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Published: March 22nd 2007
Groot Constantia Wine Farm
This is the oldest wine farm on the western cape. Established 1685. Thursday 22st March
Woke up early again to have a good breakfast. Bacon, eggs, toast, and fresh fruit. The fruit is so tasty in South Africa. The only bad news is the weather! Its cold and rainy outside and we’re picking the Harley Davidson up in 1 hour. Walking down Kloof Nek Road is about a 40 minute walk, did we get drenched! Typical it was 80 degrees yesterday. Must press on as we can’t delay hiring it. After initial wet ride up to Table Mountain, through the clouds, we headed inland on the N3 to the Constantia Wine region where we visited and had an hours wine tasting at the oldest Wine Farm Estate on the cape (founded 1685) called Groot Constantia. Here we fell in love with some art which we subsequently bought after some tough negotiating. We ended up buying two small oil paintings which Kirsten loved, and a large oil which we’re going to ship back to Mum and Dad. Note, M&D Simmons, please look out for a fairly large, fragile delivery.
After emptying our wallets, we got back on the bike and rode to Hout Bay at the top of the Cape Peninsula. Its
Groot Constantia Manor House
Picture of Cape Dutch Manor House in Groot Constantia. still raining and we are getting wet, but what the hell, the scenery is stunning. Unfortunately, I took a wrong turn in Hout Bay, and ended up in the wrong part of town where we had a pack of feral dogs chasing the bike and snapping at our ankles. The locals didn’t look friendly either. In Kirsten’s words “lets get the hell out of here, quickly!” . We left the area at a leisurely pace, not!
Getting onto the correct road, we traveled down Chapman’s Peak, a fabulous ocean drive south towards the Cape. Travelling via Fish Hoek and Simons Town, we visited a penguin colony at Boulder Beach, they are quite cute but stink to high hell. We then traveled to Cape Point, along the spectacular Cape Point National Park, where we climbed the end of Africa to reach the infamous lighthouse protecting ships from the treacherous waters of the Cape.
The only good thing about the weather was the fact that we seemed to have the Cape Peninsula to ourselves! Riding to the Cape of Good Hope, we had 3 ostriches join up with us on the road, and run along in front of the bike
Kirstens Paintings
These are the 2 pieces of art Kirsten bought for about a mile. Quite surreal! Unfortunately, by now the day was drawing in, so we headed north up the Atlantic coast, via Scarborough, back to Cape Town. It rained on the way back, and the temperature plummeted, so a hot shower was called for when we arrived back. We ate at another local restaurant called Gainsbourg, which was not bad, apart from we ordered Rib Eye Fillet and received Rump. After a short chat with the owner he changed the specials board.
An early night tonight as we are up at 5.45am tomorrow to ride to the Aquila Private Game Reserve.
Ta Ta for now. M & K
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