Life is always full of such extremes, and this certainly is one of those - from the freezing sand dunes of the Kent coast I have travelled to the Western Cape in South Africa, and it is HOT!
I have been invited by South African fruit growers, to find out why their fruit is good and to help promote it back home in the UK. but not only do they want to promote their fruit, they are also very keen to show us how proud they are of their beautiful country, and they have every reason to be - it is stunning.
We arrived this morning, slightly tired after an all-night flight, but were revived by lunch at The Mount Nelson Hotel, the most iconic luxury hotel in Cape Town. It is famed for it's afternoon tea, but after the huge buffet lunch we were served there was no room left, plus we had lots more to fit into the day.
A quick trip to the top of Table Mountain by cable car and then we are driven out to Stellenbosch, one of the Western Cape's wineland areas, set at the head of the Eerste River Valley. Not only do they make great wine here, but the area also contains finely preserved examples of the Cape-Dutch style of architecture. We are lucky enough to be staying in the Lanzerac Hotel, a distinguished Cape-Dutch house on a 300-year old country estate over-looking lush vineyards and the Helderburg Mountains.
So on to dinner, and again I find there is no shortage of food! This week is going to be tough if I intend to keep up my training schedule for the Paris half-marathon in only 3 weeks - I am not just carbo-loading here, I will be over-loading pretty much every nutrient available to man if today is anything to go by! We eat at Moyo, an African Themed restaurant on the Spier Wine Estate and the buffet is vast! Even our group of nine carnivores, two vegetarians and one serious nut allergy sufferer did not struggle to over-eat.
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