Things to see and places to go #2: Saldanha MTB Trail SAS Saldanha Nature Reserve

The SAS Nature Reserve in the Military grounds at Saldanha offers an MTB trail suitable for walkers and runners as well as cyclists. Although it is part of the Military area, entry is open to the public providing there is no red flag flying to indicate shooting practice. Entrance is free. The road through the veld follows the coastline so there are awesome views across the Bay, and there are some paths down to the rocky coast. It is a nature reserve, and there will be snakes so I wouldn't go bundu bashing or walking along paths where I can't see the ground in front of my feet.  When I was there in summer time I did find some ticks afterwards, so it would be a good idea to check your bodies carefully after walking through these trails. As a person who enjoys nature, and views, and surf pounding on the rocks, I found the SAS Saldanha Nature Reserve to be well worth a visit.

 

Things to see near AtlanticSunsets, Port Owen #1.... Saldanha Look Out Point at Hoetjiesbaai

Following a request from a guest arriving in December about ideas for what there is to see and do, I thought perhaps it would be a good for me to start preparing a few posts about what there is to see nearby. So let's go to Saldanha first. 

Saldanha is less than 40km away along a good tar road via Vredenburg, so it is less than an hour in travel time to get there. For those fit enough to walk up stairs there is a very easy climb up to the lookout point from which one has 360 degree views of Saldannah Bay, the ore terminal, and the military base. Some of the old fisherman homes still stand there at the base of the hill, as well as a small museum and a statue in honour of those lost at sea. There is also an interesting old graveyard just below the fisherman cottages.

Sunday Afternoon

Just loved these gorgeous clouds while I was out walking the dogs this afternoon ...

 ... and then came across these footprints in the wet sand along the edge of the river. There's nothing special about a stranger's footprints, plus those of my own little Yorkies, but I just kind of liked them

 

October

It's hard to believe October is almost over and nearly a month has gone by since my last post. Somehow I have to get into the habit of writing more often and keeping up with my local "journal".

So spring time has been and now we are into summer. The days are getting longer and longer rapidly now. And as the days lengthen, so too does the heat, although night times are pretty cool still and I usually have a jersey on by the time sun goes down.

We are entering our windy season, and it sure looks like we're in for a windy, windy season. So not often I find reflections out there at the moment, but hey, there is beauty everywhere if you're only prepared to look for it.

Down at the local fishing harbuor just after sunset last night. Note how choppy the water is - that chilly wind was sure blowing

Flower Season 2015

In my last post I wrote about the beginning of winter and hoping for good winter rains for a good flower season to follow. Well, unfortunately we didn't get much rain this winter. Just a whole lot of dully grey days with no rain to show for it, so the ground water table is very low and a source of concern to the local farmers. But yet somehow we had a fantastic wild-flower season. In Port Owen itself we seem to get mostly white daisies called rain flowers. In places the flowers are so densely packed it looks like snow on the ground until one gets close.

But if one ventures out just a little way there are a multitude of colours to be found

Back again. Same name. Different location

I've been lazy about keeping up my blog. It's time I learned how to discipline myself to learn to write again .... even if my writing is not good enough for anybody to want to read, the only way to improve is to just DO IT.

We left Cape Town and moved to the little West Coast fishing village of Port Owen some years ago. Subsequently purchased another investment flat here that I could let out as holiday letting exactly like I did in Cape Town. And as I had the domain AtlanticSunsets.com it made sense to just keep our new holiday let with the same old name. So here I am again

Winter has started in ernest here with a definite chill to the air especially early morning and at night, although most days are warm out in the bright sunshine. We've had a week of drizzle and mist. Hope we do get enough rain to get a good flower season this year.

MyCiti Integrated Rapid Transport System - Cape Town

For the past year or more I have watched them digging up the road in front of us, re-building the road for normal traffic, and building a new, bright pink road down the middle of the road from TableView to Cape Town. I watched them building stations in the middle of the road, high up with ramps and platforms, and wondered if the buses that were to stop here would be like trains. And the traffic light systems have changed. We all have to learn to drive a little differently - no more waiting in the middle of the road to turn right, and the speed restrictions along this route have been reduced.

They landscaped and planted flowers between the two bright pink lanes, and along the edge of the newly moved roads. They put in irrigation systems to water the plants and provide a pretty show of flowers. They sent workers in to keep miles and miles of garden looking lovely.

And then the road was complete, the stations were complete - but nothing happened. No buses drove these brand new bright pink roads, and stopped at the lovely frosted glass and red pillared stations. We had to listen to the Taxi Drivers demanding their share of the IRT, and the negotiations between the city and the taxi drivers, and we all wondered why the taxi drivers should hold such power in this city of ours as to halt the end to something that has cost us, the tax payers (which does not include the taxi drivers) millions of rands.

But finally the new buses arrived, and drivers were trained and sent out on the roads to practice pulling in to exactly the right position at each station and we now have a functioning IRT. I tried it out yesterday, and it makes me proud to be Capetonian! I am very impressed and I will definitely use it again. It is a clean and efficient service, and the staff are polite, friendly and helpful, and seem to be trained to take pride in being on time. There is a bus every 10 minutes at peak times, and every 20 minutes off peak times, so if one arrives at the station as the bus is pulling out, you know you won't have to wait more than 20 minutes for the next bus to arrive. The landscaped gardens all along the route make all the difference especially as part of the route serves some industrial areas that were until recently extremely shabby and run down.

And the service is very affordable at only R10 for the trunk route plus up to two feeder routes or R5 for each additional feeder route.

I had an opportunity to be a Tourist in my own Town, and I can't wait to do it again now that the MyCiti IRT makes it feasible. And for my guests staying in AtlanticSunsets, what could be more convenient than simply walking over the road to the IRT station in order to get to Cape Town, and then on to the Waterfront, or Gardens using one of the feeder routes, or to go north to Tableview and use the feeder route to the beachfront areas. And how much more convenient to get to the airport using this system than to have to sit in traffic and stress about getting there on time.

Congratulations MyCiti and the City of Cape Town.