Oyster Festival Weekends

What an exciting 12 days I spent down in Knysna.

Knysna was looking clean and tidy, and the garden’s in and around our beautiful town are being redone.         

Shaun from #Pinnacle Pharmaceuticals and his friend were staying with us, as they were exhibiting at the expos before both the races.  Amos from Atios booked for one night and stayed for two

We started with the 2 cycle races, and although not entirely full, had a Group with the 2 Nicc’s and their friends, and another couple who were competing.  Nicci and friends did the Mountain Bike race, which I believe was beautiful, but exhausting.  Luckily the weather held out for them, as we had a lot of rain during the previous week.  The rain came down again on the Saturday afternoon, which did not bode well for the competitors in the Road Race.  Needless to say it was pouring early on the Sunday morning and the group that had done the Mountain bike race the day before decided to rather enjoy a hearty breakfast and head home.  Our only competitor arrived back to say that it was only raining in Knysna, and that just over the hill the weather was perfect.  Well done on sticking it out Herman.

Onto Monday and a big room changeover and preparations for firstly my managers surprise birthday party on the 25th, and then shopping to restock from the previous weekend.  Rooms were thoroughly checked again, and to my dismay, handrails in two of the bathrooms had come off the wall.  Fortunately my husband had surprised me by coming down to assist for the second weekend, so he got stuck into the maintenance whilst we continued with the preparations.  We had numerous other guests coming and going during the week, and with all the rain, were battling to keep up with all the laundry.

Thursday arrived, and so did the first of our runners, 2 couples and a single lady, Gwen, Lil and Claire and supporters.  What a lovely group.  On Friday, fortunately arriving early, came the rest of the runners.  We had a full house, and all preparation was going into the shuttle service we were offering for the first time, and the “Special Breakfast”.        

 My daughter juiced up a nutritional drink, whilst we laid out the various energy bars, bananas, cramp tablets and other supplements.  My husband got up early and prepared some hot oats, which along with the juice, fruit salad, and Yoghurt went down very well.  Two shuttles later, he arrived back at the guesthouse to have a quick breakfast before we joined the thousands of people waiting at the finish line.

It was great to see the gratification on our guests faces as they saw us waiting for them, and even more so when I stood in the beer queue for 1 and a half hours to get them some much needed refreshment.        

Sunday was the day for goodbyes, very sad indeed.  You get to know your guests, and you are saying goodbye to friends.

I was blessed with a goodbye Sunset on my last night.

Thanks to everyone for a very memorable time, and remember to book early for next year, it will be even better.