Hello everyone, and especially the Wednesday Walk Community! My name is Jasper, and I usually live in Cape Town, South Africa. I have just returned from a week at Nature's Valley with my wife Julia, our 2-year-old daughter Madison, and Julia's parents Rob and Jean.
Nature's Valley is a beautiful little coastal village about 7 hours drive East of Cape Town in a part of South Africa appropriately named the "Garden Route".
On one of the days I took my father-in-law Rob for a beautiful walk towards the Salt River mouth to the West of the village...
THE ACTUAL WALK
This is actually a picture of my point-of-view while I surf a tiny wave over some shallow rocks in a sheltered bay while Rob has a swim... but the walk starts here too, heading to our left along the sand and going around the corner where the dune vegetation ends along slatey rock pools in a westerly direction
PS... If you're interested in surfing - I did make an early morning dash to surf at famous Jeffrey's Bay about 90 minutes drive East of here - you can check those POV (Point-of-view from a GoPro) pictures here: https://ecency.com/hive-141964/@jasperdick/surfing-newwave-of-december-the
The tricky part of the walk is to cross the gulley ahead - I chose a lower tide than you see here (on a previous surf exploration walk I have blogged on HIVE about) for my walk with Rob so that he could feel safe!
The reward for passing that tricky bit is a beautiful beach of smooth, round pebbles of various colours along with a refreshing swim in a rock-pool...
You then arrive at Salt River mouth/estuary from the coast on the left side of this photo. This picture is actually us leaving on an inland path back towards the village...
We made sure to enjoy the river first with a bit of a swim and skimming some stones. This place is frequented by kingfisher birds and even otters!
The return walk inland went up and over a hill, which allowed us a great view of the Nature's Valley village towards the end...
We also got great views of the beach we started on - and some grey clouds rolling in - luckily, it mostly rained at night during our stay
We ended our walk with a well-earned beer at the village's only restaurant, which has thankfully improved immensely since a new owner took over about 18 months ago!
BONUS PHOTOS
My little daughter Madison and her Grandpa Rob checking out the carcass of a gulley shark on the main beach of Nature's Valley. Unfortunately, you get bigger sharks like hammerhead and even Great White sharks here which makes the surfing a bit scary. The main beach also has treacherous rip currents - I have had to rescue people a couple of times when I was younger, and unfortunately a 22-year-old young man drowned during our week in the village...
Luckily there is also a beautiful river-lagoon-mouth on the Eastern side of the village - a far safer place for children, or anyone actually, to enjoy a swim! Here is my darling little Madison enjoying some beach-bum time, while Mommy-dearest protects her young skin from the sun in hat and sun-suit!
We took Madison for a swim at a bridge higher up the river, where we skimmed more stones and saw a troop of baboons...
Speaking of our primate cousins - here are some naughty vervet monkeys who stole some bananas. They also knocked over a glass of sugar-water we had left out to admire some of the sap-drinking birds and then proceeded to lap it up - hence the water you see here!
We found some friends who could lend us a canoe and paddles, so Rob and I headed up the lagoon...
And up above the bridge where the water starts to get fresh...
There we found a swing...
I realized I'd have to climb the tree to have any chance of reaching the water with it...
The moment of truth as I jump out the tree toward the calm deep water, while Rob watches from the canoe...
And let's end this post with a splash as my bum hits the water at the bottom of the pendulum - ah, I think this swing works better when the water level is a bit lower - hahaha! At least I was safe!
THE END
Congratulations @jasperdick! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 4000 replies.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out our last posts:
SUCH a beautiful place and such a lovely walk with the fam. Plus a cheeky wave - who's complaining?
I love a novelty wave... I'm super unfit since becoming a dad so a short, tiny, shallow wave suits me just fine sometimes, especially with my soft-top secret weapon surfboard! hahaha
Haha great! Still blooddy terrible onshores here. All I've surfed is terrible slop.
What a lovely walk! I've been to Cape Town about 20 years ago and I loved it.
Thank you for sharing this!
Please come back! The secret season for Cape Town is Autumn when the summer winds die down a bit but the skies are still blue (but not as sweltering!) - I'm talking about April or May!
Whenever I go to visit hilly areas I always see monkeys who sometimes steal things from visitors. They attract our attention many times. I am seeing that during this trip they also attracted your attention.
At least these vervet monkeys aren't big enough to be scary, but we also have baboons with massive teeth that are quite scary! hahaha!
What a beautiful place you have visited, dear friend @jasperdick, and how good it is that you did it in the company of your family. Your girl still seems to enjoy the beach.
I love the views you have from the top of the hill, it is a really beautiful landscape.
Beautiful photographs of your Wednesday walk
have a wonderful morning
Thank you so much! Yes, my little girl was very sad to leave the holiday village. Luckily we have beaches in Cape Town to take her to for a little beach bum fix until we hit the road again!
Thanks for joining the Wednesday Walk :)
Sorry short comments today in a funky mood and if I try to do longer comments they may not come across well LOL
Have a great day :)
Oh dear! I hope your funky mood has improved with the New Year! Happy New Year!!!
yes a lot better now thanks