breede valley

Our last stop for this holiday was at Die Kliphuisie. This was our second visit here and enjoyed it just as much as the first time. Many interesting farm stalls and wine farms in the area.

karoo

About 25km from Matjiesfontein towards Sutherland on a dry farm in the middle of nowhere is a beautiful cottage called Snyderskloof. Four days of absolute silence, really no sound, no people, no clouds, no electricity... and only a few rabbits and mice foraging in front of the cottage in the evenings. Perfection.

PS. On the way there we drove the back roads again via Barrydale (very busy but interesting) and Ladismith where we had a nice lunch at the Kanna Kombuis.

witsand

After Swellendam we spent a few days in Witsand enjoying the view from our accommodation. We also drove the back roads via Vermaaklikheid to Still Bay (which is a town I didn't really like very much), and popped into Inverroche to get some Amber Gin. One last stop in the interesting little village of Heidelberg.

swellendam

We spent a few restful days at Die Stal in Swellendam, exploring the local area.

I would recommend a stop at Wildebraam Berries for their jams, chutneys and liqueurs, definitely go to the Keurbomen cheese shop, and pop into the Country Butcher for the best chorizo I have had.

We also spent a day driving around the Bontebok National Park, which has some really nice picnic spots next to the river.

And hiked the duiwelsbos waterfall in Marloth nature reserve.

orienteering in bishops court

Ansie and I walked the advanced short orienteering course in Bishops Court. Always a interesting area and beautiful views.

orienteering in constantia

Today was the first time in 4 years that I did a orienteering event!

Back then I decided to take a break from all sport for a little while, but it seems the years have just flown by and I have sadly missed so many events.

Ansie and I walked the short park event this morning, and it was fantastic having a map in hand again... so I'll have to make an effort to do more events next year.

houdenbek

We spent the weekend in the lovely Houdenbek cottages in the Koue Bokkeveld, Cederberg. The whole area is extremely dry but on this farm they have a huge dam where we could swim in the ice cold water on, what was, a very hot and sunny day.

We also popped in to a small saturday morning bazaar at Die-Dorp-Op-Die-Berg for some traditional potjie kos.

On our way home we decided to take the scenic route over the mountain and via the R355 back to Ceres, we passed this small shop in the middle of nowhere...

And discovered the very interesting Tankwa Padstal, also in the middle of nowhere...

nara deer park

On our last day we decided to jump on the train to Nara, to have a look at the deer park. It ended up being the perfect day relaxing in the park, laughing at the Japanese girls squealing when the deer chase them for biscuits.











We also stumbled upon the Nara food festival, again some good food to taste...

kyoto

We spent the last few days of our holiday in Kyoto, and compared to the rest of the holiday Kyoto is a chaotic tourist trap city. We visited a few tourist spots but then decided that we'd had enough of the crowds, and spent the rest of the time wondering around the food markets and the city, shopping and just taking everything in.

One spot definitely worth visiting is the Sanjūsangen-dō temple with the thousand statues, it's beautiful and probably more pleasant to visit because you're not allowed to take photos...





Being an orienteer, and lovings forests, seeing the bamboo forest was something that I've always wanted to do. Pitty it is much smaller than I expected, and that one can not walk around inside the forest.







This is one of the best things we had on our trip, it's a crab stick with camembert in the middle.



And the black sesame flavor ice cream was my favorite. We also tried wasabe flavor and green tea flavor.

gujo hachiman

We spent a relaxing few days in the small town of Gujo Hachiman. This is probably the highlight of the trip so far... The town is small enough to explore and walk in a day, but there is enough to keep you here for a week. There aren't many tourists here, and not many people speak english, but there are a few nice restaurants, some interesting convenience stores, and many small quiet corners with beautiful views where one can rest and relax.

Fun fact: Gujo Hachiman produces 80% of the plastic fake replica food used by Japanese restaurants in their display windows, to advertise what their food looks like. There are a few stores in town that sell the stuff, and you can even attend a class on how to make your own.

 

 

 

 

Lots of water and rivers in this town, and in some streets they have huge koi swimming in the the "gutters".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some beautiful temple gardens at Jionzenji.