Time to go hiking and see more of the lovely mountains and other scenery (and flowers) in the Western Cape province around Cape Town. Some boat work is being done - but at the usual slow pace, so I decided it was time to accept invitations to get away ... hiking up beautiful Chapman's Peak, .... a day excursion along the coast to Hermanus, seeing Right whales and a large pod of dolphins with young along the way, with a return over the mountains,... and a trip out to the pretty wine-growing valleyof Franschhoek, returning along the SE coast of False Bay, with a walk in some woods the next day and a quick visit to the nearby Klein Constantia winery. Many thanks to Amanda, and also to Penny & Nicholas, for the highly enjoyable days out.
Boat work has included dealing with mast lights, instrument problems, refrigerator and the gas supply to the galley, but the bad news was a rig check showing up a damaged shroud, which means the mast needs to be un-stepped to fix a new shroud, and a diver checking the main rudder - and finding it to be damaged and in need of a haulout to mend the fibre-glass... more delay before finishing the work on board... but all necessary for the boat to be safe to continue on eventually. So it's been good to get away at times - and the scenery is often stunning:
Proteas flowering on Chapman's Peak
Chapman's Peak Hike above Hout Bay, 17th July 2011
At the top of Chapman's Peak with Lee-Anne and Giovanna...!
And the view down to the sea with the distant road showing how far up we'd climbed...
Day outing to Hermanus last week with Amanda ..... A pair of southern Right whales were cruising along the coast south of Gordon's Bay, on the E coast of False Bay:
... and slightly further on, near Hangklip, at the SE entrance to False Bay, a large group of dolphins with several very young ones were circling in an enclosed, shallow, sandy bay - with what look suspiciously like sharks keeping them company!!:
The deceptively peaceful, sandy beach below Hangklip - I wouldn't dream of entering the water here for a swim.....!!
On Thursday, out from Diep River with Penny and Nicholas for a mid-morning coffee with cheese-tasting at the Fairview estate with its goats ....
Later, a lovely meal with a spectacular view over the Franschhoek valley with the old village set among its vineyards, followed by a visit to a berry farm with lovely views over the mountains around Franschhoek:
