Middle-aged flash packers

Up and ready early, we pottered along to the Huguenot museum just along the road from us.

The Huguenots were originally from France but were persecuted for their religion and so many left France and came to South Africa. Franshhoek means “French Corner” and their influence lingers on, especially where the vineyards are concerned.

The museum is well laid out and covers the arrival of and how the Huguenots lived. Bizarrely there is also a perfume museum in the grounds, which was full of quite valuable perfume bottles made by Lalique.

Next, off to Hermanus. We’ll be staying here for the next 4 nights. Hermanus is famous for whales that mate and calf in the bay during the months of June through to end of November. S is very keen to see them so we have booked accommodation that looks right over the bay.

The Fear is making a strong comeback, with the host of our accommodation telling us not to walk anywhere at night. This is really quite annoying as we are only 10/15 minutes walk to loads of restaurants and bars.

Daytime walking is fine so we ambled along the cliff path to Fick’s , a restaurant and bar set alongside a tidal pool, just 5 minutes walk from our base. The weather was a bit cool but it was a lovely spot to have lunch and relax.

The coastline here is reminiscent of California in that it is rocky and the sea is freezing cold.

We needed to stock up on some provisions, so wandered up to Checkers and then Woolworth supermarkets and then back to “home” for the next few days.

While attempting to get ready on time in order to go out to eat (something I’m continually nagged about, apparently I’m always late) S spotted a whale and I’m exhorted to come and see. It was a mother with its baby and it looks as though they were playing – jumping up, splashing tails in the water and generally messing about.

As we walked to the restaurant, we saw a few more in the bay.

Our restaurant for the evening was Fisherman’s Cottage. It came highly recommended but is very modest in appearance- it really is a fisherman’s cottage!

It was incredibly busy but the food was superb so it’s easy to see why it’s so popular.

Our meal was amazing, and everything went smoothly apart from me setting the menu alight. (Tea lights are a complete menace and should be banned.) I managed to melt all the pages together so had to confess my crime, which the restaurant staff were very nice about.

Following our host’s advice, we booked a taxi home. It seems crazy when the distance was less than a mile. Still, no point courting problems on our first night.

Overall, A great introduction to Hermanus. Tomorrow we plan to visit Cape Alguhas, the geographically most Southern Point of Africa.