After breakfast with Debbie and Jonathan we drove to Brackenfell, Roger in Ufudu and me with Debbie’s car. The reception at AC Motorhomes was warm, as always, and we left Ufudu in their capable hands before meeting Kevin for lunch.
It was good to see him, as it always is. Here he is, a 22-year old young man with great plans for his future and a good measure of focus to go with it. Hopefully his exams go well after all the disruptions at the campus and here’s holding thumbs that his interview with Maersk goes well at the end of the month.
We arrived back in Somerset West at about 5 pm. Rather late to launch the Hobie but between Jonathan and Roger they were determined that it would happen. We were in the Cape after all; it remains light until late.
After a late dinner we spent the night in Debbie and Jonathan’s guest room. It felt rather odd to not be in Ufudu. And such a pain to remember what to pack and what not to. We realised that we had become very lazy travelers since the advent of Ufudu…
We left early’ish the next day, hoping to get accommodation at the Kogelberg Biosphere. En route we stopped to visit Laubsher van Zyl, a colleague of Roger’s, in Pringle Bay. What a wonderful place to live!
Arranging for the Kogelberg accommodation was a bit of a mission; we drove in, only to find out that it was not possible to just arrive as a ‘walk-in’ guest. All bookings have to be made through Central Reservations. There is no cell phone reception in the reserve so we had to drive out again to make the reservation and payment. Much to our delight we managed to get a reservation so the next step was to go into Kleinmond to buy food.
We went down to the harbour to buy fish for supper. There we were entertained by some kids swimming and diving off the dock. We ended up buying lamb chops as there was no fresh fish available.
After buying the necessary supplies we headed back to the reserve and settled in.
It was still early enough to go for a hike down to the river before supper.
What a beautiful, tranquil place. We had a most enjoyable evening and reluctantly left the reserve mid-morning the next day.
The only sad part is the noticeable lack of maintenance compared to 3 years ago; the pool pump was not circulating the water, the roof gardens were in need of attention and wood work needs treatment.
