The Garden Route

Pick the hire car up for our 5 day venture east along the coast. A little Opel Corsa that is very forgiving of the “speedy gonzales” driving!

Our first stop is Mossel Bay after 4.5 hours and we’re not really sure why it’s called the Garden Route as we head there. Nice enough with low mountains framing rolling farmland - parts remind us a bit of the Lake District without the lakes; we could equally be in Wales or in the German or Austrian Tyrol - but not really very gardeny! Think we probably needed to detour from the main road a bit.

At Mossel Bay we take the wrong turn and end up driving through the township. Huge, and like so many has some really lovely houses and some really basic shacks. At least this one has power and sanitation.

We haven’t managed to book anywhere to stay so head to one of the backpacker hostels - Park House Lodge - to have a look at a dorm room courtesy of the Tourist office. What a beautiful house! Victorian sandstone with fabulous gardens, a great balcony, lots of hammocks, and furnished really elegantly. A mix of African and Victorian décor and stripped wooden floors. The owner also has photographs of Sting, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, David Bowie and Tina Turner - proper photo’s not fan club type - in the living room. We decide to stay and try the dorm experience. Pretty good actually. No heavy snorers fortunately. Decide to book again for our return journey.

Have our best meal in South Africa at Kingfisher restaurant at The Point. Seafood chowder followed by Butterfish (really rich and moist) and Kob (flavour a little like a mild mackerel). Obviously a popular place with the locals - it’s packed through to 5pm for lunch.

Mossel Bay itself is essentially a tourist/holiday resort. Reminds C of Wales. At 5-00pm all the shops close and it’s very, very quiet. Working harbour gives it a nice feel and the steam train that runs between MB and George, the nearest big town. Another backpackers lodge on the beach looks interesting. The Santos Express is made up of old train carriages converted to rooms and a restaurant. Fully booked or we ’d have liked to stay there.

Catch some rays on the lovely sandy beach (packed as it’s the weekend but sea choppy as its overcast) then head off for Pletternberg Bay via Wilderness. Scenery is much more attractive on this stretch; canyons, valleys, rivers, lagoons and lots of beautiful flowers at the various farms and garden centres along route.

Wilderness is sandwiched between the coast on one side and a lagoon on the other. Very attractive place. The surf rolling onto the beach makes swimming an impossibility though so we decide to keep going to Plett.

This is another tourist resort - possibly a bit more upmarket than MB but no real character. We look hard but can’t find any seafood restaurants that grab us so decide to take advantage of the braai (BBQ) facilities at Albergo Lodge. This is another great place. We have a lovely room and every night they light the braai and everyone cooks their own dinner. Nice evenings spent chatting to other travellers. Four dutch women are working locally as volunteers on a research project trying to establish the extent of drug use in the township as part of their degree course in Human studies (what will they think of next); seems to be statistically flawed as everyone denies drug use even if they’re obviously stoned!! The Dutch & Germans visit a lot as Afrikaans is similar to their language & the architecture of the place reflects their styles.

Try to visit the Bloukrans Pass, which has the world’s highest bridge bungee at 216m, but the road is closed. (Weren’t going to have a go of course - just to hear the screams of others!!) Instead detour along Nature’s Valley, which is very scenic. A winding road down a canyon with very lush vegetation. Loads of flowers Mum would know the names of; recognise them from her flower arrangements.

The surf at Plett is rolling and loads of guys are out on boogie boards and surf canoes riding the waves. For swimming there’s a really nice lagoon made by a land spit so you have waves on one side and calm on the other.

As the weather in Plett doesn’t hold we head back to Mossel Bay where the sun is shining. We stop at Knysna (pronounced without the K) on the way - a pretty freshwater lagoon town. Buy “The Long Walk to Freedom” (the bio of Nelson Mandela & the struggle for black equality & SA as a democracy) - will come in handy for the 24 hour bus journey to Durban over the weekend.

This time at the Lodge we take a double room - tempted by a bargain offer on the room price. Lovely! More rays with a lovely calm sea but cold as hell - why do they shine on M more than C!!?? - and then another great fish supper at The Sea Gypsy Café by the harbour. Mussels in creamy very garlicky sauce, then Butterfish again (and equally good) and Kingklip - a fish like a catfish but great taste and texture.

As we head back to Cape Town, we meet some of the guys from the other truck who are just headed down to MB. Amazing coincidence stopping at the same service station and good to hear how the rest of their journey went.
Tried to meet some of the others when we got back but they had left for home or truck journey back for Ruth who wants to be a tour leader.

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