Three score years and ten

 We have moved from Cape Town to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. Stellenbosch is of course the wineland capital of South Africa and we have popped into a couple.

The first was Groot Constantia, a vineyard which embraced Simon's restaurant, and a wine tasting barn which doubled as a museum. This area charted the role slaves had as the Dutch land owners developed the vines and tended the land to allow it to be the huge industry it is today. When slavery was abolished in England, it was still considered accepted practise in South Africa. The working staff here and in most of the bars and restaurants are still black Africans. It is almost as if the abolishment of apartheid has passed them by.

Next stop was to the big easy, a vineyard owned by Ernie Els. This was a much more modern operation  but with the same staff demographic. We wandered round his trophy room and sampled his wine before making off with a couple of bottles for later.We also sampled one his competitors brand in thr evening.

We are out at a restaurant called Dusk tonight as a special celebration so we will see what the wine list has to offer. Then tomorrow we carry on our journey through the garden route towards Plettenberg Bay.