quite a different affair from the Simon's Town Hostel but no less friendly nor comfortable.

After a terrific meal at a restaurant called 'Attitude' (with plenty wine, of course!) we turned in, ready for the next day's journey to...

...Montagu.

This was an interesting trip, not only because of the unrelenting parade of spectacular scenery (rocky mountain passes, forests, rolling green hills and so on) but also because of the need to give way in places to tortoises crossing the road, and at one toll-booth, a troupe of baboons!

We had been lucky enough to find a cottage to rent for two nights in Montagu for a very reasonable price, and it would be hard to imagine a setting more idyllic. Montagu is a very small, peaceful town surrounded by mountains and peopled by friendly locals. More wine, and a slap-up braii (barbecue) on the patio was the order of the first evening.

The next day we felt like some gentle excercise; Montagu offers some great hiking trails and we thought we'd try a 12km walk through Cogman's Kloof ('kloof' = valley). This was described being non-arduous and should take about four hours to complete. Five+ hours later we were still going..! Despite an initial speedy climb up a mountainside which involved scrambling over rocks in places, our efforts were fully repaid with -yet more- spectacular views and sightings of various Bok, and Dassies (a kind of big Guinea Pig type thing).

Knackered but happy, we felt fully justified in having another large braii and copious amounts of wine (bit of a theme developing here).