Missing my cycling training ...

Hi patient people,

Today the subject takes me back to my 2010 cycling exploits, not fantastic mind you, but fulfilling nonetheless :-)

The best part of the training was the weekend route from Somerset West to Rooi Els on the R44. The next pics show me leaving home for training - training starts (downhill) were always great, the finishes (uphill) never so :-). The fauna and flora at home are eternally enjoyable though!

I may bore you with my detailed descriptions but, apart from the famous #Chapman'sPeakDrive, there is no better coastal scenic cycling route in the Western Cape - if you can ignore the crazy boat towing motorists!!

The training route starts in a normally busy Somerset West but traffic starts thinning out just past Gordon's Bay. As you descend on the R44 towards Faure Road you will see Bikini Beach - one of our numerous #BlueFlag beaches. Do not sight-see too much though because you'll need to concentrate on the road :-). If you get closer to the beach in winter, you may see the seal in the pic sunning itself :-)

1 km further on up the road, you will see the first sign denoting the #WhaleRoute - exciting! The left side of the road is populated with high value residential properties hanging (some precariously) onto the Helderberg mountainside.

You are now on your way to the Steenbras River crossing on this sea-hugging road. One can stop off here and make your way down the rocky coast ravine for a dip in the refreshing waters of the river mouth. Unfortunately, I do not have pics but you can find some at: https://www.google.co.za/maps/@-34.1936696,18.8210447,3a,75y,90.49h,71.67t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sQxJOr6W2z38MKYvsxfQnyw!2e0.

The Steenbras River crossing lies at the bottom of the first nice climb on the R44 after Gordon's Bay. Going up this climb allows one the first clear sighting of Rooi Els, one's destination. It is a stiff climb but not too long (about 1 km) Near the top, there is a water fountain and plaques denoting Clarence Drive - the official name of this stretch of the R44. Before 10 o'clock in the morning this part of the road is in beautiful shade - believe you me, you need this piece of otherwise useless information during our hot summers!

Another two turns in this drive and you come to the top - many blessings from a view and tired legs perspective! Here you may choose to wait for your training partners or have your training partners wait for you because you will experience a very nice (no pedalling, yea!) down hill with ample sea views. You will now make you way down towards Kogel (Cool) Bay and the temporarily straight part of the R44 that runs past it. In summer, this is a favourite Christmas season camping spot for Capetonians and Stellenbosch inhabitants.

At the bottom of the downhill there is a series of twisty sections before one starts climbing again - this time a much more manageable climb towards a seaward crest to the right. On the way back from Rooi Els, this is a view that rival (in my humble opinion) that of parts of Chapman's Peak Drive. This crest is the last before the winding downhill towards Rooi Els. On this stretch there is another whale watching point that is best visited towards the 10th month of the year.

My favourite training technique was to conserve energy on the way to Rooi Els and to burn it on the way back - my training partners were never impressed!! Since it was training for the Argus Cycling Tour, I simply mimicked the way I envisaged racing.

One of the many sunset views you can get, sitting at a roadside restaurant in Gordon's Bay

Of all the cycling training roads I did in 2010, I miss this one the most. Unfortunately I have since sold my road bike because of safety concerns. Apart from that stretch of road, I also trained on Spook ("Ghost") hill in Somerset West, Chapman's Peak Drive, Helshoogte between Stellenbosch and Franschoek, Jonkershoek and the R44 between Stellenbosch and Wellington, returning with the R304 via R312.

Until next time, when I hope to chat about my recent squash trip to Durban.

.

The last time I walked (almost crawled) up Table Mountain ...

Hi Everyone,

My apologies for neglecting the blog for a while. I'm back on the horse again (at least for this one more post :-))

I remember very vividly how I walked up #TableMountain in #CapeTown many years ago without so much as having raised my breathing. That was indeed many years and kilograms less ago, as I realised a few months ago. Funny how memories can fool one.

Our #Belgian visitor was still with us and my daughter came home from Mpumalanga for a short Easter visit. Now the youngsters put psychological pressure on me to walk up the mountain using phrases like: "You're not getting old are you?". Always thought the young lady would have been a better psychologist than a civil engineer but there you are!

