Hermanus / Cliff Path and the actual 'whale capital' Gansbaai

Yesterday, after a delicious breakfast, we decided to hike the Cliff Path to Harmanus. Our hostess advised us to walk to Hermanus and take a taxi back. She even called the taxi company to find out how much a ride back to the accommodation would cost. Extremely cheap!!!

We equipped ourselves well with plenty of water and off we went. Of course, I initially walked in the completely wrong direction ;-)! Luckily, Daniela noticed it early on.

I have to write this again, the scenery along the path was fantastic. It is unbelievable for the two of us to experience and see such beautiful things here every day. So back to the walk ;-). There was security positioned at many places along the path, so we could walk there safely. The trail was actually a normal hiking trail, without any abnormal obstacles. We walked towards Hermanus with the sea and a great surf on our left and the mountains on our right. The view in all directions was breathtaking. We also had many opportunities to sit on a bench and watch the sea and whales.

At one point, we came across a small bay where we went down to the beach and watched seals on a rock platform. They seemed to be very content with themselves and the world. In the next bay, I wanted to linger a bit and noticed the beautiful shells. I was actually disappointed that I hadn't found any until then. But what Daniela and I collected that day was unbelievable. A lady who was also collecting shells was kind enough to give us a big bag. So, we could take PLENTY.

After our backs started hurting from collecting shells, we continued walking and took photos of the beautiful surroundings. Yippi, we could see Hermanus and we arrived after about three hours. Hermanus is the self-proclaimed whale capital! The waterfront and the town are really beautiful. We were thrilled and had a delicious lunch there. I have to say, I have never eaten such a delicious steak in my life. IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!!

I even had to buy new hiking shoes in Hermanus because I couldn't walk so well with my sneakers anymore. I gave my old Adidas to a homeless man, they fit him perfectly and he was overjoyed!

Since we still had plenty of time and I could walk great with my new shoes, I said to Daniela, 'let's walk back the same way.' Daniela agreed and we were already on the way back. I think my shoes have a turbo function because we covered the return distance in 1.5 hours, or maybe it was because of the snake that suddenly darted along the path. Daniela said it was a harmless blindsnake, but I'm sticking with snake :-)! On our way back, we also spotted whales again. One even jumped out of the water, it looks amazing when such a massive creature shoots out of the water and then splashes back in with full force.

Just before reaching our accommodation, a car pulled up next to us and a woman started talking to us. Oops, I didn't recognize our hostess. She asked, quite shocked, if we had walked both ways? Yes, we did. She was totally amazed, yip that's us....laugh!

We actually drove back to our Wal Viewpoint in De Kelders/Gansbaai from the day before and watched the whales there. Because Gansbaai seems to be better suited for whale watching than the 'whale capital' Hermanus. We had read about this in several blog posts and we can confirm it.

We sat on the rocks there until sunset. It was totally beautiful and the sounds of the whales were indescribable. Yes, another incredibly beautiful day came to an end!