A Riebeeck Valley weekend. 5. Pulpit Rock

Sunday morning dawned sunny but icy cold. After breakfast we all checked out of the hotel

and some of us headed to Pulpit Rock winery, which IS open on Sundays although not many people were there that day

It is just a very short distance down the road out of Riebeek West in the direction of Moorreesburg

with seating outside on the terrace and inside. They also have a restaurant below, but it was not open on Sunday

They have a lovely walk up the mountain to Pulpit Rock, which is just 2 kilometres up and mostly gentle.  So off we set

It goes through the vineyards and then above to the rock that looks like  a pulpit in this photograph

The valley was still shrouded in freezing fog at 11 am

You could not see the mountains across the valley

The happy band of walkers who, sadly, missed an important red arrow painted on a rock and went merrily along their way in the wrong direction. They thought another rock looked like a pulpit. Sadly, the winery told us that they used to have better signage, but people (vandals) removed it

You can see the cement factory' chimneys peeping out of the fog

And the church steeple became more visible as the day wore on

There is the pulpit that we should have reached and the path up the mountain to it

Back at the winery some of us stopped to do the tasting, which was presented by Mignon

Not sure if this 2004 Nebuchadnezzar is for display or sale

Jocelyn really enjoyed the hike

These tall bluegum trees remind us of those behind our house in Sea Point

that prevented the fires on Signal Hill from getting too close to us. They do seem to act as a fire break

We began with a glass or two of Louisa, their nice crisp Blanc de Blanc Chardonnay MCC Brut, just to celebrate a good weekend. And the walk. Then we realised it was Bastille Day, so we sang - well, Alexandra sang as she knows all the words in French, and the rest of us hummed along the tune of the Marseillaise, just to celebrate that. Les Arms aux Barricades! 

We had a small tasting of their wines, bought some of the Brut and 3 bottles of the Unwooded Chardonnay, which is sweet on the palate at R65, and 3 of  the Shiraz, which has good wood, spicy fruit with pepper, lots of dark plums and tannins. R80. Then it was time to head home for most of us, although a couple of the members stayed another night at the hotel

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