Mr Legs

Hawston Harbour

Rotary Drive, Hermanus

I did the Karwyderskraal Hemel and Aarde loop from Onrus.

I am not sure if we are speaking about the same place, I have known the owner for the last few years (10?) to be Johan Visagie, his family have owned the farm at the top of the pass for many years.

I did Gannaga with the bakkie on Saturday to go and watch the rugby at the Lodge. Your sums are close, Gannaga Lodge was 35km from Perdekloof and from Perdekloof to the main through road is 7 km. So Gannaga Pass with the bike is still on the to do list. A few years ago on a hike across the Tankwa, I hiked up the Pass and stayed at the lodge.

I see that this post was done via my gemail address, I logged on via Google.

Tankwa Karoo

I saw a lot of Blue Cranes in the Klipheuwel trail yesterday morning, these two and then about a kilometre further a massive congregation of more than 35.

Six years ago, five friends did the cycle tour as described in the original post. At that stage we thought similar trips will be a regular occurrence, but then life happened. Four of us turned 60 this year and in March this year some of us spend the weekend together and the idea for another trip was born. We decided that we will involve our spouses as support drivers and we also decided to shorten the route a bit. On Wednesday last week we cycled from Gordons Bay along Clarence Drive, it was one of those special Cape days, no wind and blue sea and skies. Our destination was Onrus. On the way we stopped at the Howard Porter Nature Reserve, beautiful garden and scenery, but o my, the restaurant was really below standard. We were joined by our wives at Onrus and had dinner at Molteno’s. Our destination for the second day was the Black Oystercather outside Elim. We thought that we would have to catch a ride to Stanford due to the roadworks between Hermanus and Stanford, but everything turned out well, as we had a full car free lane to ourselves for the full distance. We had a brunch at Stanford, then took the Papiesvlei road over the hills to Elim, were we had tea. At the Tearoom they had Heineken sponsored umbrellas, but as Elim was a mission owned town, no alcohol was served. We had to cycle the 10 or so kilometres to Black Oystercatcher for a shower, a cold beer, and a quick wine tasting. We had a braai the evening. Friday morning was a quick pedal to Bredasdorp with a pumping north wester in our backs, then another brunch and then the rolling hills towards De Hoop and the Breede River. On the way we were joined by one of our friends, a farmer from the area, who took a break from harvesting to join us. We stayed at the Malagas Hotel. They served a five-course meal of old style boerekos. Saturday started with a few rain showers as we crossed the Breede River on the new motorised pontoon. Then it was about 50 km to Duivenhoks River and then the dreaded double hills to get out of Vermaaklikheid. A rennie stopped the cramps as I crawled the last few hundred meters to the crest of the hill. Our official end was at Blombos, at the entrance gate to one of our friends’ property. But two of our party decided to cycle the extra 25 kilometers to Still Bay to make up a hundred km for the day. I was happy with my 75 km for the day as I was still recovering after an illness and did not train at all for the trip during the last month. We averaged about 75 km per day. We rented a beach house at Still Bay. It was time for a beer, some red wine, a braai and just lounging around. I was privileged to do this trip at the age of 60, with my wife, with my friends and with their wives. We have known each other for the last 40 years or more. I was at school in Grade 1 with one of my cycling buddies, that was in 1968 and we still have fun together.

Ok, give me a bit of time. Just keep in mind we are 4 guys who all turned 60 this year. Even when going at full speed, we are very slow.

And now more than 6 years later we did a repeat of this trip. But as we are now older and wiser, we arranged support vehicles with our wives standing in as seconds. We were also lenient with one another, no pressure, if you felt you had enough, you could get into one of the vehicles. We also amended to route a bit. Day 1 started at Gordons Bay and ended at Onrus. Day 2 was from Onrus to Black Oystercather via Stanford and Elim. Day 3 from BOC to Malgas Hotel and the last day was across the Breede River via Vermaaklikheid to Blombos, with 2 participants going all the way to Still Bay where we also spent this past weekend, recuperating.

That pic was taken in the Tankwa Karoo, close to the Africa Burn site.

I haven't posted here in many a year, so long ago that when I posted the above image, my gmail account was used.

My word, these pictures tell a story! This is a tough, a very very tough race.

60 litre can be small, but at least you will not have enough space to pack too much. Show everything you intend to take to your hiking buddy, he will trim it some more and also you can share some items such as a stove with at least one other hiker. My must take items are Game powder, biltong, peanuts, raisins, small chocolates,cheese and provita, these items are my lunch and if I am too buggered to cook dinner or if the weather is too adverse to make a decent meal, these items keep me going. The three dinners on my last hike in the Richtersveld consisted of pasta alfredo with extra chorizo and salami, spanish rice with mussels and salmon, a kind of hikers paella and third night was couscous with chicken, roasted pine and dried apricot. And on the subject of booze, I always decant whisky to take along. Nothing beats lying in your sleeping bag and checking out the stars and the Milky Way and the universe fortified by a sip or two of the golden stuff.

I have read every single book on Everest and K2 that I could lay my hands on. Into thin Air is one of the best. Krakauer has his fair share of critics and detractors, but that book had me reading through the night. Grumps, I finished The Penguin Lessons last night, thanks, I really enjoyed the book.

I can also (strongly) recommend The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. A dog, Enzo, tells his life story with his owner, an amateur racing driver. After reading the book, I now look at my own two labradors and wish I knew what they are thinking and more importantly : What do they think of me?

OK Grumps, I accepted (took?) your recommendation and bought the book, will start reading tonight.

We were there during the European summer in 2011, lots and lots of routes to ride. Stayed in Hotel Alaska in Wolkenstein and explored the whole region. Beautiful.

I escaped from the office yesterday and did a bit of Spes Bona over lunch time

Slightly late reply (I've been busy doing things) I used to read a lot of Hiaasen ever since I saw an interview with him in Outside magazine. At one stage he seemed to follow a recipe: weird character with some physical deformity casted as the baddie etc. Not heavy reading at all. Skinny dip, Tourist Season, Native Tongue, Lucky You, Double Whammy comes to mind. I read Hoot as well, aimed at a younger audience. My son took Sick Puppy to read during a holiday, but somebody broke into the holiday house. The next day they found the book outside, partially burnt and someone urinated on the book. Quite apt treatment, I thought, considering the title of the book.

I think bicycle touring is great. Last year 5 of us did a trip from Stellenbosch to Blombos. Slept at Onrus in a holiday house, in a bungalow at Black Oystercather near Elim, on a farm near Malgas and the last night in a holiday house at Blombos. One of my best trips ever, we averaged about 80-90 km (day 1 was about 110km) a day. Friends of mine did a four day trip in the Montagu, Barrydale area and also raved about it. I think one should not make the daily distances too long to entice the not so experienced or unfit cyclists to join.

Finished the book last night. Delightful read, I really enjoyed the book and this morning I gave my two labradors an extra long hug.

Lekka thread this. I bought the Enzo dog book, will start reading tonight.

And a few more, the first pic is about the only structure that remains intact at the old caravan park, my bike is visible behind the tree. The second one is a building at Gearings Point, I liked the clouds in the background, makes the building pop out. The girl in the blue dress fits in quite nicely, I thought. The last one is just above the Old Harbour