Just over 9 months and around 5500km, and I'm done!!!
Will fill in details soon.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Just Swell in Swellendam!
Swellendam... And just over a week to go!
From PE I headed towards Jeffrey's Bay over some incredibly beautiful beaches. From J-Bay I headed down to St.Francis Bay where I reunited with an old friend of mine, Zade, who I haven't seen for years and it was awesome to see him and his brother, Dain, again!! On to Oyster Bay where Tony Kriel (who I stayed with in East London) told me about a cottage just past Oyster Bay that was owned by a friend of his. If there was someone there I could sleep inside, otherwise I could just lay down on a pretty well sheltered verandah. I arrived at the cottage and, finding nobody inside, lay my mat down on the verandah. While scrummaging through my bag to find something or other, I came across the key for the dorm at the backpackers in J-Bay that I had forgotten to return... I wondered... And it worked!!! After a comfortable night in a bed I continued.
The terrain gradually got rougher and rougher, having to cross next to a sea cliff over rocks and an incoming tide at one point. Walking past some amazing natural archways, I found some local fisherman who directed me on the best way to negotiate the terrain to come... They were wrong. After having to head inland for a bit, a farmer then told me that their were sandy beachesfrom there on... There weren't. The terrain was pretty rough, but the near vertical cliffs were easy enough to traverse with my trekking poles in one hand and my last will and testament in the other. Then I had to put the trekking poles away. Eventually I headed inland again, to be told that if I headed along a particular dirt road, it would take me inland then back to the coast at Eersterivier where I would find a campsite, a shop, and sandy beaches from there on. I'm sure you're sensing a growing trend in the accuracy of local information in the Tsitsikamma area and you would be right to assume that at Eersterivier there was neither a shop, nor a campsite, nor even navigable terrain to the west! Luckily there were Bernard and Lisbie, who gave me a bed for the night after joining them for dinner with three other families who were all out enjoying the spectacular coast and, I hope, enjoying the novety of this "engelsman" who hadn't heard of cars!
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After that I headed inland to the N2 and gained momentum through Plett, Knysna and onto Sedgefield where I met up with Dave Jones, the president of the Mountain Club of South Africa, and his wife, Fay, a lovely couple well deserving of the respect they have from their fellow mountain folk! I enjoyed the momentum that I gained after hitting the roads, so after catching up with the Jones's, enjoying their warm hospitality, and gate crashing their club section's AGM to socialise with other mountaineers, I continued via road to Mossel Bay.
Darrell Raubenheimer put me in touch with Nadia and Estienne Arndt, the organisers of the Augrabies Extreme and Addo Trail Run. They are immediately likeable with their gregarious nature and passionate outlook on life, not to mention that Estienne has a foot and a half... No, that's not a rude comment you dirty minded readers! Estienne lost half of his right foot in a motorcycle accident quite some time ago. Instead of letting it get him down he subsequently became the first amputee to complete Comrades! Nadia and Estienne walked with me on the beach from Little Brak to Mossel Bay, after which we headed to the marina to check out Abacus; Estienne's yacht that he bought from a guy who sailed solo from SA to Australia... And he's blind! On our way to Abacus I spotted her... Her name is Ingrid, she was quite dressed down compared to the others around her and her modesty and natural beauty had me immediately drawn to her. She's quite petit compared to the others, 33ft to be precise. And she's made of wood. That is to say, she's yacht. She's a fixer-upper but apparrently all she needs is a bit of elbow grease and TLC and apparrently the owner is looking to sell... Sail to South America for that climbing trip instead of a boring old flight? Hopefully...
After Mossel Bay I put in the longest day of the trip so far: 52km to Albertinia. The next day was a bit shorter as it hit 45 degrees in the shade, and I wasn't walking in the shade! Other than that it's been pretty smooth until Swellendam, hoperfully a trend that continues for the next few day until the completion of my journey!!
From PE I headed towards Jeffrey's Bay over some incredibly beautiful beaches. From J-Bay I headed down to St.Francis Bay where I reunited with an old friend of mine, Zade, who I haven't seen for years and it was awesome to see him and his brother, Dain, again!! On to Oyster Bay where Tony Kriel (who I stayed with in East London) told me about a cottage just past Oyster Bay that was owned by a friend of his. If there was someone there I could sleep inside, otherwise I could just lay down on a pretty well sheltered verandah. I arrived at the cottage and, finding nobody inside, lay my mat down on the verandah. While scrummaging through my bag to find something or other, I came across the key for the dorm at the backpackers in J-Bay that I had forgotten to return... I wondered... And it worked!!! After a comfortable night in a bed I continued.
The terrain gradually got rougher and rougher, having to cross next to a sea cliff over rocks and an incoming tide at one point. Walking past some amazing natural archways, I found some local fisherman who directed me on the best way to negotiate the terrain to come... They were wrong. After having to head inland for a bit, a farmer then told me that their were sandy beachesfrom there on... There weren't. The terrain was pretty rough, but the near vertical cliffs were easy enough to traverse with my trekking poles in one hand and my last will and testament in the other. Then I had to put the trekking poles away. Eventually I headed inland again, to be told that if I headed along a particular dirt road, it would take me inland then back to the coast at Eersterivier where I would find a campsite, a shop, and sandy beaches from there on. I'm sure you're sensing a growing trend in the accuracy of local information in the Tsitsikamma area and you would be right to assume that at Eersterivier there was neither a shop, nor a campsite, nor even navigable terrain to the west! Luckily there were Bernard and Lisbie, who gave me a bed for the night after joining them for dinner with three other families who were all out enjoying the spectacular coast and, I hope, enjoying the novety of this "engelsman" who hadn't heard of cars!
.jpg)
After that I headed inland to the N2 and gained momentum through Plett, Knysna and onto Sedgefield where I met up with Dave Jones, the president of the Mountain Club of South Africa, and his wife, Fay, a lovely couple well deserving of the respect they have from their fellow mountain folk! I enjoyed the momentum that I gained after hitting the roads, so after catching up with the Jones's, enjoying their warm hospitality, and gate crashing their club section's AGM to socialise with other mountaineers, I continued via road to Mossel Bay.
Darrell Raubenheimer put me in touch with Nadia and Estienne Arndt, the organisers of the Augrabies Extreme and Addo Trail Run. They are immediately likeable with their gregarious nature and passionate outlook on life, not to mention that Estienne has a foot and a half... No, that's not a rude comment you dirty minded readers! Estienne lost half of his right foot in a motorcycle accident quite some time ago. Instead of letting it get him down he subsequently became the first amputee to complete Comrades! Nadia and Estienne walked with me on the beach from Little Brak to Mossel Bay, after which we headed to the marina to check out Abacus; Estienne's yacht that he bought from a guy who sailed solo from SA to Australia... And he's blind! On our way to Abacus I spotted her... Her name is Ingrid, she was quite dressed down compared to the others around her and her modesty and natural beauty had me immediately drawn to her. She's quite petit compared to the others, 33ft to be precise. And she's made of wood. That is to say, she's yacht. She's a fixer-upper but apparrently all she needs is a bit of elbow grease and TLC and apparrently the owner is looking to sell... Sail to South America for that climbing trip instead of a boring old flight? Hopefully...
After Mossel Bay I put in the longest day of the trip so far: 52km to Albertinia. The next day was a bit shorter as it hit 45 degrees in the shade, and I wasn't walking in the shade! Other than that it's been pretty smooth until Swellendam, hoperfully a trend that continues for the next few day until the completion of my journey!!
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