With the wind once again in our favour, we set off on what would turn out to be a terrific ride through truly beautiful scenery. The lovely weather had once again brought all of the cyclists out onto the road as well as the motorcyclists. Our journey along the winding, climbing coast road was accompanied by waves and greetings and continually courteous car drivers.
Having encountered a bit of a headwind as we rounded the bay, we entered a sheltered section and made the most of the multiple view points along the road. We also got our first view of Cape Point, which seems remarkably close now, not to mention a little hilly!
Before too long we were riding down the hill into Gordon's Bay and from there, it was a shorter than we had expected ride to Somerset West.
In fact having negotiated our way through the town without too much difficulty, we arrived outside Paul and Penny's house shortly before midday. Paul and Penny are friends of Larry and Sharon (who we stayed with over new year), and had kindly offered to put us up when we arrived in Somerset West. As we have said countless times, about so many people, their hospitality has been amazing. A lovely lunch, drinks, the welcome use of their pool, our own room and later a nice meal out, at an Italian restaurant in Stellenbosch, was more than we could have expected.
The evening meal was especially good fun as we were joined by Paul and Penny's children Josh and Hannah. Josh has just started at Stellenbosch university (the best in South Africa? I am sure this may be contested by some!), so we had a drive by of some of the buildings and a brief tour of what looks like a very attractive town. On the return journey, we had a drive past the very smart looking school that Hannah attends and then went to experience 'Spook Hill'. It is one of those optical illusion roads where it looks like the road is descending when it is actually climbing. This was demonstrated by a quick release of the handbrake, where we amazingly found ourselves rolling backwards. It was as the name suggests spooky!
Back at the house, we were made the generous offer of the lend of a car, so that we can visit the wine region tomorrow. We had been planning a visit, but had been unsure how we were going to get there. We have obviously accepted the kind offer, so will be going on a tasting tour at a few of the wineries. It has been a terrific day, we hope that our remaining days in South Africa will be as memorable.
