Western Cattle Egrets at Plettenberg Bay

Good roads generally but slow through extensive roadworks as we climbed the Montagu Pass in the Outeniqua mountains. We were heading to the coast so Cathie could say she had done “The Garden Route”. George was our first stop, so Margie could see the big tree. The myth was that it had been the tree in front of which slaves were bought & sold and occasionally punished or executed. The chain and padlock embedded in the tree supposedly adding substance and colour to the story. The truth is that the tree is too young to have been around in the days of slavery and the padlock, which dates from 1890, was used used to secure the roller of the nearby tennis courts. Margie, who had taken the town to her heart, found us an excellent brunch stop (The Bay Leaf) and despite the 2km trek to get there, proved to be excellent with a huge variety of lovely breakfast delights on offer. The open omelettes with spinach, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes and both mozzarella and feta cheeses as a topping, proved to be a popular winner.
Bob’s legs were twitching for a walk, and as he was navigating, he tried to direct us to two separate indeterminate park walks that we passed. We resisted, as we were anxious about the safety of our minibus in unattended carparks, and as we had read about a walk near Knysna which took in a huge tree that we felt we needed to see. After a bit of a discussion, we headed to the Diepwalle Forest Station near Knysna, carefully avoiding Knysna itself because Bob couldn’t pronounce it’s name, and had a hurried walk through almost impenetrable forest to see an admittedly large but otherwise unremarkable old tree. (The “King Edward VII Tree” is the largest of several enormous Outeniqua Yellowwoods in the forest).
Time was marching on and we were getting thirsty and hungry. We headed for Plettenberg Bay and picked up some food in a local Spar before searching out a bar on the beach. We had just missed the happy hour but we took a note of the times for tomorrow and set about correcting our fluid imbalances. The quality of the seafood that we saw being dished almost persuaded us to change our dinning plans but the call of a Soutter Veggie Pasta was too strong. We did agree, however, that this might be a good place for dinner tomorrow. And for Happy Hour drinks. We shall see.

Night spent at 13 Bay Sands, Plettenberg Bay.