Saturday 4th November 2017
Hermanus to Franschhoek

From Kleinmond we followed the rocky coastline through small villages. It was a scenic route with a good twisting road along the coast with huge rocky mountains on the other side. Being the weekend lots of cyclists  and motorbikes were also on the road (and the usual baboons).

Leading up to the gravel section we passed large acres of apple trees and apple processing plants, also wineries, pine forests and gum trees. The gravel section was about 20kms over the Van Der Stel Pass, passing farm houses and derelict buildings. As this was a pretty fast section there were four code boards which cars had to slow down or stop to note down the letters & numbers. 

On the way to Franschhoek we crossed over the Threewaterskloof Dam. No wonder the towns have water restrictions, the dam water level was extremely low.

At Franschhoek the town was buzzing with cars, people, shops & markets so it was difficult to find parking. We had a quick look around and went on to the Motor Museum.

The museum consists of four large barns in beautiful gardens with the stony mountain as backdrop.

Amongst the collection there are some interesting and valuable cars, a D-type Jaguar, a Ferrari once owned by Nick Fleetwood (of Fleetwoodmac), some early Aston Martins and Formula 1s.

Our hotel, a collection of small buildings, set in lovely gardens was about 16kms out of town.

Not long after our arrival we received a call to say that Peter & Jenny Dimaio, local Morgan members had come to see us in their 2017 Roadster. Peter had organised the rally we are going on with the Cape Town Morgan Club but has had surgery so cannot go. We were very pleased to meet them and chat over drinks.

During the last few days the ever growing hire car contingent decided to have a scavenger hunt competition, using the first letter of each of Endurance Rally Association VIP Hertz Rental Club. Jim and Skippy were the judges. Four cars competed in the final, laying out their goods to be judged. The items had to have something to do with Africa or with rallying. The winner will be announced tomorrow evening.