South
Africa - Day 15
Thursday 5th February 2026
Participants: Kev & Tam
We're up at 7.00 am and look at the
weather forecast. It isn't too optimistic, but it's actually
quite bright at the moment so we make a decision to go straight
to the Knysna Heads to hopefully actually see something from the
view points.
We arrive and there's only one other vehicle in the car park, so
we can walk along and get an uninterrupted peaceful viewing of
the cliffs and the gap between the east and west heads that has
caused so many shipwrecks throughout its history. A lovely
unexpected start to the day.
This is a good view of the east and west Heads. The gap between is the entrance from the sea into the lagoon.
This is the lagoon with Leisure Isle in the foreground and Knysna in the background.
On our way back we decide to visit Leisure Isle and drive across the small causeway to the island. What a surprising place this is, it reminds me very much of the Floridian islands. It's mostly reidential with a couple of shops and cafes. We drive around it and stop at a beautiful little beach that has a perfect view of the Heads.
We also stop at a lovely little park with walkways and paths alongside the lagoon. As we walk along we have beautiful blue skies behind us and threatening dark clouds ahead with lightning flashing. Time to get back to the car.
We drive to Thesen Island as we've read about a place that does excellent breakfasts called Ile de Pain. We have to wait a short while for a table by which time it's chucking it down with rain. Tam has the Turkish breakfast, which she says is amazing. I get a ham and cheese toastie with mushroom sauce, poached eggs and cherry tomatoes.
We decide to drive to Natures Valley based
on nothing more than we'd seen the turn off to it on our previous
trip out and thought it sounded nice! A quick trip for petrol and
to buy some rolls in the supermarket as we'll need them tomorrow
on our drive to Franschhoek.
It takes over an hour to drive to the valley, but as soon as you
turn off the main road it's very beautiful. We stop at the beach
at the end , which is huge with hardly a soul on it and spot a
pod of dolphins out at sea. It's hard to explain some of the
beauty of the things we've seen in South Africa. Photos don't
really do it credit. I think it's enhanced by the relative
tranquility of it all as there are so few people on many of the
places we've visited. It's also turned into a nice afternoon. The
forecast was for it to be overcast and showery, but we have light
cloud and sunshine.
We drive along a little further and stop at the Blue Rocks Bar where we have a nice cold beer under a suspended canvas with sand underfoot. The African music playing and smells from the large pizza oven help the atmosphere.
We drive back to the apartment at 3.30 pm
where we do a little packing before showering and getting an Uber
to Thesen Island where we go to the bar for a pre-dinner drink of
Negroni for both of us, which cost £4 each.
Our meal this evening is in the Island Cafe in the hotel and we
both have the prawn linguine and share a bottle of Chardonnay.
Tam finishes with a Rum Baba with pistacchio cream and honeycomb.
She says the Rum Baba is a bit hard, but the rest is lovely.
Back to the bar to finish off the evening where I have a spicy margarita, which is very good and Tam has an Espresso Martini. I talk to the barman about sport and he tells me he's a boxing fan and used to box when he was younger. I make a mental note to not to annoy him. Must save wages as you get a barman and bouncer for the same price.
We get an Uber back at 10.00 pm as we have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow as we start the final leg of our holiday in Franschhoek.