Love the Serenity

After the hustle and bustle of Cape Town, the quite seaside town of L'Agulhas was a place to relax, recharge the batteries and enjoy more of this coast line's natural beauty. We came here for no other reason than to say we've been to the southernmost tip of Africa!! It might sound lame but hey - not many people I know can say they've done it!!

I'm glad all the work I did looking for accommodation before we left was still paying off. Our base for the next few days was a lovely house called the Summer Place B&B, run by Kathy Drake, an ex Cape Townian who also came here for the peace and tranquility.  Just across the road from the beach, and a short walk to the lighthouse and local eating spots, it was just perfect. 

The town itself was extremely quiet, almost too quite and it reminded me a little of a scene from Future World (the movie where Yule Brenner plays a robotic cowboy) and I was just waiting for him to come around the corner with his sharp shooting finger firing away! In fact we were told that many of the houses were owned by farmers in the district and were still closed up from the winter. Apparently in the summer, the quiet sleepy town of L'Agulhas becomes a holiday maker's Mecca and the population swells to such a point that traffic jams are not an uncommon occurrence. I think my idyllic view of this beautiful village would become somewhat tainted if I was caught up if all of that.

In saying that however, the beach front and board walk past the lighthouse down to the southmost point was still a beautiful and spectacular walk. The only problem was that the lighthouse and its shipwreck museum were closed for renovations!!

As well as the sites of L'Agulhas, we took a short drive to the nearby town of Arniston, so named because of the ship that ran aground in the region in 1815. Here we came to see Waenhuiskrans Grotto, a large cave in the cliffs which is only accessible at low tide. We were running a bit late, and by the time we arrived, we just managed to get to the cave's enterance as the tide started to turn. Needless to say we didn't hang around long!! It was here that we saw a couple of wild seals playing in the surf. Tim affectionately named them Bubbles and Mr Wilson, and it was a treat to watch them darting about after fish and obviously enjoying themselves.