With Love From Shelley Point

It all star­ted on a Friday after­noon with three great friends, off for a week­end of fun and birth­day cel­eb­ra­tion. It was lunch time, the car was packed, the music was play­ing and our jour­ney began. Before we left Cape Town we had to stop off for some essen­tial padkos (quiches, bottled water and chips from the Oakhurst Farmstall in Kenilworth) and once we’d bundled ourselves back into the car we were off ...

Even though it was lunch time the traffic was bumper to bumper, because every­one knows Cape Town closes early on a Friday to make way for the week­end. Nevertheless we were three ladies on a mis­sion to get to our des­tin­a­tion - Shelley Point on the Cape West Coast ... Traffic was almost at a stand­still from Milnerton, the start of the R27. There are road works on this stretch of road and only one lane is avail­able to all those wish­ing to escape the city for the West Coast. 

However we per­severed and made it passed Blaauwberg, Sunset Beach and West Beach and even­tu­ally were cruis­ing along the R27, also known as the West Coast Road. We were headed for the Veldrift turn off and since all three of us are au fait with dir­ec­tions and had looked at a map we assumed it was just a little bit fur­ther than Langebaan (an estim­ated hour and half’s jour­ney). On the drive we amused ourselves with spot­ting vari­ous anim­als along the side of the road and imit­at­ing the sounds they make. Sheep and cattle are to be found in abund­ance and as such our car was baa-ing and moo-ing as if it were a ban­yard. Once or twice we were lucky enough to spot and ostrich and as none of us knew exactly how this soun­ded, the inter­pret­a­tions were given with gusto and left us weep­ing with laughter. 

After reach­ing Langebaan and hop­ing that we were almost there, we dis­covered Veldrift was not as close as it looks on a map, and out came the cell phones for the man­dat­ory “Google: Distance Veldrift Langebaan Shelley Point”. After a range of answers, we decided it would be about another 30 odd kilo­metres fur­ther and about a 15 minute drive.

Once we’d reached the first step in our dir­ec­tions, the Veldrift turnoff, excite­ment moun­ted and the real fun began. We headed into the town of Vredenburg and made a quick stop for some pet­rol, just in case. The next step was to look out for the St Helena Bay turn off, which is quite some dis­tance from the town of Vredenburg. The panic sub­sided once we’d found the turn off and real­ised we hadn’t missed it. Brace your­self for a strong smell of fish while driv­ing through St Helena Bay all the way to Shelley Point,  it can be pretty unpleas­ant so those with sens­it­ive noses roll up the win­dows and cover your nose. After a num­ber of wrong turns and mis­read signs we found the right turn off to Shelley Point and were really almost there. 

Shelley Point is a gated com­munity, mean­ing there is a secur­ity check point at the entrance where you need to sign in and register your vehicle. Once we’d received our passes and assured the secur­ity guards we knew where we were going the booms opened and we had arrived in Shelley Point! 

Arriving in Shelley Point almost feels like you’re in a trop­ical para­dise because the roads are lined with palm trees. You need to drive slowly and be aware of the tor­toises, guinea fowl and rab­bits who have right of way on the roads. Every build­ing is painted white and look quite sim­ilar from a dis­tance, how­ever driv­ing past you can see that each home as a style and indi­vidu­al­ity of its own.  And even though it is the end of July and should be the middle of winter the weather gods were smil­ing on us and blessed us with some stun­ning “sum­mer” like weather for the entire weekend.

Our home away from home was a friend’s hol­i­day house, situ­ated right on the beach with an unbe­liev­able view. From the ver­andah there was a large stretch of green grass, a tram­po­line, the beach and the ocean for as far as the eye could see. The sun­set that even­ing was beau­ti­ful and fall­ing asleep to the gentle lull of the waves break­ing is an exper­i­ence every­one should have at least once in their lifetime. 

Waking up on Saturday we had a break­fast of boiled eggs and bread rolls and watched the pods of dol­phins, who had decided to set up camp right in front of our house, surf­ing in the waves and show­ing off with their tricks and flicks out of the water. What a fant­astic view we had! It was very easy to spend the day watch­ing the ocean in anti­cip­a­tion of the dolphin’s next trick. The day was so warm we even wandered down to the sea for a dip in the ocean, it wasn’t a long swim, but I can hon­estly say it was the first time I’ve ever swam in the Atlantic Ocean in winter. 

We also took a leis­urely stroll to the Shelley Point Hotel and Country Club to see what their Spa had to offer. Unfortunately the ther­ap­ist was fully booked for the week­end and we weren’t able to make any appoint­ments, how­ever the rates are very reas­on­able and it is worth pre-booking your treat­ments before you arrive. There is a fab­ulous swim­ming pool at the coun­try club and if you would like to get a bit of exer­cise in you can play a round of golf on the 9-hole links course. 

There are no shops in Shelley Point itself, how­ever a small cafe is about a 3 minute drive away and a slightly big­ger gar­age shop is as approx­im­ate 10 minute drive. While there you need to take a walk along the beach and enjoy the beauty of Shelley Point, but try to ensure you know what the house you’re stay­ing at looks like because it could be a very long walk if you forget.

If you want to spend a relax­ing, quiet time away in a sleepy sea­side town then Shelley Point is the dir­ec­tion you should head. This week­end was filled with great memor­ies and won­der­ful friends and in my opin­ion it is the only way a week­end should be spent.

Useful Links
For addi­tional des­tin­a­tion inform­a­tion please see:
Shelley Point Attractions
Shelley Point Accommodation
Cape West Coast Accommodation