Fri 16 Nov 2018, Day 348
Camping at Forever Resorts, Plettenberg Bay
Distance 72 + 14503 = 14575
Average 16.3
Time 3 h 35 m
Total from Amsterdam 19975
Location S34.00054, E23.398338
The odd truck passing during the night didn’t wake us but the group of folk who walked on ‘our’ camping deck, did. The tent is wet from overnight heavy fog which dried out while we ate breakfast. I had given the tom cat (his jewels all intact), a sachet of kitten food and the only thanks we got was him peeing on the side of the fly sheet, his jewels need to be chopped off. We were in no hurry to get going as the ride today would only be 58 km. Quite an uneventful day other than crossing from the Eastern Cape Province to our home province, the Western Cape, a lovely feeling.
While having a sandwich at a picnic spot Peter noticed that he didn’t have his MSR cooker canister with benzene and we wouldn’t be able to prepare supper … and there are no restaurants close to the campsite. A phone call to Pam and Alan Kietzmann confirmed that we’d left it in their kitchen. We have a spare canister in Knysna that is coming with friends tomorrow and the one left at the farm is being collected from Thornhill Hotel on Monday by friends, Manfred and Kathy who are returning from holiday.
We, again, rode through beautiful areas of vegetation but the fires of last year and again a few weeks ago caused many areas of pine plantations to be destroyed. Coming down a steep hill towards Forever Resorts we saw the coffee shop ‘Time and Again’. In April this year we met the owner, Tessa in Zanzibar who said we should pop in when or if we come past. The coffee shop is filled with delicious and tempting goodies and the menu looked nice. We had a good catch up with Tessa and then made our way down the hill to the campsite, Forever Resorts where we’ll camp for three nights.
Carolien Steyn at reception recognised us from a previous cycle that we did in November 2017. The Resort’s manager has kindly agreed to allow us to camp here free of charge. We found a lovely paved site on the river with a table and benches under a tree. Peter rode 13 km to Pick ‘n Pay and bought sausage for supper and he bumped into Renton and Irene who are staying at the Beacon Island hotel for a few days. They decided to surprise us with a visit, the catch up with how their new home and how our girls, Coco and Sophie are doing was great. Peter asked our camping neighbours if we could use their fire to braai the sausage he’d bought. A few drops of rain turned into a steady drizzle and we crept into our tent right after supper and were in dreamland shortly thereafter xx
– The naughty tom cat who ‘watered’ our tent for us
– Western Province … almost home
– Toll road fees, outrageous ?
– Tessa, owner of Time and Again coffee shop
– Yacht Club, Plettenberg Bay
– Our campsite on the river at Forever Resorts, Plettenberg Bay
