The final full day in SA, and although the summit of Table Mountain was beautifully clear, down here in CT it was a different story. Decidedly cool, with a mist so thick that you could not see the tops of many of the buildings.
Still, no point in worrying about that as this was the day to visit the Cape of Good Hope. (To my shame, I have not been able to work out if "Cape of Good Hope" and "Cape Point" are the same thing or, if different, what the difference actually is - no doubt any readers of this blog will know, and complain of my ignorance). Anyway, my bus came and collected me and off we went, southwards to the rather attractive Hout Bay, and then along the drive along Chapman's Peak (Brian and Tetra please note). Apparently this road has 122 bends and looked to be very scenic if the clouds had lifted.
Then across to the other side of the peninsula for another visit to the penguins of Boulders Bay - this time we could see eggs being watched over and some already hatched, with (large) babies in their initial coat of down. Continuing on along the peninsular, there was a small pod of dolphins close to shore.
After lunch, I got the answer to my question - the CofGH is the most south western point if Africa but, only about a kilometre to the east is Cape Point, much higher and sticking out almost the same distance into the Atlantic. Having climbed to the top of CofGH to take a picture, mini disaster struck - message on my camera said "no battery power remains". What timing! So, no shots of either cape to end the journey but if that is the worst that has happened on this trip, then not so bad. I climbed to the top of both capes (not particularly hard but very very windy), but most of the other eleven on the bus (all in their twenties?) did not attempt it. Could not understand it - 40 mile trip at a cost of ZAR500 and then just standing at the bottom. The younger generation!
Back in Cape Town, the weather had reversed. City was bathed in warm sunshine, but the cloud had descended almost to the very bottom of the mountain.
Tomorrow starts the journey home - methinks life is about to start to change rather drastically.
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