So on the morning of the attempt, we set off from our temporary base in Gordon's Bay. We stopped at a truck stop along the N2 to stock up on energy providers. I got myself some real coffee and others stocked up on energy drinks. It is normal to buy gelatine-based sweets and I got a packet. Then the four of us hit the black strip. We got to Table Mountain before the sun reached sufficient Africaness to shine with burning intensity but were to late to beat the throngs. After weaving our way through wild crowds at the lower cable car station, we proceeded slowly to parking near #PlatteklipGorge, the start of our epic journey.

The walk up Platteklip Gorge is the easiest, safest and most direct walkway up the the mountain. It is shorter by far than starting at Constantia nek or from Kirstenbosch or even from the Lower Cable car station.The pathway has been gentrified over the years by mountain lovers and #CapeNature but still offers a stiff challenge. A few years ago the most outstanding moment was when we encountered a gentleman running down the gorge with an about two-year old in a basket contraption on his back. Apparently he ran up earlier that same morning - I thought the guy had lost his marbles!!

If you're fit enough to walk constantly at a stiff pace, you can conquer Platteklip Gorge in one-and-one-half hours. You will raise quite a sweat though and should take sufficient water, even when you stutter along like I was recently. Or maybe I should say, especially if you struggle along like I did that that time.

I must say I started off aiming for a two hours of 'enhanced bodily interrogation' but only made the summit half an hour later - this after my son had started to mourn the fact that he did not bring his shaving kit with. With his beard having grown to what he considered unmanageable proportion due to waiting, I eventually dragged my well-interrogated body over the summit.

On the way up there were several irritations:

1) a group of kids and their parents/minders caught up with me and they kept chattering away about finding easter eggs and some were even hoping to bump into the easter bunny! Imagine! When your every breath is torture, you are surrounded by the chattering class.

Apparently they found some easter eggs hidden along the path by well-meaning Cape Nature staff because it was the Easter weekend. I found out these philantropists were the basic cause of my discomfort - which, of course, had nothing to do with my lack of aerobic fitness, perish the thought.

The Belgian visitor and my son clearly inherited genes from Alpine mountain goats. Not so, I was happy to note, my daughter. A few years on the #Mpumalanga highveld and constant bad air had taken its toll on the young lady. Even she admitted that she felt a significant difference between 20 (the last time she undertook the walk up the mountain) and 25 years of age :-).      

2) A lady who clearly had nothing to do, I presumed, than run up and down the mountain on daily basis, ran up and down past me a couple of times. I was taken aback that people would entertain such activities but it is better than sinking into a state of depression (which I was considering - too much time to think when you moved as slowly as I did).

3) The only other thing that i could not overcome was my constant scouting for escalators - couldn't these Cape Nature people do a proper job? I mean, it is all well and good to lay out a safe path but not to include escalators was criminally negligent, in my opinion at the time.

Having eventually crested the summit and noticing that everyone on top were in contagiously joyful mood, I got into the swing of things i.e. collecting evidence of my odyssey by imprinting it on the #CCD of my clever little cellphone camera. Although I took a pic or two on the way up, I admit these occasions were rest breaks rather than pure photo-ops. My heart wasn't in it at the time :-)

The other reason was being in a carnival mode at the top, was the decision to go down with the #cablecar. It could not have come at a better time. So after the obligatory choosing of the best scenery for photo-ops, we bought tickets for the trip down and joined the queue.

At this time I thought about my daughter in law who, on a previous occasion, was caught in midair by a recalcitrant cable car. Amid the discomfort all around her, she said loudly to my son: "This could be it, baby. Final destination!" Not waiting to notice the impact of her ill-chosen statement, she merrily carried on taking pics. Obviously, my son (her 'baby') was less than comfortable with the unfortunate turn of event.

Nothing like this happened to us though and our cable car was very well-behaved and offered the expected smooth ride down.

Bonjour mes amis ...

