Day 14

Day fourteen
Thursday 30th January 2020
Current position
Nautilus Cottage
Marine Drive
Overstrand Local Municipality
Western Cape
7200
South Africa
S 34°25.24566'
E 19°14.25006'

We had another long day in the car covering some 253 kilometres.
It was very pleasant sitting out in the sunshine eating our breakfast in the little Guesthouse garden
Today we passed through some very barren tinder dry landscapes. There were huge fields of brown scorched earth stretching to the horizon. Whether the crops had already be harvested or whether they had been planted grown and withered was hard to tell but we felt sorry for the scrawniest of sheep trying to scratch morsels of food from the unyielding ground.
Our morning stop for coffee was at a tiny café in a small shopping mall where we bought some snacks for lunch. Later we ate them in the car watching two kite surfers braving the fearsome onshore wind which was whipping up the turquoise water into a frothy white lather. It was far too windy for us to venture out. When I opened the car door it was nearly blown off its hinges.
After lunch we motored on a little to the Old Lighthouse near the most Southerly tip of Africa, where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean. The wind was still as fierce but we couldn't miss the view from the top. The lady at the desk was a jolly soul and laughed and joked with us as we paid for the climb. There were seventy one steep wooden steps devided into four flights. Ros made the first three but the fourth, a vertical ladder, defeated her. So it was up to me to conquer the last flight and get to the top for the exclusive photographs. The final flight went up a small tunnel to a thick iron door at the top. Being mindful of the strong wind I gingerly turned the latch and the door creaked open for about six inches before it was caught by the wind ripping it out of my hand and bang it flew back crashing against the wall. I carefully followed with a vice like grip on my phone and camera. The wind was so strong I also had take a grip of the iron railings or I would have been blown off like an autumn leaf. There were another half dozen steps up to a mezzanine walkway round the lamp which was begging to be climbed. So throwing caution to this awful wind up I went. There was only a quarter of the circumference of the lighthouse that was sheltered the rest was hammered by natures full force. I took shelter there for a moment or two to take some photographs checked all was secure then bang I was back being ravaged by the wind. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that I was the only one brave enough to be there but I was. I must admit it was a good to be back inside the Lighthouse and after straightening myself up we retraced the steep steps back to terra ferma.
We drove another kilometre past the lighthouse to the exact spot where the two Oceans meet. Out in the raging gale and a few more quick photographs we were off again heading towards Hermanus.
Google maps plays tricks on us just like Zumo and took us down two dirt tracks the longest of which was twenty six kilometres. The surfaces was bumpy but not too bad which meant that we could career along at 100 - 110 kmh with not a lot of difficulty kicking up a trail of brown dust as we went. It was something I doubt I would have done in my own car but hey there was certainly no possibility of falling asleep.
We arrived at our Guesthouse Nautilus Cottage before six o'clock as instructed. A pleasant young lady showed us round. It was more like a hotel than a Guesthouse. The pool looked most inviting and our room was more akin to a five star hotel all for less than the cost of a Travelodge.
In fact It is so nice that we are going to extend our stay and spend the weekend here. Unbelievably it only took five minutes on the phone to increase the term on the car rental which will be paid for by the excess kilometre charge that we've run up as we'll gain another three hundred kilometres from the extra three days.
All we need now is for the good weather to continue which as you know does not normally happen when we find a nice pool and want to stay longer.
Then it was out for another good meal before heading back to our room before the scheduled electrical load sheading curfew at 9.30pm.