Playing the tourist on our own doorstep – Western Cape’s SWARTLAND area - DAY TWO
The day dawned clear and warm and after a good breakfast we headed off for Ceres where I had two geocache’s I wanted to hunt.
Cut to the chase… pun intended….. no hunt, no geocache. Our TomTom battery was flat and we did not pack the cable to charge. We are so used to using our cell phones for navigating. Plan B, we will do a hike somewhere nearby
I’m Alive!!!
We headed for a small village named Prince Alfred Hamlet (blink and it’s gone) and on the Northern outskirts decided to hike the Christie Prins Hiking trail in the Skurweberg Mountains. At the start of the trail was many beehives and two bees had the audacity to sting me on the back of my head
Just a few photo’s from the hike which had lovely views over the valley and orchards.
In the below picture the shadows clearly show we are hiking at midday, not the smartest idea
Close to the highest point…and I am already dreaming of an ice cold beer
The 6 km hike finished and the car around that bend, then we are off to find cold sustenance
We chilled the rest of the day and Monday morning we headed out for Wellington taking the round about route over Bains Kloof Pass ….a high, scenic pass which is a South African National Monument. This pass deserves a post of it's own, but in a nutshell it was built by a local 'engineer' Andrew Bain (he had no formal training as an engineer) using convict labor and it was completed in 1853.
Stopping to take some photo's we stumbled across a small pathway heading down the slope of the mountain, and on investigation we found a delightful 'hidey hole' with a stunning clear pool.
It was close to 30 degrees Celcius so no guessing what happened next..and no snaps taken !!
Bainskloof Pass has some seriously unique flora and I had some fun finding some I had never seen. Best example.
Some views from the top, and then we descended down into Wellington.......
A wine and ice cream pairing for lunch in Wellington before heading for our overnight destination
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the beautiful scenery.....
Beautiful scenery! I'd love to come visit, especially now that it's becoming winter up north.
It is truly truly a beautiful place .... but if you from the northern hemisphere I must admit the temperatures get pretty high in summer here....
The great thing about the Western Cape is the varied countryside all within an hours drive in any direction. Literally thousands of hikes for all durations..an hour to a week..plenty choice.