Bonjour mes amis,

Yes, you guessed it. Marie Antoinette's cake eaters have woken up!

This past week, the French have fired a few shots across the bows of Nelson's ship.

This is what the map looks like ...



EntryPageviews

France                      10

South Africa             4

United States           2

United Kingdom     1

I understand that many of my posts have already been read by regulars, which skews the stats a bit. Since I have not written much lately, we cannot expect much else but writer's block will vanish soon :-)

Anyway, it is good to welcome new readers!!!

A bientot.

Halala!

Tanzania has joined us. Karibu!

Millennium surpassed ...

Hi everyone,

We passed the 1000 readership mark sometime during the night over here ... thanks to all "stalkers".

At this rate, Suarez would have bitten us :-)

Keep travelling safely and enjoyably!

The Not-so-great trek to the Second Waterfall in Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch

Hi Everyone,

Today we walked part of the land originally granted to Johann Andriesz who was commonly known as Jan de Jonker, hence the Jonkers part of the name Jonkershoek (Jonker's corner). When he died in 1688, his property passed on to a free black slave and neighbour, Jan of Ceylon. He owned it until 1701 and it was granted to Anna Hoeks (where I presume the the second part of the name Jonkershoek  originates from. Anna, at a stage, owned all but one of the concessions in Jonkershoek. Let it not be said that Stellenbosch has always been male chauvinist.

The reason for the brief history reference is that Jonkershoek is THE favourite mountain biking destination in Stellenbosch. It also hosts many other attractions, among them lovely self-catering cottages surrounded by meadows inhabited by horses, super wine estates, good walking paths and clear mountain streams. At the origin of one of these streams lies the Second Waterfall (for some reason its name has not progressed beyond the numerical!) Perhaps this is because the other waterfall along the same path is named the First Waterfall. These waterfalls are not anything like the Augrabies (see post: http://expectmeagain.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-place-of-great-noise.html) or those in Mpumalanga (see post: http://expectmeagain.blogspot.com/2014/03/mpumalanga-near-kruger-national-park.html), but they are within walking distance from our home, so they hold a special attraction for us.

My youngest son (that's him up there), insisted that we visit the second waterfall on 22/06/2014 (the "Today" referred to above). I've never seen him this enthusiastic about a nature walk and agreed, partly not to dampen his spirits. I found out later that his "enthusiasm" developed in part because he's been promising some friends that we'll visit the reserve a very long time ago and that peer pressure was the main instigator. That said, it was a balmy morning when we set out from home.

Welcome to my world!

Our Belgian visitor's first concern was snakes and my son was quick to point out that the mountains around Stellenbosch have a fair supply of puff adders - not a comforting thought! I consoled myself with the presumed inactivity of snakes this time of the year.

At the gate to the reserve we each paid R40,00 and were on our way - if you have a Wild Card, you pay substantially less at all the participating nature reserves in the country! Makes a lot of sense for people who visit nature reserves often.

I was not really looking forward to struggling up the steep walk near the Second Waterfall as a result of my limited aerobic fitness. I have this theory that because I was a premature baby (7 months), my lungs never fully developed and although I tried to make up for this by training seriously for middle and long-distance running as a youth, I simply could not hack the big-time. Now in my middle age, my lower than normal aerobic fitness levels are back to haunt me. Truth be told however, I have not been assiduous about my aerobic training and rely on squash to keep my fitness levels going.

Aerobic fitness xa!

Anyway, we made our way up the single track path from where the marker indicated and the walk was immediately invigorating. The soothing gurgling sounds of a nearby stream accompanies the walker on the trail with every step and makes one realize the wonderful integration of nature and its calming effect on the human psyche.

Although we have just passed the winter solistice, the warm African sun tends to fool some flowers into premature budding. This means quite a bit of pollen in the air - in fact Stellenbosch outdoors is not recommended for the sufferers of hay fever, the pollen count being consistently among the highest in our beautiful country.

We walked up the trail, and for the first time among my many prior traverses, the path was filled with ankle deep water at some level junctures.

