Cape of Good Hope

We've had a fantastic first day in Cape Town. We are staying at an awesome bed and breakfast called Hampshire House. Ricky and Carole are taking great care of us and the breakfast they laid out this morning was fit for royalty. Best of all, I think they are coping with our craziness quite nicely.

After feasting, we hit the road to drive the Cape Argus race route. We wanted to give the non-cycling members of our team a look at the beautiful scenery we will witness during our event on Sunday. We were all very impressed with the views from the road. This really is a beautiful place.

We made a stop at the penguin reserve at Boulder Beach. That’s right! They have penguins in South Africa. Amazingly, they make a sound like a donkey, earning them the nickname jackass penguins. I have to admit that it’s the first wild penguin I’ve seen, so I was pretty pleased with the experience.

From there we headed to the Cape of Good Hope. On the way we ran across a random pack of baboons terrorizing a neighborhood. Ok, so they were just crossing the road, but those suckers look menacing. Some of them are fairly sizable creatures and they seem to be unaffected by the presence of cars. Since we were on the Argus cycle route, some of us were a little worried that they might chase you like dogs. Secretly I’m hoping that happens on Sunday just to have the story in my repertoire.

The Cape of Good Hope is in the Table Mountain Nature Reserve. We hiked up to the Cape Point lighthouse on top of the cliffs and had a fantastic view of False Bay. The scenery was beautiful on a bright, sunny day with temps in the 80’s. False Bay is probably the biggest great white shark breeding ground in the world, but we didn’t see any of the beasts swimming in the waters below.

We rejoined the Argus route and proceeded to Chapman’s Peak Drive. This twisty treat is carved out of the rock cliffs that plunge into the Atlantic Ocean. It reminded me of Hwy 1 that winds its way along the coast of California near Big Sur. It would have made an awesome television commercial, but I resisted the urge to squeal the tires on the Toyota.

We returned to Hampshire House for some drinks and snacks before heading just down the road to Peddlars. Here we sat out on the patio under a nearly full moon enjoying some good food, wine and company. Overall, it was a great first day in the country. Jetlag is catching up to me a little as I type, so I’m really looking forward to shutting my eyes tonight. Tomorrow we get our bikes delivered and we have more fun adventures to enjoy. So far, we’re all very impressed with the experience.