Luckily – No Beached Whale - Day 368
We were travelling down to Hermanus, or so I thought. Hermanus is known for Whale watching, Luckily - No Beached Whale today.
I do like to venture on different routes, so found a bit of a detour taking us to the little town of Montagu, tucked in between scenic mountains, orchards and vineyards. Our Coffee stop was at a delightful café The Barn on 62, which thoughtfully had trees giving shade for cars parked, and a garden lush with large leafy plants and a classically styled fountain. In their menu, they had a guide for coffee. It showed that the difference between a cappuccino and flat white is the ratio of coffee and milk. However, I don’t quite agree. The micro-foam of a flat white is different from that of a cappuccino. It doesn’t have any froth and is denser in consistency. Pedantic? Yes, but hey, as well as #GrownUpTravellers, we are also becoming coffologists, especially with flat whites!
Driving through quaint villages such as Bonnievale, through mountain valleys and flat plains with more vast fields, some with an unusual style of haystacks, our next stop was for lunch near Stanford. Another cute, laid-back village in a valley with neat cottages and cluster of charming shops selling antiques and other paraphernalia. Our meal was good, we, on the whole, pick well. I mentioned that we should write a foodie guide, I spend more time researching excellent places to eat than anything else!
It was at this point that I realised that where we were staying was not in Hermanus but 34 miles further northwest. Ah, we’d better make the most of our journey through there as we won’t be returning. Not on this trip anyhow.
We found a small lane that took us towards the sea and parked up. Two men were fishing on the rocky outcrop, and Tim went over to sit near them, surveying the panoramic view. It was too windy for me, so I sat in the car with the window down, scouting carefully for any large dark objects. Suddenly Tim was at the window, “Quick, I can see one”. I jumped out of the car with camera in hand. We trotted down a pathway and informed another couple of what Tim had seen. We arrived on the side of a bay and, with a few other people also watching, we stood, thrilled at the sight of a female whale and her calf. Oh, how magical. The mother kept rolling on her back as if she was relaxing with the sun beating down and the waves keeping her cool. Every now and again we could see both tail fins, one large and one small. I was taking so many photos that after a while the battery had run down, so Tim kindly ran back to the car to swap it over with our spare. Meanwhile, I moved to a different place, and the whales moved so that they were just a few metres away below me. The wind was blowing a hooley, so I needed to hold tight onto my phone while clicking away, knowing that it would take time to delete all the rubbish snapshots, but that’s the great benefit of digital.
The whales disappeared down into the ocean, and gradually the crowd also disappeared. It was time for us to prise ourselves away and carry on our journey to our destination for two nights…but that is our next adventure, which I will write about tomorrow.
