Got up early this morning and headed down for breakfast in the hotel. I had eggs benedict, coffee and some orange joice to get my day started. The reason for the early start was that today was my wine lands tour and the tour were picking me up at 08:00.

On time the guide picked me and and drove around Cape Town picking up at another 4 other stops. We then headed on out of town. The guide gave us all some really good commentaries and passed on a lot knowledge and information about wine, the regions, and it’s history in South Africa. Also along the way she pointed out some interesting areas of the countryside and people.

The tour had three different wine tasting stops all together, and a tour stop in XXXX. The first stop gave us a good guide to the wine we were tasting and included a brief tour of the facility and a guide to the actual wine making process for both the white and red wines. They also had a cheese making facility on the farm and we got to try a number of great wines and some cheeses, that were English style cheadar. The various wines were really good and had a lot of taste, which was backed up by the great cheese.

The second stop was a quick tour of SalXXXXX. We were all dropped off and told of some interesting places to go and see and we all headed off in our own directions. I toured a couple streets taking in the different cultures and wares for sale. I then headed off an took a cup of latte, before heading off and getting onto the bus again.

The next stop was another wine tasting and lunch. This place was in a very pictuesque location that offered some great views. I do have to say however, that the guide to the wine was not of great standard and unfortunately the wine was not as enjoyable as the first stop. The wine just didn’t have a lot of flavour and did nothing for me. We all decided that we would have lunch there, even though we did have the option of being taken into town and having lunch there instead. I have the stir fry beef and have to say that it was excelent.

After a brief drive through tour of the town we headed on off to the last wine tasting location, which also had some stunning views. In the very far distance we would see Table Mountain, well we would have if it wasn’t completeley consumed in clouds. It was also the location of some of the best wines we tasted, they also provided us with a taste of some 2 whites, 2 rosé wines, 3 red and also a desert wine. All but one of the rosé wines were fantastic, and the desert wine was a good sweet way to end the wine tasting. We then all had a quick look at the glass blowing factory they had on site before heading back into the bus and back to Cape Town.

The weather on the whole tour was partially cloudy with some light winds, and I think we got the best of the weather for as when we returned to Cape Town it was dark, damp, cloudy and misserable. This however did clear to the end of the evening and I got a great view of the sunset outside my hotel. It litterally set directly outside of my hotel window, and I think I got some great photos.

For evening meal I headed off to Paranga which was just along the road. I decided to go for steak tonight, given all the fish that I had the night before. Turned out to be a very good choice, and I also had a glass of wine from another local supplier, and because I was feeling indulgent I had a desert of ice crean and chocolate. Yum!

I again headed to Baraza for a quick cheeky beer, but it was dead in the place so I only had the one and headed back to the hotel to get packed for the trip back to Durban in the morning.

Got up early this morning, shouldn’t have bothered as the weather was blooming awful. It was raining, heavily overcast and very windy. I decided however to try and give my plans a try, just in case. So I got down stairs and got a taxi over to the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Water Front. I wanted to go and have breakfast at Societi Bistro, which I did. The breakfast was really good, if very quiet as there wasn’t anyone else around.

After breakfast I had a little wander around the V&A shops and stores. I then headed into the Two Oceans Aquarium (TWA). The TWA allows you to watch Cape fur seals and penguins. It also has a predator exhibit that is home to the ragged-tooth shark, loggerhead turtles and shoals of yellowtail. It was good and I recommend to others to go.

After that I thought that I’d try and see if the ferry was running to Robben Island, which is mostly known for the place former South African president Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. It was a place of exile and imprisonment for 400 years. However, because of the bad weather no ferries were running. Not unexpected but still disappointing as I would have been more than willing the brave the rough seas.

I then bought a ticket on the Cape Town City Sight Seeing bus (CTCSS) which is a very cheap and easy way to get around the interesting parts of Cape Town. It only cost me R120. I hopped off the bus at Cape Town Tourism on Burg Street. I then proceeded to wander around a little and eventually headed into the Castle which is opposite the Grand Parade. I had a wander around that as it was quite interesting to see details of the Boer War and the conquering and colonisation of South Africa.

