Naturally...

The Mountain Club of South Africa supports a wide variety of styles when it comes to mountaineering, but as far as swimming goes there is one style in particular that its members seem to enjoy. While the club does not include the strongest swimmers around, there is a particular flair with which many MCSA members take to the water. And so, being on an MCSA sponsored trip, when i came across a beach where I could not see a single human being in any direction, I took to the water in a fashion that I believe my sponsors would approve of... Naturally...

Walking since Paternoster has been good. After covering 45 km to get to Velddrif, I was offered a bed by a family of real estate agents. As well as being a booking agent, the lady who offered me accommodation in Paternoster is also a Real Estate agent, so it would seem that the Western Cape has quite a friendly collection of realters! From there it was 30 km till I found the beach. The west coast road takes quite a turn inland after Dwarskersbos, so I was was walking along a dirt road that runs next to the railway line just behind the dunes. Every now and then a sliver of ocean would appear, brightly reflecting the sun at one point like a weld between sky and sand. I knew there had to be some secret unspoilt coast behind the dunes and I was right! I got permission from the farmer and camped about 200m off the road in the veld. It was about another 800m to the beach where I took a rest day, naturally...

From there it was another 30 km to a terribly dodgy campsite Elandsbaai (fortunately the guard let me out without paying!), and another 27 to Lambert's Bay where I used some of the money that I've saved by sleeping on the roadside to spoil myself with a bed and a shower! At R100 a night it was only R5 rand more expensive than the dodgy campsite! Accommodation is very overpriced on the West Coast, especially being a climber used to my favourite sites at R30 a night, or some places in the Transkei for R10! From Lamberts Bay I was hoping to find some cheap accommodation in Doringbaai or Strandfontein to take a set day at but haven't found anything. I have decided instead to take two easy days walking instead of one rest day, sleeping where I can find safe spots off the road. Yesterday I walked 25 km and slept under a small, disused railway bridge (still used by the train though so it was a noisy night! ), and today i intend to walk 20 km. This will bring my week's total (excluding the days lost to weather in Paternoster) to 177 km, well above my quota of 150 km. My feet are still a bit sore though and while this past week has been almost entirely dirt, from here I head on to tar which is alot harder on the feet. Hopefully the accommodation is cheaper inland and I can find a good spot to rest and do some washing soon!

This is my last day along the shore before I hit the North Coast so I'm taking in the see view from just past Doringbaai. The West Coast has been beautiful, but the accommodation is overpriced and the people here generally aren't very friendly. Fortunately I have found safe places to camp freely and met people who's quality of friendliness outweighs the quantity of the unfriendly, which has made this stretch of the coast most enjoyable! I've seen some amazing things and had such a great experience so far that all the songs I've written but couldn't find words to are suddenly finishing themselves with far greater imagery and substance than I could have written before. Very glad I've got my guitar with me! as for the photos, I haven't taken as many as expected, but I'm not too worried. It has, after all, only been two weeks! I still got over 8 months left on the road! My perception of time has taken a bit of a knock but I'm slowly getting into it and just putting one foot infront of the other. The tough days are the days I think about how far I've come and how far I'm going, but more and more I'm learning to just take it as it comes and enjoy... So with that, I'm going to go enjoy my last sunset over the Atlantic...