Like most of my travels with Himself, the only consistent thing on our travel itinerary is: good food, getting in the water and basically having the best time of our lives. The past weekend was no exception.
After my return from a hectic exam week in East London, Himself decided he would take me on a romantic weekend getaway (by our standards), camping. So, on Friday morning, we lazily woke up, and after he drank copious amounts of coffee and making me a questionable cup of chamomile green tea infused with ginger and a touch of chilli-peppers, we loaded our camping gear into his jalopy, thus began our three-hour long journey to the sleepy town of Elands Bay.
We arrived in the early afternoon, dismounted our bikes, pitched our tent and took a stroll along the beach. We came back a while later for some sun-downers. At this point the entire park was filled with weekend campers, one noticeable group was that of Australians, who had pitched a marquee and shared their music, loudly, much to our annoyance. I felt they were ruining our weekend. After all, we were there to disconnect, the only music we were willing to listen to, was that of the ocean and birds. However, the following morning when I went to take a shower, I overheard the ladies who were part of the group telling another lady, that they were scattering ashes and it also happened to be the birthday of the dude whose ashes they came to scatter. Elands Bay was his favourite spot. Just like that, my annoyance with the bunch dissipated into thin air; and my anger was replaced by admiration. I shared the news with Himself, and when the park supervisors came to check if the music was not disturbing us, he said not at all.
In my mind, nothing will ever be more beautiful than waking up to the sounds of tides crashing against the rocks, the chirping of birds and the occasional iron ore train rambling straight through town, delivering its cargo from Sishen to Saldanha – these trains are apparently some of the longest in the world!
We couldn’t exactly tell what time it was, since our phones had died the night before (that forced us to be really present, an easy feat for Himself, the same cannot be said for me). So, since the sun was out we decided it was time to begin the day’s activities, we got on our bikes and went on a bicycle tour, there isn’t much to see here, the town is incredibly small. It is made up of a number of crayfish fishing factories, some disused, and a handful of potato farm store rooms. However, the main source of attraction apart from the camping park, is the rock art and the surfing spot, a famous left break; only the seasoned of surfers dare to take on. Humble surfers like myself could only sit on the side, and admire those with the balls of steel do it. Well, even if the waves weren’t that big, I doubt I would have made an attempt to get in the water, as it is blisteringly cold, apparently right around the year, due to the freezing Benguela current flowing from the Southern Ocean up the West Coast.
On Sunday morning, it was time to head back to our little comforts and fight over the remote and the couch closer to the one-eyed monster.
It was a weekend well spent, I felt incredibly relaxed and ready to tackle another long week of work.
Along the way
Instead driving on the R27 straight to Elands Bay, you can take a short left and drive through the West Coast National Park. Himself was eager to show me this special part of the world because that’s where he grew up. We stopped at Seeberg, the highest lookout point in the park, for spectacular views of the Langebaan Lagoon.
Lunch with unusual company
A little earlier, we had lunch at Geelbek restaurant. The wind was fresh and crisp and the sun was shining bright, it was only natural that we opted for the tables in the garden not far from the Langebaan Lagoon. We were surrounded by Himself’s spiritual animals, the Rock Kestrel. He thought they were there to give him a message. At the point of writing this blogpost he hadn’t figured out what the message is. I digress.
We had a scrumptious salmon salad and washed it down with some craft beer. The food came quite quickly; the service was wonderful and there were big smiles all around.
Activities
There’s plenty to in these parts of town, starting from Langebaan right up to Elands Bay, and the fun part is that most of these activities are free, well if you have the necessary equipment. Langebaan has a rich kite and wind surfing culture.
In Elands Bay, as mentioned above, you can visit the heritage site where you will find caves with Koi San rock art. Sadly the walls of the cave, and some of the historical rock paintings were defaced by some mindless idiot’s graffiti!
Food glorious food!
If you don’t feel like making your own meals, there’s a restaurant just a stone’s throw away from the camp site, at the local hotel, where you can eat. The meals aren’t mind blowing, but they are reasonably priced and the service is fairly ok. What I didn’t like about this restaurant was that, if you are have alcoholic beverages you weren’t allowed to sit outside. For the two nights, we spent there, we had meals we usually have at home, some chops, chicken and salad – all very simple but delicious and nutritious meals. Nom! Nom!
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