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Posts Tagged ‘Pringle Bay’

I turned off the N2 and breathed a sigh of relief; I don’t like driving on national roads and avoid them if I can. The torrential rain didn’t help. We picked up some beers and wood in Gordon’s Bay and hit the slippery R44 or Clarens Drive as Overberg locals and street signs call it.

A scenic but slippery drive later and we were at our destination – Pringle Bay.

I really like Pringle Bay. It’s big enough to fill two pubs on a Saturday night but far from overdeveloped. There is a beautiful beach and lagoon and mountains surround you in every direction – where there isn’t sea that is.

It’s an hour and a bit drive from Cape Town, 30 minutes of it on one of the most scenic drives in the country. We arrived in a downpour but the comfy house we had rented for the weekend has an indoor braai/fireplace and the wood we had bought soon came into good use. As did the beer.

The three bedroom home is spacious enough – we would be two couples and three kids when the others arrived. There is a large living area with open plan kitchen and a cool

wooden deck for sundowners, but the real winner – particularly for the kids – was the outdoor shower.  Somehow kids, who under normal circumstances cannot be persuaded to bath without bribing them with an endless supply of chocolates, will happily shower 3x a day outdoors – never mind the cold and wet weather.

Thursday our friends arrived but the rain continued – we started thinking we might be cooped up for days – luckily they arrived prepared – trivial pursuit, monopoly and a bottle of Jägermeister in tow.

The storm subsided Friday and the sun came out – the dads grabbed the two bigger boys and paid a visit to the Stony Point penguin colony in Betty’s Bay, about a 15 minute drive from P Bay.  The warm afternoon saw us at the beach and lagoon where the boys ran around in their

birthday suits and the one year old devoured sand at an alarming rate. Saturday dawned with beautiful blue skies and Bevan and I headed for the hills, or one in particular, Hangklip, that chunk of rock that marks the eastern entrance to False Bay. A beautiful hike to the peak with views across the bay to Table Mountain and Devils Peak.

With at least one hike under the belt I could now relax and Saturday night saw the Trivial Pursuit come out – Bevan, a regular player, will never get over the beating I gave him, although the Jägermeister did help.

Sunday and the rain returned but we didn’t mind – we had enjoyed a full weekend with rain storms and beautiful sun shine. An hour later we were home already planning our return.