Travel Tales - Day 9

Day 9 - Claire and I woke up early to get some coffee. We walked the main strip of town and popped into a little French cafe. On our way back, it started raining. A devastating blow for what we had in store... By the time we got back to our B&B, the drops had gotten larger and more prevalent - it was literally raining on our day's parade.

We have been quite lucky thus far, adjusting our schedule accordingly to accommodate certain activities on better weather days in real time. Today was actually supposed to have 0% chance of rain, so we were a little bummed at the possibility of having our bike tour cancelled. Luckily, we were the only 4 involved with the tour, and our guide decided to simply postpone it a few hours while the rain passed through.

Once the weather cleared, we were off to the bike shop. We have done bike tours in other cities, and have always found them to be a great way of seeing more than you probably would have without the tour. This was no exception. Though, there was less seeing and more wine tasting - the seeing just so happened to be of more breathtaking views than the norm. :)

Our guide took us on dirt roads, some a bit more manageable than others. It was still a bit muddy from the week's many days of rain, so we were swerving in and out of puddles most of the day. That being said, there is something so nostalgic about riding a bike in these types of conditions, at least for me. It takes me back to when it didn't matter how cold or rainy it was outside, I would be out and about without a care in the world.  That's exactly what Franschhoek is like. Minimal, slow paced, grateful to simply wake up each and every day of life. The locals seem to take nothing for granted, not even the amazing scenery they see daily. It's refreshing to sense that sort of appreciation for one's surroundings....

We went to three different vineyards, all decreasing in production size as the tour progressed. Grande Provance, La Bri and La Bourgogne (listed in order of largest to smallest...). The last of which was my personal favorite - by way of both wine and presence of a St. Bernard named Sasha.

Throughout all of this, Jason participated sans wine tastings. In truth, he was toughing it out to even come on the tour at all. He woke up in the middle of the night with his stomach in knots and feeling very ill. It did not get much better throughout the day, but he was able to rest a bit following the tour.

We chalked his illness up to the Tasting Room's shortcomings. Though, we cannot be 100% sure what  the culprit really may have been....

This, combined with our exhausted bodies and requirement of a 4am wake up call for the next day, made things very easy for us to order in, shower, and rest up for the evening. And that we did....