13 February Garden route: Mossel and Knysna

It was a slow start out of Cape Town until we cleared the in going morning traffic and hit the east bound N2. Before the N2 cuts away from the coast there is the spectacular Lowry Pass which rises through a series of sharp turns up from the coastal plain, through a rock pass and on into the hinterland. Roads in South Africa are generally a delight to drive, clear tarmac without potholes, passing places, polite drivers who pull over to allow the faster vehicle to over take and great scenery.

We pulled in to Mossel town in time for lunch at the beach restaurant. The wind was blowing a houlie with waves crashing on to the rocks, the restaurant umbrellas clinging to their bases and the car covered in a salt crust in less than ten minutes. We opted to eat inside in the warmth unlike the hardy souls who were attempting a sea side meal on the veranda.

Out in the bay two yachts on mooring balls where bouncing like a wild Jack Russell on a lead. Inside the harbour the fishing boats and marina were calm.

replica of Dias' caravel

We considered taking a walk around the cliffs but felt to exercise our brains and the afteroon was more suited to exercising our brains and opted for a visit to the Bartolomeu Dias museum. Portuguese navigator Dias landed at Mossel in 1488, the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope in to the Indian Ocean. The centre piece of the museum is a full size replica of Dias' ship, a 340' caravel. Five hundred years ago people set sail not knowing what lay ahead. Now we had electronic charts for all the world, internet to read accounts of what lies ahead for us and the ability to receive weather forecasts. It's a world of difference to modern sailing.

It was late afternoon as we drove along the Garden Route between Mossel and our accommodation in Knysna. The road was another scenic drive with views of the coast, the sun shining as we pulled in to pretty holiday town; sail boats serenely sitting on mooring balls, the estuarine plain meandering to the gap in the rocks which is the headland and sea entrance.