Once we got to higher ground, we could walk without worrying about puddles. The Jonkershoek Valley, that far up, displays fantastic colour variations between the enveloping hills. Unfortunately, we did not have the best cameras for the job and our pics look ordinary. Also, once we got to the drop zone of the waterfall, the water stream was bathed in sunlight while the surrounds were gloomy. My camera could simply not handle the contrast, resulting in overexposure of the lighted areas and a lack of detail, which is a shame.

Road long, spirits high! 

We made it up the steepest part of the walk and I caught up with a resting gentleman of a similar age to mine. He stood there smiling while I resembled a steam train engine of yesteryear. In a little Eastern Cape town of Dordrecht there used to be quite a climb as the steam trains tried to haul cargo towards Sterkstroom. Many times the engines could not build up enough momentum to crest the little hill and they would wheeze, hoot, blow billows of steam. I felt like one of those steam engines when I reached my well-rested friend.

To get to the "drop zone" of the second waterfall one has to wade through the stream and over boulders and smaller loose rocks. It requires a bit of goat-like surefootedness and simian agility and, as a result, was pretty exciting. Partly, because one could end up in an icy stream of water boots and all and also because you are keeping an eye of others would could provide similar but more enjoyable entertainment. No-one was in a mood to supply free comedy to the others, so we all made it there pretty nicely. Our Belgian companion decided to put her feet in the puddle that formed at the "drop zone".

Magical place for all

On previous occasions albeit during summer I've also been similarly overzealous, so I watched with interest as she stepped into the clear light-brown water. The young lady, although she originates from colder climes did not last long in the puddle - 30 seconds by my reckoning.  After a record was taken of her Costa Rican-like bravery, she spend the rest of the time sitting on a log rubbing some heat into her feet. I must admit that I did not feel any empathy :-).

Cold feet, brave girl

Let it also be known that no-one else was brave enough to follow her example.

Once we had "conquered" the Second Waterfall, the trek home began because we were all smelling the faraway lunch offered with love by the Good Wife, who stayed home on this occasion.

By common desire we missed out on a visit to the First Waterfall and head straight for the fleshpots of Klapperbos Close.

On the way back, we rested briefly at the foot of the steepest portion of the walk and just above us the light over the mountain crest formed a fantastic rainbow which none of our cameras were able to capture. This was one of the great visual highlights of our trip.

With the naked eye, the rainbow was there. Still a stunning pic though!

I left the reserve with some regret and we made it home without further incident.

The bonus for me was taking some fresh water from a stream high up and drinking the sweet natural nectar at home - really refreshing!

Keep travelling people and keep safe.

And India has joined the readership ranks ...

Hi y'all,

This is what the readership (by country) looks like as we get closer to 1000 page views.

The darker coloured countries read the most pages for the week to date. For the first time Indian readers have joined us - welcome!

Audience

Keep reading and exploring!

Readership of the week-to-date ...

Hi everyone,

South Africans are in the weekly lead for the first time in a very long while - thanks!

Entry	Pageviews
South Africa	13
United States	11
Russia	9
New Zealand	2
Malaysia	1
Ukraine	1

I think it is easier to cheat on the readership stats depending on the time of day. If I take a sample during our daytime, most of the US is sleeping :-)

Keep going and travelling!

Visit to Western Cape by Marc Boeckx, Inge Fonteyne and Niels Fonteyne ...

Hi good readers,

I depart from the norm here and post a first hand account by one Flemish visitor to our shores.

The short visit by Marc Boeckx (author herein) and Inge Fonteyne, his wife, took place from 26/03/2014 to 09/04/2014.

Fltr: Author Marc Boeckx, Inge Fonteyne, Sarah Fonteyne (all Belgian) , Evy Olivier, and Ron Olivier (South African) on a wine estate.

The rest, apart from my small corrective edits, is Marc's report:

Our aim of the journey was clear ;

1) visit Sarah enrolled in a traineeship
2) see as much as possible of the nearby region

Arriving late at night at the airport a shuttle bus took us to the Green Hotel.  The boy carrying our Luggage to the room explained in detail why this is a green hotel.

