The Garden Route was more like Cloudy Bay

It was unfortunate that our time in the Garden Route was during a period of bad weather; it rained for much of the time and on some days the clouds were so low we saw very little. Our first stop was Mossell Bay, we then moved to Storms River Village and returned to Cape Town via Swellendam.

Mossell Bay is generally regarded as the first of the main seaside towns on the Garden Route and popular with tourists. Wilderness is a tiny town which has a fantastic long beach and unusual land feature called the Map of Africa. Knysna is the next main point of interest, with its lagoon and pleasant waterfront shopping mall. Plettenberg Bay is the next main town along the coast. Plettenberg Bay and Mossell Bay feel very much as though they have a large contingent of retired Europeans and South Africans. They are undeniably pretty, but some people may find them a little bland.

Storms River Village is in the Tsitsikamma National Park and just a few miles from Storms River Mouth. This is an idyllic setting close to woodland, the sea and with a mountain backdrop. It is a great base for outdoorsy types, with plenty of options for walkers. Those who want to live dangerously can do a bungee jump from Boukouran's Bridge (not possible when we went as it was covered in cloud). The village has a good feeling of community about it, for example one of the local tour companies, Tsitsikamma Canopy Tours is heavily involved with local projects and you feel local people are benefitting from the tourism. We finished our Garden Route trip with a night in Swellendam. It is a pretty enough town and a good stop over before moving on to Cape Town or the winelands of Paarl, Francheock and Stellenbosch.