On to Betty’s Bay

It was time to leave Cape Agulhas Backpackers but as I was leaving the staff invited me to join them for birthday cake. They were celebrating 14 years in business.

The route from Cape Agulhas to Betty’s Bay was only 109 miles so looked to be an easy day. Again 90% of the route was on dirt roads. What I hadn’t counted on was missing a turning in the forest that would take me over the mountain and along the shortest route to Betty’s bay. It wasn’t until 11 miles past the turning that I realised the error. If I continued on, the sat nav’s re corrected route was going to add another hour to my journey, so I turned back. I am glad I did turn around as the track over the mountain was a small twisty, perfect dirt bike riding for over 15 miles but the temperature had risen to 31 degrees, so I was getting a tad hot in my riding gear.

I arrived at Hermanus an up market sea side resort at lunch time. It is a very nice town with beautiful sandy beaches as well as quality boutique shops and restaurants. I decided to head for the harbour and found an excellent fish restaurant for lunch. Looking around the harbour actually reminded me of home except that there were no sailing boats!

Back on the road after a great lunch and of course a couple of beers and only 30 miles to Betty’s Bay. The tarmac road took me along the side of a small mountain range on one side and the sea on the other...awesome scenery.

I arrived in Betty’ s Bay and was too early to book into my B&B. I had been told that Betty’s Bay was know for the penguins, so decided to head straight down to the penguin breeding area to take a look.

I sat on the ground and watching the penguins for a while and eventually 2 of them came wondering towards me. One thing you notice when near a number of penguins is the strong smell. They may look nice but boy do they pong!

Later after checking in to the B&B I took the opportunity to walk along the beach. The water looked inviting after a hot days riding so strolled down to the waters edge to test the temperature of the water.....wow it was **** freezing. It reminded me of being in Cornwall in April. There was no chance I was going to swim in this sea.

Looking along the beach the waves were breaking with such ferocity that there was a constant sea spray haze across the beach.

After walking the length of this beach I kept an eye out for the the car park area where I had originally started but couldn’t find the exit as the beach was lined with high dunes. Eventually I found an exit, but unfortunately it was not the right one and ended up walking all the way around Betty’s Bay to find my B&B. However by taking the detour I came across the Camelot pub...the only decent bar in Betty’s Bay. Needless to say I stoped for a beer and some dinner. I was only in the bar for 15 mins having ordered a healthy burger and chips and 2 beers and the bar man, Marco, told me my bar tab had been settled by a local who had decided to pay everyone’s bar tab...result!