Addo to Cintsa was going to be a slightly longer trip than the days before, but even so we weren’t planning on leaving too early. We were awake just after six and pottered about, trying to see more animals from the stoep and having coffee until it was time to go. I couldn’t decide initially whether to take the coastal route to East London or go via Grahamstown, but eventually the coastal route won out. At Paterson we turned coastward and our first stop was Kenton on Sea, which is a beautiful town – just a shame about the gale force winds greeting us on the beach! We stopped and took some pictures but had to jump back in the car before being sandblasted too much. Next stop was Port Alfred; another town with beautiful, quiet beaches and gale force winds! Outside Port Alfred we struck some roadworks and bar roads, so it was slow going for a while but it soon cleared again.
From Port Alfred we stayed on the R72 for Gonubie. Who wouldn’t want to know what Gonubie looks like, right? As it turns out it wasn’t great looking but we still took pictures before getting back on the road for the final leg to Cintsa.
Cintsa East is off the main road about half an hour but it is an easy drive with good views so worth doing. We got to Cintsa and went down to the beach to go and have a look at it and take some pictures. True to form it is a lovely beach with great views and not a soul in sight! To be fair, it was fairly windy on the beach so I wouldn’t have braved it either, so we went to find our B&B. Accommodation for the night was Schafli Manor B&B on a hill, overlooking the sea. The room was very nice, with a huge bed and balcony (with stunning views) for the smoker of the party. As the internet wasn’t working on my laptop we pretty much just chilled for a while before going down to Barefoot Café for an early dinner, and the best burger and pizza in South Africa – according to the waiter anyway! The pizza was good, with chunks of lamb on it which isn’t something you often find, and VERY cheesy. So cheesy in fact that I had to take half home. B’s burger was good as well with a very nice homemade patty and chips, and a little side salad that mostly went on my pizza. After that it was a night of football and early bed for me!
It is worthwhile driving the coastal route on this part of the trip as the beach views are great and the roads are on the whole good. When I planned our overnight stays I was thinking about staying in East London but was told it is quite rundown and probably not worth the effort. We drove through the town on the way to Cintsa and I think the advice was sound as the place didn’t look great – nothing particularly wrong with it, but Cintsa, or one of the other beach towns would be a better call to stay in. If it wasn’t for the wind we would have had a much longer day of exploring the beaches on the way and taking our time getting to our destination as this is a part of the trip that you can really spend lots of time doing.
Biltong and Burger 