Day trips from Hermanus
Day trips from Hermanus
As a visitor to Hermanus, and a guest at Eastbury Cottage Self-Catering and B&B, you might have just missed the whale watching season which happens from July to the end of November each year and the annual Whale Festival! Don’t be disappointed, there are more than 300 things to do in Hermanus and its natural surroundings that will entertain and interest you and your family. You’ll find that you will want to extend your stay in this, our beautiful Riviera of the South. In the following blogs, we will outline a number of day trips from Hermanus to the Overberg and Cape Whale Coast of the Western Cape that will keep you coming back for more!
Day trip 1: to Bredasdorp, South Africa’s first town, via Stanford and Napier
(Hermanus to Bredasdorp is about an hour’s drive – 200kms in total there and back)
Drive east heading out of Hermanus along the R43 (main road) in the direction of Stanford, along the foot of the majestic Maanskyn mountain range to your left and the bird rich Kleinrivier Lagoon on your right. Continue past fynbos flower farms, vineyards, mountain springs and waterfalls until you reach the turnoff to Stanford (28kms). Turn right into this charming village situated on the Klein River, famous for its boating and canoeing, fynbos flower cutting, abundant bird watching, quaint restaurants and many resident artists. Enjoy a farm fresh meal at the local farm stall and then wend your way back to the entrance to Stanford and continue along the R326 towards the N2, not forgetting to stop at the Birkenhead Brewery and Kleinrivier Cheese factory a few kms out of Stanford.
Enjoy the beautiful scenery of wheat farm lands and vineyards along the way until you reach the cross road. Turn right onto the R316 to Bredasdorp via Napier.
Napier is famous for its annual Potato Festival each year and is surrounded by a sheep and wheat farming community. Well known for its warm hospitality, stop for a rich cup of “Boere” coffee and a home baked cake or scone at one of their coffee shops and eateries that line the main road.
Bredasdorp, with its busy railway terminus for the area’s wool and wheat farming, is just a few minutes further along the road. Here you will find a wonderful Ship Wreck Museum to sail you into the past as you observe the many salvaged artefacts. The Kapula Candle factory is a “must see”. Make sure you give yourself enough time to wander through the showroom of the factory with its amazing hand painted and scented candles. Make sure you have enough space in your luggage to take home these delightful souvenirs. Visit the Heuningberg Nature reserve and Garden and the old milkwood tree at Renosterfontein.
If you have spare time, do drive a further 23kms on the R316 Arniston, a small fisherman’s village so named after a British ship which was wrecked here in 1815. Visit the national monument, Kassiesbaai, which historically, is home to Arniston's fishing community. The South African name for Arniston is now popularly known as Waenhuiskrans due to the close proximity of a huge cavern in the cliffs. It is said that an ox wagon and its oxen could be turned full circle in this cave, hence the directly translated name “wagon house cliff”. I’ll chat more about this picturesque village in our day trip to L’Agulhas via Elim.
The road less travelled to Hermanus and wines!
November is promising to be a bumper month in Hermanus with regards to visitors. Bookings are looking very good at Eastbury Cottage, especially in self-catering www.eastburycottage.co.za .
The Southern Right whales are presently very active in Walker Bay and guests at Eastbury Cottage are being rewarded with wonderful sightings. The weather is warmer and the fynbos and proteas are in full bloom.
The drive to Hermanus from Cape Town via the Cape Whale Coast Route R44 which takes you past Gordons Bay, Rooi Els, Pringle Bay, Hangklip, Betty's Bay and Kleinmond is well worth the few extra minutes along this very scenic route. The lovely fynbos flora is in bloom, the magnificent views of the turquoise oceans of False Bay and Sandown Bay on the one side and the magestic mountain ranges towering heaven wards on the land side of the road are breathtaking. Enjoy and soak up the beauty...and if you think this is wonderful...wait until you get to Hermanus! It really is a "paradise on earth" as described by our aptly named "Hemel en Aarde Valley". This valley, which is divided from the town of Hermanus by the Raed-na-Gael mountain range, boasts world class wines from the most southerly vineyards in South Africa like Hamilton Russell, Bouchard Finalyson, Southern Right, Newton Johnson, Creation, Sumaridge, Whale Haven, Hermanus Pietersfontein, to mention a few. Take a day (or two) to taste the wines along this valley route and enjoy the restaurants like Heaven, La Vierge, Seasons, Eat, B's Steak House, The Classroom, Moggs Country Cookhouse and Sumaridge. Should you be in a hurry, be sure to visit Paul du Toit for his advice, as owner of The Wine Village, as you enter or leave Hermanus to stock up on excellent local wines. Here you may choose from one of the largest selections of wines from the whole Western Cape Wine Region! Indulge yourself!
Blogging, social networking and Whales in Hermanus!
Some time back I was encouraged to get “up to date” with social networking as an advertising medium and a way of having contact with visitors to Hermanus. I eagerly attended a workshop hosted by Chris von Ulmenstein in Hermanus. Chris is a blogger of note having being nominated as a finalist for the South African Blogging awards in the controversial section. Please excuse me if the jargon is incorrect, I am still learning! Being able to access the internet from my cell phone was a major achievement and now all this wonderful information about Facebook, Twitter and writing a Blog was placed before me. Where should I start? It all seemed like a fuzzy cloud to me. Joining Facebook seemed to be the first step as I had joined it previously in my private capacity in early 2009. I had been amazed by all the school friends from the 70’s who contacted me, as well as family members and guests who have stayed at our guest house, Eastbury Cottage www.eastburycottage.co.za and who have since become friends. They all came flooding onto my “page”. It was wonderful making contact with friends and family I haven’t seen for thirty-plus years. I immediately started uploading photos from our family gatherings and our first 4x4 trip to Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Photos are usually filed away in albums or cut into discs and stored in the drawer of the desk…but hey, here I could just log onto the internet and view my pics as well as those of all my contacts at my leisure…as well as find out instantly what was happening in their lives.
So Facebook it was as my first step in social networking. I managed to form a group for Eastbury Cottage Self-catering and B&B only to be told later by my webmaster that I should rather have a “page” for various reasons, hence Eastbury Cottage Guest House – Hermanus was formed. Well, I am still busy compiling the text and photographs for this “page” which will hopefully be completed soon.
Writing a Blog was the next step. De Wet of www.effectivehosting.co.za set up and designed the page so that it was in keeping with Eastbury Cottage’s web site. He sent me a list of instructions and away I went, writing my first blog “Well done DMO”.
This has been my second attempt at a blogging, so please bear with me as I attempt to report interesting snippets of news and information about Hermanus and happenings at Eastbury Cottage Self-catering and B&B as well as our 4x4 trips in South Africa and our neighbouring African Countries.
Registering on Twitter will be the next step-up on the social networking ladder for me…watch this space!
Oh, by the way my partner, Graham and I had lunch at Fusion Cafe on the sea front above the Old Harbour yesterday. The food was great, the Southern Right whales were breaching in Walker Bay, the Hermanus Whale Crier was blowing his kelp horn and the National Sea Rescue Institute had a band playing local music for funds. It was a wonderful day in "paradise." Guests report spotting 27 whales on Saturday!