3rd May. Every dark cloud has a silver lining and following on from months of silence during which I was preoccupied with various health issues and the uncertainty that accompanied them, May Day bought friends together for a wonderful trip out to the wine lands in general and Van Loureren in particular. It was a lovely autumn day with the mix of sunshine and clouds that makes photographie particularly satisfying.
We took the roads less travelled through the farm lands beyond Robertson. Van Loureren has had a total make over since I was here a year ago with the addition of a new tasting room and a restaurant. Nelly, my French Prof, Lyn from the class and my good friend Gill all sat down to a good lunch on arrival, non of us was disappointed.
After lunch we moved over to the tasting room, sampled some wines and placed our orders. The others were more modest in their buying but mine was intended, as usual, to last the whole year! In fact I still had six bottles left over at home from last years trip.
We all agreed that the renovations were good and tastefully executed but I shall miss the casual old days of tasting in the garden with one of the owners bringing round a tray of complimentary corn “Fat Cooke”, a sort of savory deep-fried doughnut, to help absorb the alcohol! In those days the bottles you wished to taste were dumped on the table and you could linger over your decision making, in the new VL you stand at the bar. A highly sucessful visit all in all.
On the return journey we also went through the farming areas and stopped to take pictures of the charming, and aptly named, “Pumpkin” Farm Stall. Once past Villiersdorp though we decided to alter cource and return to Cape Town via the coast road.
The coast road afforded wonderful vistas as the sun set on a very happy day out.
4th May. Today I headed over the mountain to Hout Bay to try to sell my obsolete gram deck and records. Got a hundred rand for 21 of them and swapped the rest for a hand-made jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle maker also makes handbags utilising old records the jigsaw is a map of africa in wood with each country represented as a piece of the puzzle and the country’s capital written on the piece. A good geography lesson for grandkids of a certain age! Hout Bay is a fishing village with a serious working harbour. Well I say “working” but there are plenty of sunken wrecks that no one has bothered to remove!
capetocarpe 