
After our morning ride on Elephant Sam, we hit the road again and drove another 100 kilometers East, along South Africa’s famous Garden Route.
It is a string of coastal towns, starting from Mossel Bay and stretching all the way to Port Elizabeth.
The name comes from the green and ecologically diverse vegetation, from African Fijnbos to forests, and the numerous lagoons and lakes along the coast.
Our first stop was the small town of Knysna, where we stayed on Thesen’s Island, named after the family that brought the timber industry to the region.
Once and industrial hub of the wood industry, the island has recently been redeveloped into a beautiful summer holiday spot, wiht old factories turned into hotels, bars, galleries and shops.
We stayed in the Turbine Hotel. Once a power station for the nearby timber industries and sawmills, it’s now somewhere in between a museum of a power station and a hotel.
We were tired from getting up so early this morning and hung out at the pool in the afternoon, then took a stroll through the village and along the many canals of the island.
Once used to deliver timber, I guess, they are now a paradise for little boats, rowers and swimmers. We were in bed at around 9 though, and slept well.
The next day we drove on to Plettenberg and took a walk along the beach of Plettenberg Bay. The water here is not that hot, but so much warmer than the icy waters around Cape Town.
We had to head home early though, a ride of 525 kilometers was ahead. It was a smooth ride, as most people were either at the beach or with their families I guess, and practically no traffic.
Shortly before Cape Town, the rain clouds came in from the ocean, scraping over the mountains and hanging so low, we basically drove into them.
The temperature dropped immediately from 33 to 17 degrees, and in Cape Town it rained quite heavily.
All in all, a perfect Christmas excursion, totally ignoring the Jingle Bells and trees and last-minutes shopping rush. I could get used to this.