30 August 2022, Tuesday
There was a strong, very cold wind in the Koue Bokkeveld as we prepared to to resume our road trip this morning.
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| Last view of the farm |
Forthwith, and with the heater on, we joined the R303 to Ceres and from there, the R46 to Tulbach (established in 1699 according to the sign).
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| Colourful building on Tulbach's main street - yes you guessed it, Voortekker street. |
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Tulbach Boutique Hotel - opposite side of the road :-)
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We had cheesecake (Wessel) and two-cheeses-home-made-health-bread-toastie (me) at the Kole en Deeg in town. Very posh, if you can judge by the clientele hanging out there on a Tuesday morning. 😀
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| Very yummy toastie! |
A slow drive through town revealed, very old, very well maintained, Cape Dutch houses and establishments. Very pretty indeed.
From there the roads changed from R46, to R44 (I think) and back to R46 on the way to Riebeeck Kasteel. If this is a muddle, and you know the area, please feel free to correct me in the comment section below.👇
Cruising through Riebeeck Kasteel revealed many treasures, quaint shops and lovely houses.
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| Beautiful church with very well kept gardens |
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| Au Bouchon Rouge Brasserie |
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| Royal Hotel |
I was wondering why we didn't pull in at one of the places for lunch, but it turned out that Wessel had his eye on the 8 Feet Village outside Riebeeck Kasteel. Halfway up the mountain, the village consists only of containers and have the same owners as the Kloovenburg wine estate.
There should be a sign up there saying "Caution, Very, Very Strong Winds". I managed to get out of the Kombi, hanging on for dear life so that the door (and me) didn't disappear over the cliff. Beautiful views though.
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| The view |
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| Moving sculptures |
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| Front view of the left hand one |
Next, we needed to do a pit stop in the very nice, containerized (of course) bathrooms. The signs were very apt I thought. Wessel, as you will see, had other ideas. 😉
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| Wessel's version |
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The truth ... obviously! 😉
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| The official entrance ... the fun up to now was had in the parking area. |
On account of the very, very strong wind, we didn't browse as much as we could have, but found a wonderful shop selling wine and olives. Life is good! We parked a number of items, including the Kloovenburg Rosé Sparkling wine and olives at the counter for later pick-up and set off to the restaurant. The indoor one, well, it has two tables inside (one of which we promptly snagged!) and the rest under a covered verandah. Very lovely on a 'normal', less windy day, but on a day like this, I suspected that the cold wind still snuck into the patrons bones. The peeps outside all had a rather frozen look. 😂 Apologies, I'm having way too much fun with this.
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| The 'indoor' restaurant is just around that wall |
Moving along, we ordered a bottle of Kloovenburg Sauvignon Blanc and a cheese platter.
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| Happy inside ... and with wine. |
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| This may not look like a lot, but we struggled to finish it. |
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| Our view on the frozen ones... one table had already moved inside |
Lovely lunch and setting. After picking up our wine and olives, we struggled back to the car and the facilities (again) and were on our way. Wind notwithstanding, the 8 Feet Village is definitely worth a visit!
A short while later, we came across the following sign:
"Farm deli … and foolish things." Unfortunately, I was too late to take a photo, but it was a source of great amusement.
We entered canola country around Tulbach, and it continued all the way to Langebaan. Whether you're a fan or not, the sight is amazing!
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| We also spotted a few wind turbines |
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| Church in Malmesbury |
We reached Langebaan just before 14:00 and stopped for coffee and very lekker homemade milk tart at Wessel's sister Charlotte and brother-in-law Dawie's place. Our rent-a-home-away-from-home, turned out to be very close to their house.
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| Lovely view on the way. |
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| From the entrance |
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Braai area with table and chairs just off the kitchen
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| Very spacious bathroom |
The place was absolutely lovely and we unpacked, rested a bit and then picked up Charlotte and Dawie just before 18:00 for supper at the Langebaan Country Club. It had a lovely view over the golf course and I promptly got the number of the Pro Shop to arrange a round later in the week.👏
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| View over the golf course |
We had a very nice meal and were invited for coffee and milk tart afterwards at their place (duh, it's a no-brainer for us to say yes, please and thank you). Back at "On-the-Bend" it didn't take long for us to turn in and enjoy a comfortable sleep.
And just like that, day 8 was done and dusted.