The day after we drove by rented car to Sarah's guest house.  The guest family granted us an overwhelming warm welcome.  Short after we explored the nice and friendly city of Stellenbosch.

Our tour then started, heading for the wine region Franschhoek.  Beautiful wine estates in peaceful areas, always run by white people ; we here realised the difference between rich owners (white people) and the workers (black people).  I hope the workers gain a decent salary so they can raise their family, send children to school. When moving to Oudtshoorn some 350km eastwards, we had the same impression ; heavy road work done by only black people, never a mixture in a team.

We didn't go into a township, although very interested to learn how people get around here.

During all the journey we mainly saw white South Africans and tourists ; why where we so little confronted to the black population?  What did we do wrong in organising our trip?  So to us it very much looks like
Apartheid, still today, a denomination we thought had disappeared!

How does the (new) government compete with this.

However, our overall impression about the region we visited, particularly all the people we addressed ourselves to, has marked our impression in a very positive way.  We earlier visited some countries in Asia and Canada and are familiar with other cultures.

Here we directly felt like home, at ease, comfortable, but above all

HAPPY!

Those were Marc's words and I am happy to hear readers' comments!

Keep travelling safely!

900

Hi everyone,

I told you that we were nearing 800 on 14/05/2014 (international notation).

I am pleased to inform that we are now very close to 900. An Abu Dhabi reader told me that it reflects stalking (tongue in cheek, I hope :-)). I am happy to have blog stalkers - in fact, I encourage readers to share and follow !!!

Ok, now for some stats. The graph for the month to date looks like this:



Readership for the month looks like this:

Entry	Pageviews
United States	72
Russia	17
South Africa	9
Germany	5
Turkey	3
Ukraine	3
Lithuania	2
Netherlands	2
Algeria	1
Ethiopia	1

Clearly nothing that threatens the American readership in leadership. The picture changes somewhat when the statistics for the past week is taken into account:

Entry	Pageviews
United States	32
Russia	17
Turkey	3
Ukraine	3
South Africa	2
Germany	1
Ethiopia	1
France	1
Netherlands	1

Yes, the Russians are coming. Da, russkiye idut! (Да, русские идут!). I think the South Africans locally have been sent into hibernation by the frequent cold spells, while the faithful UAE readers are staying out of the summer heat :-).

I am happy we added Ethiopia, Algeria, Lithuania and Ukraine to the growing list. If we do not watch out, we will soon have global coverage - wouldn't that be a boon :-).

Until next time I greet you in the name of Yeshua the Christ!

Keep travelling,

Asterix Squash short update 2

Hi y'all,

I've signed the Asterix event FB page over to Google to spread in certain countries.

I'm afraid I could not get the 4 home unions separately, so I had to include it as the United Kingdom - hope I'll not miss the Bravehearts in this process :-).

Hoping for a good return and will wait in anticipation ;-)

Keep travelling safely! 

Another new readership update

Hi everyone,

The Ottomans are upon us too! There has been a sudden spike in Turkish readership.

Thanks and enjoy!

Also I'm feeling like the Ukraine (with respect to the suffering among normal people over there!). The Russian readership is taking on the Americans this week. So far the Americans have the technological advantage but will the Russians use their legendary ingenuity to catch up?

Keep travelling safely!

The place of great noise ...

Hi everyone,

Wish I had typing and computers available at school - it would have been so much more interesting! I always hated writing by hand because my fingers could not keep pace with the ideas in my brain. The results were discontinuous and at times visibly dislexic. I'm sure my teachers always wondered why they had to resort to threats to get me to write an essay. If any of them read the blog, it was not your fault :-).

Anyway, typing via computer is an improvement on my original writing.

Back to this post which will endeavour to bring the world of the "Place of Big Noise" to you. When I had just acquired my current Renault Megane, I wanted to go somewhere out of the ordinary.

