No Fixed Abode: Surf and Surf

Fri 27 & Sat 28 May 2016 - Natures Valley

We awoke to the total tranquility of this lovely spot and immediately opted to stay for an additional night. The morning was spent sitting on the terrace in the sunshine and admiring the views, the birds, the flowers and, for Yvonne, another opportunity to fuss the horses.

After lunch, also taken on the sunny terrace, we drove down to the beach to undertake one of the walks that Felicity, our host, had recommended to us yesterday. The beach was gorgeous, miles of unspoilt, super soft sand with huge waves crashing ashore, two prominent wooded headlands at either end and a peculiar wispy fog hanging in the air, not really obscuring the views or the sun but making everything a little hazy. It reminded us of some of the wild beaches we’d visited in New Zealand.

The first leg of the walk took us along the entire length of the beach and we ambled, barefoot along the glorious sand with only a handful of distant figures for company. At the distant headland the path contoured around its base past a sign warning that it should only be attempted at low tide, which we had already checked it was. The rocks were worn and jagged and stood against the crashing of the waves like rows of teeth, quite spectacular. Part way round the path began to climb a little higher and was then blocked by a sign stating that a landfall had made it dangerous and it should no longer be used. Following an exploratory mission by Glenn and a brief discussion we turned around and retraced our steps, quite literally, in the sand back along the beach.

At the car park end we sat on a piece of driftwood and looked over the large lagoon and the cormorants fishing or drying their feathers. This really is a beautiful place and we again thanked Carol and Philip for the recommendation.

Back at our cottage we reheated a dinner then sat down to plan the Namibia leg of our travels as Felicity and Graeme have travelled there extensively and we wanted to discuss our plans with them.

The next morning was much the same: breakfast, sun, horse stroking then lunch. Today’s walk was going to take us around the lagoon and up to the top of the car park headland to admire the views but when we dropped down into the valley we drove into proper fog: no sun and poor visibility. Should we walk around in the fog or return to the cottage and enjoy the sunshine and tranquility? One millisecond later we’d turned the car around and were heading back - sometimes it’s great having a day doing nothing.

As the afternoon sun finally dropped below the trees casting us into shadow we grabbed the laptop and books that Felicity had lent us and headed down the drive to her cottage to have a good old chat about Namibia. An hour and a cup of tea later we had a firm idea of where we were going and places to stay in Namibia, Botswana and the remainder of SA.