Dullstroom to Hazyview

Morning was chilli (below zero, inside close to)...but sunshine outside...and as i mentioned in the morning i got spoilt with coffee in bed...after a hot shower we went for breakfast at non other than Harrie's pancakes

http://www.harriespancakes.com/

(There are 4 in the country....Dullstroom, Graskop, Pta and the last one I forgot)....Kim went with a savoury pancake (chicken and mushroom) while i went for sweet (cinnamon, sugar and banana....so cool, they placed a whole banana in it...not sliced up....very clever)....and the pancakes were good...

Our yummie pancakes

A quick stroll through Dullstroom...the sweet shop (which has some nice truffles...amarula and marzian logs) is worth a visit as well as the clock shop (huge shops which has every type and colour clock you can imagine)....the cheese shop (disappointing....not much)....at 10:40 we were on our way again.....towards Lydenburg, about a 40min drive, and then made our way up the Longtom Pass....now for bikers it is very important....if there is mist....please avoid Longtom Pass and rather drive around it, there are many death crosses on the Pass, quite scary....i must say...leaving Dullstroom is was cold...but when we started entering Lydenburg is got pretty warm and even the Longtom Pass was not cold at all...in actual fact when we started descending we had to make a stop to take off some of the layers of clothes.....

The Longtom pass was nice....views ranged from dry almost dessert scenery (at the beginning), to rocky (in the middle) to slight forestry and green (towards Sabie)....at the highest point, 2150 m abve sea level, of the Longtom Pass there is a stop and of course we did a stop and took a picture of the sign....

Ascending towards highest point

The highest point...2150m

Descending from highest point

The Pass is not very long and soon we started descending and then arriving in Sabie.....which is a small town, couple of shops, restuarants....but we were not so hungry and decided to drive through and towards our destination which was called Windmill Wine and Cheese which is about halfway between Sabie and Hazyview.....the description of the place was B&B with a wine and cheese shop which is open until 17:00, the breakfast is continental style and the cottage have braai area and heaters.....we paid R860 for the night.....we arrived around 12:40....the description wine and cheese was rather disappointing....it was a wine shop with exactly 5 Simonsberg (pre-packed cheeses which you can buy at a supermArket) cheese s in a fridge....the cottage cute and warm....cosey....

Windmill cottage

We dropped our stuff and headed towards Sabie Valley coffee roAstery...the make their own coffee there so we expected excellent coffee, foam and some food......it it about 10km outside Hazyview, so for us a 7km ride as we were in between Sabie and Hazyview.....

Expectations rising
We looked at the menu and ordered a dark roast plunger, cappuccino (more foam than milk, and i specifically asked twice and the waitress assured me, definitely) and an apple crumble with vanilla ice cream (had eaten some sandwich on the way, so dessert wa in order). The venue was very pretty, set in the garden and the apple pie was fab....the dark roast plunger was good...good taste and the cappuccino was VERY disappointing....way toooooo much milk and i could not taste the coffee at all...foam thickish but i was disappointed...i mean at a coffee roastery....not only the normal coffee should be excellento...but also the cappuccino.....

Setting

Apple crumble with ice cream (coffee doesnt derserve a pic)

We decided to head off to Hazyview to buy some braai meat, we bought a camembert (petite french) and some salty cracks from back home, but meat we needed....we bought some marinated beef ribs at the Pick n Pay and also a bottle of Nederburg Baronne...tonight...a braai at the cottage (after all they said the would supply us with firewood and a griddle).....hmmmm....firewood and a griddle is what we got...no thingys so help us light the fire....so took kim a bit of time..but patience, leafs and toilet paper made it work....and guess what....we actually had an excellent dinner....excellent marinated beef ribs...Camembert.....crackers and some cottage cheese...yummie.....

Kim braaing

Dinner

So....and thAt was our second day of our bike trip...early night sleep.....goodnite

 

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