I remembered that, as a child, I was dragged to Dysonsklip near Upington for a Grade 3 final school term by my mom. We lived on  the Dysonsklip island in the middle of the Orange River. Although there were a lot of vegetable and lucerne plantations near the riverbanks, further away there were just sand, rocks and the occasional sign that depicted a farm entrance. My brother-in-law John Keys taught at the Dysonsklip primary school at the time and had accommodation just opposite the school while he also owned a house in Upington. The time over there was a bit traumatic for me - I was dragged away from St Idas Primary School as a result of serious trouble between my adoptive parents, I had no friends in the new place, I had to adapt to a new curriculum in the final term of the school year AND the kids around Upington at the time were expert stone throwers. If you picked up an argument with a kid, make sure his mates are not around because they would move away to pick up stones at the start. If even one of your limbs stick out from under a melee of bodies, be sure that 90% of the stones aimed at it will be on target. Even if his friends are not there, you'll need to beat him to a pulp to ensure there are no comebacks after the fight - stone supplies are plentiful :-). I still think that if one can transfer that stone-throwing accuracy to shooting, the SANDF probably missed a big trick by not recruiting their snipers from that region.

Back to 2008. The gauntness of the region settled it for me and I decided to drag my family to visit the Augrabies Waterfall in the middle of the South African summer. "Augrabies", according to linguists, is derived from the Khoi or Nama or Korana (all first nations) word(s) for "Place of big noise". The people of that part of the Northern Cape are very proudly Afrikaans speaking but it is not an original language for the majority.

I booked a place for us in Kakamas (about 80 odd km from Upington). My wife did not protest much since she had family in Upington. The kids did not know much about geography and weather systems of that region, so they thought it will be a nice holiday! Well, I thought so too - for different reasons! I've just called for my sabre regarding the the pic quality in this post. I had to take pics of prints because I deleted the originals, sorry.

We travelled on the R44 until we hit the N7 and turned off near VanRhynsdorp onto the R27 and from there straight to Kakamas, via the N14 from around Keimoes. The R27 is a beautiful stretch of road, was reasonably well-maintained and for large stretches free from speed traps, so travelling was bliss. The small towns inbetween however was becoming rundown but there were very few beggars on the roadside.
One of the outstanding features of roadside Northern Cape is the work of the Sociable Weavers, one of the few species of birds in the world that build communal nests. The pic says it all ...? Obviously, Telkom has never been a fan of this type of abberation on the part the birds :-).

Sociable Weavers: community birds and destroyers of comms infrastructure

To be honest, I expected more poverty in places like Kakamas but when we got there I was pleasantly surprised.. We booked into the Vergelegen Country Guest House & Restuarant, a really beautiful and comfortable establishment with great service levels and food (yes, the food was divine!). It was later afternoon when we got to Kakamas and, due to the high temperatures, the Good Wife and kids were not in the mood to explore Kakamas and decided to chill in our air-conditioned and DSTV-enabled room until after sundown.

Sundown did not bring respite from the oppressive heat but I was not going to spend my first day in Kakamas without going to town, so I sold the idea to the Good Wife as going to the local Mall. That peaked her interest and we were off. I was obviously just as disappointed when we could not find the Kakamas Mall. We found a nice little curio shop on the outskirts of town. It was one of the highlights of our our visit to the town. So, we returned to the guest house, had dinner and a beautiful night's rest with a phletora of frogs singing us to sleep.

The next day we got up early, had a fantastic breakfast and ventured into Kakamas again before the heat could become unbearable. Of all the buildings in Kakamas, I found the "Transformer Building" the most fascinating.The building was commissioned as a functioning electricty transformer building for the eletrification of Kakamas by a Swiss artisan, A B Hangartner and was commissioned by the Labour Colony Commission of the then Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (commonly referred to in English as the Dutch Reformed Church). This seemed to have been part of a support programme for the settlement of "poor whites" after Kakamas  was declared a "poor white labour re-settlement colony" in 1897. The Transformer building was completed in 1914.

