We managed to find a self catering apartment with safe parking for the night in Knysna. The town itself is busy and evening activity is centred around the Marina area. Once we unloaded our kit off the bikes it was straight down to the marina for dinner. We took the opportunity to have some fish, a big change considering I had only been eating steak and burgers for the last two weeks.
The next morning my colleagues decided to make their way back to Bloemfontein as Knysna was an ideal location to start the return journey. So this was the point we would part company and I would continue the route along the coast to Cape Town.
My route to Cape Town will take me along the gravel track roads through Mossel Bay then to Cape Argulhas to the most southern tip in Africa and finally on to Betty’s bay before making my way into Cape Town.
Knysna to Mossel bay was a short trip that took me along the garden route. The route was a mixture of gravel tracks and tarmac roads and took me through the Hoogekraal Pass, a relatively small pass in camparison to the previous ones I had traveled through on my trip from Bloemfontein to the coast.
Along the route I passed the largest/oldest yellowwood tree in South Africa, so stopped for a quick photo.
I had been told that Mossel bay was a place worth visiting, so my expectations were high. I arrived mid afternoon after an easy ride and booked into my accommodation just on the outskirts of town. After changing I rode into Mossel Bay which was like a ghost town. Maybe that was because it was Sunday. At the end of the seafront road there was the main attraction the longest Zip line across open water in the world. It came down from the cliffs across the rocks and sea spray to the end of the seafront road. Unfortunately it was closed, phew!
The bay itself was quite underwhelming, rocky and to be honest nothing special.
After riding around the town I found the harbour which had a number of restaurants hidden away. I opted for the Oyster/ Seafood restaurant but stayed longer than I had expected after downing several G&T’s and then had to ride 5kms back to my hotel in a T Shirt and no jacket...it was ****** freezing.
The following day I was off to Cape Agulhas, the most southerly point in Africa. It was to be a long day as the route was taking me 187 miles along dirt tracks for 90% of the way. To add to the challenge the temprature had risen to 32 degrees and the tracks were very dusty.
I eventually arrived in Cape Agulhas at 6.30pm and checked into my accommodation, the Cape Agulhas Backpackers.
The accommodation was vibrant and my room was right next to the pool...result! In fact it was so nice that I decided to stay 2 nights to give me a chance to fully explore Cape Agulhas.
The next morning it was time to be a tourist and visit the most southerly point in Africa.
At the point there is also a man made concrete impression of Africa...amazing.
Further along from the point is a ship wreck. This boat got caught out on the extremely rocky area around the point..it was worth a picture.
At lunchtime I went down to the harbour and as I parked the bike there were several people looking over the harbour wall. I wondered over to see what was going on. To my amazement there was a stingray about to be hand fed fish....and it was big! Not sure I would have got in the water to hand feed it but it was good to watch. It was one of these fish that killed Steve Erwin!
The fishing boats in the harbour were perfectly aligned.....spooky.
The beach by the harbour was only the beginning of 14 Kms of uninterrupted white sand.
And there was plenty of fishermen along the beach.
Cape Agalhas is a beautiful place and certainly more than just the most southerly point in Africa.
There are plenty of restaurants and bars and can only imagine that during the holiday season this place would be very busy.