Ronnie's Sex Shop

I know, from looking at the title, you're thinking we must have taken on a high paying advertising deal. We wish!

But it's a fun story story, so read on!

Yesterday, we drove from Ladismith to Cape Town. We got a bit of a late start considering we had to do 348 kms (216 miles), but by 10:00am we had arrived at our first stop for the day.

Ronnie's Sex Shop.

Yup. Ronnie's Sex Shop.

Quite a few years ago (we couldn't find out exactly when!) Ronnie bought this little dilapidated old cottage beside the R62 highway in the middle of nowhere. He planned on opening a little shop selling produce and fruits and veggies and things. He painted the name of the business, Ronnie's Shop on the side of the building. 

While he did have a few customers, he had more visitors who were just drinking buddies who would stop in to say hello to Ronnie and have a beer. On one evening of perhaps too many drinks, his friends decided to play a prank on Ronnie, and they added the word "Sex" to Ronnie's sign.

At first, Ronnie was upset. But he left the name there and continued business. His drinking buddies continued to drop by, and eventually one of them simply said "Why don't you just open a pub".

And so it is. Ronnie's Sex Shop has become a landmark in this area and has had visitors from all over the world.

The walls are covered with graffiti.

And the ceiling is adorned with leftover articles of clothing. A lot of bras. Hmm.

And the bartender is ready to serve. Even at ten o'clock in the morning! No, this is not Ronnie. Apparently it was Ronnie's wedding anniversary this past weekend and he's taken some time off!

Ruth, talking with Katya who looks after the Roadkill Cafe at Ronnie's Sex Shop. It was too early for a beer, but we shared a milkshake!

Ruth and Kevin at Ronnie's Sex Shop.

After that, we carried on towards wine country. We had been told to stop in at an old English fort that is at the entrance to one of the mountain passes that we had to go through. 

This was our scenery along the way!

See the "fort" on top of the rocks?

You know us. Of course we had to climb up there!

It wasn't much of a fort really. Built in 1899, all that remains is a small room with four walls and some of the holes they could stick their guns out of. Nice views though!

Next stop? Wine country. We have never ever seen so many fields of grapes growing. 

In fact, although wine is cheap, grapes are even cheaper. We bought a big bunch of grapes the other day to munch on in the car. They cost R5.5 (58 cents)!!

Grapes growing everywhere. Even up the mountainside in the distance.

Really pretty area though.

We had been told to stop in at Viljoensdrift Winery. So we did!

They have a nice little river boat cruise and a picnic area. But of course first, Ruth heads to the wine tasting area. Yes, like all good wineries (take note Canada!) they offer free tastings. While we were tasting, we met a mom and daughter from here in South Africa. Sue and Kara were really nice and we wish we could have spent some time to get to know them better.

Ruth, Sue, Kara (sp?) and our bartender.

We probably tasted one too many so we decided to go on the riverboat cruise and relax for a bit before getting back on the road.

Our boat, heading back to shore.

Okay, we're ready to go!

Nice scenery along the way on our riverboat tour. Cost was very reasonable at R45 ($4.80) for the 50 minute ride.

From there, headed to Cape Town!

But the clouds started moving in. And by the time we reached the Huguenot Tunnel, it was starting to rain.

The tunnel goes directly through a mountain. It's 3.8 kms (2.4 miles) long! Completed in 1988.

Coming out the other side of the tunnel, it was pouring rain! And it stayed that way until we arrived in Cape Town at around 5:00pm. Not a really fun drive after exiting the tunnel. Concentrated on where we were going, and not taking pictures!

We had been invited back to Mark's place, the same couchsurfer we had stayed with when we arrived in Cape Town at the beginning of January. Walking distance to his place we had seen a Thai restaurant and we pulled in there for dinner. We were starving!

That hit the spot, and we went back out to the car to do the short drive to the house. Turned the ignition key. 

Nothing.

Uh oh.

We had left the headlights on!

Sent Mark a text, and we were lucky that he had some booster cables and drove right over and gave us a boost. 

What a long day we had!

Yesterday's drive, 348 kms  (216 miles).