Garden Route Unearthed

Breathtaking ocean views on Fisherman’s Walk, Brenton-on-sea

It was a stunning autumn morning, so Bryan and I decided to go for a hike and re-visit Fisherman’s Walk in Brenton-on-sea. It has been a while since we last enjoyed it.

Brenton-on-sea is about 6kms from the white bridge in Knysna. If you are coming from the direction of George, you take the left exit off the N2 (Belvidere Road), just before the white bridge. It is signposted Belvedere and Brenton-on-sea.

As you drive along Belvidere Road, after about 3kms on your left-hand side, you come to Margaret’s Viewpoint. Here you have the most spectacular view of Knysna Lagoon and Knysna town itself. It is most definitely worth stopping to soak in this wonderful panorama, especial on a day like we had, or if you are up early enough for sunrise.

Margaret’s Viewpoint is named after Margaret Addinal, a well known and well loved Knysna conservationist who persistently campaigned for the view point to be made an official stop off.

There are benches to sit and soak up the view and some information boards explaining the Knysna Estuarine system.

Once you arrive in Breton-on-sea, to find the start point of Fisherman’s Walk, turn left on to Steenbras Street.

There are two main entrances to the walk and two simple pathways down the side of houses, (to be honest, these pathways are a bit tricky to find). My suggestion is that you start at the first main entrance.

Pass the road called Freesia Place on your left and almost immediately afterwards on your right-hand side (before the traffic circle) is this archway.

There is space for a couple of cars on the grass beside this entrance.

The second entrance further up the road, past the traffic circle has no parking available, except on the street and you miss out on a fair amount of the walk, by starting at this entrance. There is also an archway, like the one shown in the picture, but it has steps on the back side of the arch.

And, on the topic of the steps, please do take care if the wooden steps or boardwalks are wet, they are extremely slippery and it is easy to loose your footing.

Fisherman’s Walk delivers breathtaking views of the coastline. It is a walk of about 2.3kms, that leads along the cliff path along the back gardens of some houses, through some coastal forest (there are places where you have to duck under the branches of the trees), and down a significant number of steps to a beautiful sandy beach.

Along the cliff path sections, there are several benches, where you can while away a few hours listening to the ocean and enjoying these spectacular vistas.

Once you arrive on the beach, if it is low tide, there is a rocky outcrop you can climb up and this is a great spot for some fishing (Make sure you have the required fishing license that can be purchased at any Post Office) and watch your footing on the rocks!

The bay is calm enough for swimming (although always be aware of strong currents and rip-tides along the Garden Route coast).

From here you can either return back the way you have come, via the stairs, or if you wish and it is low tide, you can walk along the beach and ascend / scramble up another pathway and stairs further along.

We decided to take the stairs there and back.

As you can see from the photo (on the right), there are quite a few steps to climb and it is fairly steep.

Bryan and I have good fitness levels and it took us about 7 minutes (including a couple of stops), to ascend these stairs.

But then, there is no need to rush. Take a few stops and catch your breath and enjoy the view.

If you are very lucky (and we were), you will see dolphins frolicking in the ocean. There were a pod of about 40-50 the day we visited.

Using my camera on my phone, I tried to capture them. It is a terrible shot, but if you look closely, in the wave on the right side of the image, you can make out a couple of fins!

Before you finish your visit to Brenton-on-sea, be sure to pop to the parking area overlooking the main beach and Buffalo Bay. There are also a couple of restaurants and a Deli, if you fancy a coffee of a bite to eat.

There are some beautifully creative mosaic benches and the view is yet again simply spectacular.

Bryan and I had throughly enjoyed our trip to Brenton-on-sea and our hike of Fisherman’s Walk.

As we left to head home, there was one stop we decided to make. This was at the new farm stall and deli that had opened up on Belvidere Road about 1km past Margaret’s Viewpoint on the left-hand side, called The Urban Girl.

I’ll be adding a post shortly about The Urban Girl.

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