After heading out of the Castle I headed up along “Lower Plein” and around into “Paddock” and the Company Gardens. Moving through the gardens I ended up at the top of “Long Street” which is a straight road that runs from the foreshore op towards the mountain and is one of Cape Town’s oldest. It was here that I stopped off and had some lunch and a coffee.

After lunch I headed on down to the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) and up around onto “Loop Street” and then “The Strand” heading along toward “Buitengracht” which is also known as the M62. It was my intention to re-catch the CTCSS and head on up to the Table Mountain cable car.

The bus was an open top bus and I could tell that there was no chance that the Table Mountain cable car was going to be open. This was confirmed by the guide. The bus on up to the cable car was soon battered by high winds and also engulfed by thick rolling clouds. The bus still stopped at the cable car station and we had a few minutes to have a look around at least.

By now I was actually starting to get wet and cold so I hopped back on the bus, which it’s next stop was outside my hotel the Bay Hotel. The view as we god down towards sea level was really cool but it was hard to get any decent photos.

After a relax in the hotel I decided to head out for some food and ended up at “The Codfather”. It’s a restaurant with a bit of a difference. The waiter takes you up to the deli and explains to you about all of the different fish that they have in for the day, and you then get to choose along with the side. I ended up having Swordfish, Butterfish, Kingklip (???? Not sure of name) and some calamari with rice. I decided to also have some red wine unique to South Africa, Pointage I think! I do have to say that the butterfish was fantastic along with the Kingklip but the swordfish was too ‘fishy’ for me . I felt like a happy and contented stuffed pig at the end.

After that meal I thought that I’d go for a quick beer and ended up having a couple in “Baraza”. In summer this bar must be booming as it is in a fantastic location and looks right out onto the beach. I could only handle a couple beers as the food and all the wolking in the day had tired me out so I headed back to the hotel and called it an early night.

Started this morning nice and easy.  Shane (Jason’s brother) gave me a lift to the airport and we had a coffee and a chat before I caught my flight.  The flight was delayed by 30 minutes but that was no worry as I wasn’t in any hurry.

I had arranged for a Mercedes from the hotel to come and pick me up.  Must admit that it’s the first ever time that I’ve arrived at an airport and one of those people holding up a card had my name on it .  The trip to the hotel was nice and gave me a good chance to see a fair bit of Cape Town on the way.  The driver was also kind enough to point out a few things as we went past.

I arrived at the hotel and was really pleased that the hotel was practically on the beach.  I was then shown into my room.  Wow!  What a view!  Absolutely stunning and the room was fabulous too.

I decided to head out onto the beach and had a bit of a walk, taking in the sea air.  Before doing that I decided to try and book my Winelands tour.  I had wanted to do it tomorrow, as the weather report was not looking good.  Unfortunately there were no spaces available, so I had to settle for Wednesday instead.  After a little relaxation on the beach, the sunlight wasn’t going to last long so I headed over to the local store and bought some light provisions.  I then decided to take it easy for the rest of the evening and spend some quality time in my quality hotel room.

I've started the journey to South Africa for Lyndy and Jason's wedding.  The journey so far has been so easy and relaxing, just the way I like it.  I left Birmingham on the 13:00 Virgin train, got the Victoria line tube to Green Park, then the Piccadilly line to Heathrow terminal 5.  Each and every step without any trouble and nicely relaxed, just the way I like it.  However upon getting to terminal 5, I took the escalator up to what I thought would get me to departures, only to get so far that you have to take an elevator back to the tube platform only to be taken then to the top floor!  How stupid is that!

My impressions of terminal 5 is that it is lovely wide open, clean and well laid out.  There are no real sign's around the place and instead they have loads of 'honkies' telling you where to go.  Being Scottish and practical, I see that as a real waste of money [especially as most of them are blokes or not so good looking women ].

I decided to have some dinner before checking in, and headed for the "The Five Turns" pub & restaurant.  Service was incredibly slow, despite there being hardly a person in the place, yet I've counted at least 7 people working here.  Took nearly 10 minutes get someone to even take my order!  Then when they did, most of the main menu was 'sold out'.  So ended up having some over cooked fish and chips, then decided to risk having some ice cream.  The ice cream came in a tub that you normally buy from a shop, and they are charging HOW MUCH for that!!!  Won't be coming back here again, or recommending to others!

Let's hope that the duty free and the flight is better   Blog again soon...