Tag Archives: franshoek

Hike – Wolvekloof, Franschhoek – 12 March 2016

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Joined the Mountain Club of South Africa (Paarl/Wellington) on a hike to Wolvekloof, just outside Franchhoek. What a hike, highly recommended for anybody but be aware, if you not fit and do not like boulder hopping then stay away.  No need for lots of water since there is water all along the hike, but make sure you pack in something to swim in since the swimming pools are just great, cold but great.

Also be aware that you will need to have a 4×4 to get to the starting point of the hike.  We were 12 people with some cars and 2 4×4’s.  The drive to the parking area where we left the cars was not that great but if you take it slow then it will be ok.  We left the cars at the parking area and all got into the 2 4×4’s for a 6km ride up the  mountain on a small narrow track.

We drove past Berg River Dam with the 4×4’s which hardly had any water in it, it is very dry in this part of the world at the moment.

And then we were off
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From now on it was just hopping over boulders and sliding down rocks.   Along the way was lots of small waterfalls and  cliffs all around with vegetation.

Eventually it was time for a breakfast and a nice swim.

After breakfast, the last stretch was ahead to get to the waterfall with beautiful scenery.

We reached the waterfall in time for lunch and well deserved swim.  Seeing the waterfall and just standing and feeling the water fall like little stones on your head made all the effort to get there worthwhile.  It is just magic.

Then it was time to hit the way back down which went much faster, like a magnet dragging you down.  The hike from where we left the 4×4’s and back to it is roughly 5km but it will take you 7 to 8 hours to complete.

 

 

Cheese Festival disappointment!!

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Those of you that follow my blog would know that I won tickets to the Cheese Festival, courtesy of Winecountry. Yesterday, my daughter and myself set off to spend the day at the Cheese Festival and as a cheese lover, I really looked forward to it.  I made arrangements with Henre from Winecountry to pick-up the tickets at the Clover Gate. 

The first obstacle was that the person that manned  the entrance to the dirt load that lead to the cheese festival did not want to let us in without tickets.  Explaining to him that we had to pick-up the tickets at the gate did not help much.  After much convincing he eventually let us through.  I must have known that things was not going to go smoothly.  We had to park miles away and after a long walk got to the Clover gate.  When I asked the people there that an envelope was left with the tickets for me, they had no idea what I was talking about.  The one guy asked around but no-one was really interested in searching for any tickets that might have been left there.  They just said that there was no tickets.  We just turned around and walked all the way back to our car very disappointed – (actually I was really mad since I knew that my daughter was looking forward to it and how disappointed she must have been).

I do not know who did not do their job.  Was it Winecountry that got the arrangement screwed up?  Was it the people that was suppose to drop of the tickets that just did not bother?  Or was the tickets there and the people manning the gate did not know and was not interested in looking for it.

The bottom line is that I did not go to the cheese festival and in the end it is WineCountry through witch the competition was run that has lost my confidence in them. I will have to see what will be done to make up for this .. I do not have any trust that anything will be done.

The good from all this is that my daughter and I then went onto Franshoek and spend the day in Franshoek.  I have not been there for ages.  We just parked our car and strolled down the street from little shop to little shop.  We had a great lunch in one of the many eating places.  After lunch we went to the Chocolate factory where my daughter spend some money on South African made Belgium chocolates.  Here is a picture of the little shop.

Franshoek 2

One of the main attractions in Franshoek is the Huguenot Monument:

Franshoek 4

So in the end, the day turned out quiet well and I rediscovered Franshoek again.  I will definitely visit the town again showing visitors around and spending some time in their fabulous eating places.