November 2019
We have not done a road trip in a while and decided on a weekend away to Lambert’s Bay on the West Coast. We took the N7 and turned off at Piketberg towards Lambert’s Bay. Warning!! Do not follow the GPS. It takes you on the shortest route, which is a dirt road instead of a lovely tarred road via Eland’s Bay. But as Travelman says, we never take the wrong road as all roads lead to a new experience. We drove passed a town called Droëryskloof and if we did not take the dirt road we would not have stopped at Leipoldtville.
Leipoldtville is a tiny town a few kilometers from Lambert’s Bay. Can’t really call it a one horse town, more a half a horse town. It does have a Christian private school, but I can’t imagine the school has too many pupils. We saw one shop, a general dealer, with a red and blue flashing neon sign, stating that it was open. The sign was so out of place in this dusty town, that it must have been an unwanted gift from a family member.
We saw a gentleman doing maintenance wearing his son’s old University of Stellenbosch sports shirt and stopped to chat. On Travelman’s question if he could tell us 3 interesting facts about Leipoldtville he said in a very dry tone that we must be very optimistic. The conversation drifted towards the recent victory of the Sprinbok rugby team and he mentioned that they received the good news 3 days later via snail mail. Just loved his dry humour. He also informed us about the tar road, which we took on our way home.
We entered Lambert’s Bay and the first thing I noticed was a rather strong smell of fish. Luckily that soon disappeared. You do get a whiff every now and then if you are close to the harbour area, but it will not disturb your stay.
We drove around town to get the lay of the land, and they have a lovely Spar with everything that you need and a few good restaurants. Unfortunately we only discovered the good restaurants after we had lunch at the Weskus Kombuis restaurant. The food was very disappointing at this establishment. The restaurant is on the harbour, but the view was rather disappointing as it is obstructed by rather dire looking buildings. We shared the Ocean Basket, which contained a few pieces of calamari, 2 prawns, and a piece of hake and chips. The fish was over cooked, the calamari tough and the prawns very gritty. We also though it a bit overpriced, but the beer was cold and good and the waitron very friendly.
We met Willem Coetzee while driving through town. Him and his wife are retirees who decided to make Lambert’s Bay their new home. He talked about the diamond boats that anchor here for maintenance (we saw 2 in the harbour) and the quiet and tranquil life in this town. The people of the West Coast are very down to earth and friendly an calls a spade a spade. Travelman asked him what happens in this town he replied: “ok maar fokkol”. No need to say more.
Saturday morning we decided to visit the graveyard as it was a recommendation in one of the pamphlets. It was somewhat derelict, but you could follow the families who lived, loved and died here. One section had graves of children only. Could there have been an epidemic in those years? Graves dated back to the early 1900’s. You could see that infant mortality was a problem in the earlier years. Probably a result of poor medical knowledge and/or availability. Worthwhile a visit, but take care of the sinkholes or you might become a permanent resident.
Do yourself a favour and go for wine tasting at Teubes. Kathy makes this a wonderful experience and she is very knowledgeable about the cool wines in this region. Teubes is a family wine and they offer Teubes, Malkopbaai and Sir Lambert wines at R20 for 4 tastings. She knows a lot about the history and told us Lambert’s Bay is named after Admiral Lambert of the British Navy who did a marine survey of the bay between 1826 and 1840. Lambert’s Bay was used as a lay-up for British warships during the war of 1900–1902 and in 1901 HMS Sybille was wrecked opposite Steenbokfontein.
We stayed in Arendzicht. These are lovely self-catering 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom flats facing the see. The grass in front of the flats literally go onto the beach. You cannot get closer to the sea. Lovely view. The flats are well stocked with everything you need. Try to ignore all the cleaning instructions and notices stuck up everywhere and just enjoy.
The beach is a good beach for walking and swimming (albeit a bit cold). There are areas close to the Spar for day campers with braai facilities and towards the one end of town there is a fare sized caravan park for the brave ones who can deal with ablution blocks. Every last Saturday of the month there is a Farmer’s market, which we unfortunately missed. They also have craft beer at this market with a Lambert’s Bay label, but produced in Cape Town.
Saturday evening we booked at Muisbosskerm. We had enough seafood to last us a long time. They serve an abundance of fish, calamari, muscles, home made bread and jams, salads, Sandveld potatoes, 3 different potjies, koeksister and coffee. They have well stocked a cash bar. Just a pity they did not stock any of the local Teubes wines. We sat chatting to the manager and her husband for a while. Like many small towns the residents have more than one job to make ends meet. The husband is an artist and owns a printing business, but also helps with deliveries for Muisbosskerm. We often find that as the income to these town are tourist dependent, that residents need to find innovative ways to get the income they need.
We left Sunday and drove the scenic route via Elands Bay. We stopped at a farm stall called “Die Rooi Stoor” and bought cookies for a road snack before heading home.
A weekend away is just what the doctor order to recharge batteries for that last stretch before the December holidays.
Next weekend will be in December at Paternoster.
Hedonistic travels 