Scenes from Kleinmond

If you find yourself travelling up the Whale Coast from Cape Town to Hermanus, fight the urge to get there quicker over Sir Lowry’s Pass and take the coastal route.  Slow the car down, inhale the breeze coming off the sea, count how many types of wild flowers hug the roadside and stop to take in interesting mini hamlets like Rooi Els, Pringle Bay, Betty’s Bay and my birthday destination of choice this year, Kleinmond.

The harbour area is all about interesting shops, cosy eateries and friendly locals (bar the grumpy proprietress of a lovely gift shop who oozed hostility and wouldn’t allow photographs, so we walked right out.  Attitude counts for everything lady and as my mother always said, it’s not what you say but how you say it!!.)

Anyway, take a stroll through the other shops with me ….

What an amazing breakfast at Derric van Rensburg’s Art Café.  French toast, bacon, banana and berry compote with slivered almonds.  Approx 12 000+ calories on one plate, but it was my birthday after all 🙂  We arrived on an overcast morning to a wonderful fire and fleecy blankets in primary colours slung over the chairs.  It beat the icy reception at the “strictly no photographs” gift shop down the road by far.

The Potters Garden Nursery is a must visit.

And you can’t miss the colony of weaver birds nesting outside.

And then take in the shops.

Funnily even cars from a bygone era don’t seem out of place here.