Paternoster, Lambert's Bay and Beaverlac....

Ruth's birthday was coming up, so we decided to take a week off and drive up the west coast. I heard about Paternoster and Lambert's Bay years ago as they are popular with Capetonians as weekend getaway destinations. They are famous for crayfish too!

We left home at around 10am on Saturday morning. Last night we went to see a South African, Afrikaans performer called Valiant Swart. I have been listening to his music for some years now and it was great to see him and his band perform live...

Paternoster is around 150km north of Cape Town, so we weren't in for a major driving experience. Henceforth, we arrive at Midday, promptly phoned the agent to get our keys for our weekend cottage. Within the hour, we had got the keys, unpacked our groceries and were ready to see what Paternoster had to offer.

We were told that if we wanted crayfish, we should take a walk up to the Paternoster Hotel and just opposite is a clump of trees where the locals sell fresh crayfish. We bought two, headed back to the cottage, where the ritual slaughter of the said two crayfish was going to take place.

Within minutes, they were despatched and thrown into boiling salted water as lunch....mmmmm, Crayfish salad....

After lunch, we took a long walk along the spectacular beach to do some exploring. We were blessed with wonderful weather for Autumn.

That evening, we were heading to the Noisy Oyster for dinner. On the way, we stopped in at the Paternoster Hotel for a drink in their 'Panty Bar'. Hundreds of panties have been put up in the rafters of the bar. Anything for a laugh....

Dinner was excellent at the Noisy Oyster after which we headed back to the cottage for some shuteye.

After breakfast, we decided to hike to the Cape C0lumbine Lighthouse, via Tietsiesbaai. Man, I hope our love for hiking never fades. Ruth and I have hiked thousands of kilometres together. We have seen and experienced some incredible beauty whilst here in South Africa.

Above is the cottage we rented in Paternoster.

Sunsets were incredible.....

No photoshop needed here, just a beautiful sunset.......

On Monday morning, we left Paternoster and drove north to Lambert's Bay, a distance of around 127km.

Eland's Bay is approx. 25km south of Lamberts Bay and this is where the photo of Ruth doing a cartwheel was taken.

Lamberts Bay is an interesting place. Not as touristy or beautiful as Paternoster though. It is a bit more industrial with large fish processing plants and factories. The coastline is a lot more rugged and has a huge Gannet population on 'Bird Island', where we walked to.

Lamberts Bay Harbour was quite scenic and had a great restaurant called 'Isabellas', where we had dinner on Ruth's birthday.

After two days of 'beachy' accommodation, it was time to head off to Beaverlac, nestled at the foot of the Cederberg Mountain range.. The route we took was via Clanwilliam a well know Swartland farming town.

We had hired a cabin called the 'Butcher Bird', which is one of my favourite South African birds... Latin name 'Lanius Collaris', also know as the Fiscal Shrike, one of the smallest predatory birds.

Below is a photo of the Fiscal Shrike.

Shortly after arriving, we set out on a hike to 'Flat Rock', which was a beautiful rock formation in tiers along a river. Once again we were blessed with fantastic weather. Beaverlac is situation in the heart of an orange grove of plantation. The rock formations around Beaverlac were stunning and the views of the Cederberg Mountains were incredible too.

All around us were rock formations like the ones below. Lots of rocks balancing on top of other rocks....

That night, we had a braai of note with a roaring fire under the incredibles stars of the Milky Way.

The next day, we hiked to the Olifants River. A round trip of 3 hours. Weather was quite hot too. Here is a picture of Ruth hking down into the valley.

In the orange grove....

On the way back from the Olifants river, we stopped again at Flat Rock for a quick dip in the pools to cool off. Here is a picture of me after I had climbed a rock formation....
The view we had from our cabin, with the Cederberg Mountain range in the distance. In the evenings, the low sun would shine on the mountains in a beautiful golden hue.