Transformer Building in Kakamas (modern streetlight a nice contrasting touch) 

I did not find anyone to give me greater insight into the significance of the Transformer Building (currently the Kakamas Museum) and the happenings around the time of establishment of Kakamas. The idea was clearly revolutionary and tough on everyone who were in Kakamas at the time and everyone else who were transported from elsewhere to build a community in what would have been a severely inhospitable place.

The water canals, transporting water from the Orange River to adjacent irrigation projects were also quite a site.

 
Given the difficult economic conditions we are currently experiencing, I think we can learn from early century growth strategies if we stop listening to the "modern" economists and research organisations for long enough to see what the principles underpinning the age-old strategies were and how those principles apply to a modern economy.

Ok, I'm off my soapbox!

The main reason for being in the region was to visit the Augrabies Waterfall in the National Park  and when we went back to the guest house to escape the sun and re-aquaint ourselves with our sedentary lifestyle, I decided that the next day we were going to the Augrabies, which is about 16 km outside of Kakamas on the R64.

I had support from my family on this score (wow!), so we got up early the next day and made our way to the Augrabies (after booking on the internet). When we got there, the two ladies decided to do the short walk and us of the bolder species (my son liked that description :-)) decided to do the mini-triathlon: a canoe trip on the Orange River, a walk to a biking station and then a mountain bike return to the main Augrabies camp.

The temperature was starting to reach the late thirties (in degrees Celsius) and all of us were wondering whether it would not be more sensible simply to venture to the falls and then go back indoors for some nice food in an air-conditioned setting. But we paid our money and the egos (especially mine) took over.

Me and the youngest male in the household made our way to the mini triathlon starting point and with some King Kong chest beats, got ourselves kitted out with safety jackets and we were off on the Orange River (It was originally called the Gariep River in the Nama language). Early European settlers, without having had sight of the river itself, called it Vigiti Magna off ancient maps.

Starting out on the Gariep

Anyway, the mistake the youngster and I made was to put too much elbow grease into the canoeing leg ensuring that it was over far too soon. It is the most pleasurable part of the triathlon and should be savoured for as long as possible.

Hard slog out of the sun-drenched gulley: More like escape from the planet of drought

Once we reached the changing point, we were given rough directions to walk to a cycling base station and trudging through gullies in desert-like heat, without sufficient water, was not my idea of fun but when we reached the base station about 20 min later and well-fried, we found two mountain bikes waiting for us. The lesson learnt from the walk is to take sufficient light protective clothing and enough water or other hydrating liquids (exclude alcohol from you provisions at this stage).

So our troubles were over once we got the cycles right? ... Not quite!

We thought we've made it at this point :-)

The cycling base station is in a little valley and you need to be an ok mountain cyclist to get out of there. Either that, or as we often did, walk the stony road to the top of the hill.

When we got to the top of the hill we could see the oasis of the main Augrabies camp and felt that it was all worth it. However, in 40 plus degrees Celsius heat, even a 5 km cycling trip becomes taxing and, although I faked it as best I could, I'm sure the youngster could detect that I was fading fast. Luckily we came upon a little stream where we could refresh and make our way back to the main camp.

A lifesaving little stream

We got to the main camp a good two hours or more after leaving and just in time to stop the ladies from sending out a search party for us. When then walked together to the well-appointed look-out points like the rest of the normal touristas and gaped at the waterfall (funny that no matter how many waterfalls you've seen, you still find each different one special. The Augrabies Falls, situated in the middle of semi-desert, is special for that very reason. Unfortunately I did not take a good pic of the actual waterfall but it is not too far if you want to see it for yourself! Good comeback, hey?

After a good lunch at the on-site diner, we explored the shop and the houses (yes, one can rent a self-catering unit at the Falls but you need to do it well in advance because they get booked out quickly. Bookings can ba done via SANPARKS website).

We did not tarry too long at the Falls and made our way back to our own little rented oasis for the rest of the afternoon - my legs were gone anyway!

Oh yes and true to my word we made our way to Upington the next day, visited the Good Wife's family, showed the kids around the town and where I spent some of my childhood. And that was the trip ...

Until next time, which I hope will be a less taxing piece :-)

Travel well and safely but travel!