SPRING DAY; A GALE FORCE WIND AND A SMALL GROUP OF US RUN THE BEACH FRONT RUN IN THE RAIN.
Spring day come with gale force winds. I start the day with a beach front run from HobieBeach with Margie,Graham, Andre and Marilyn. Into driving rain, stinging my head. Chilled to the bone. Until we reach the top of Walmer Boulevard. Then it isan easy run with the wind and warmed up by the early sunrise. All the way to Admiralty where we again have to run in a westerly direction and into the wind back toHobie.
Sunday morning I drive to Bushmans to fetch Ally who is at a Polo team building weekend. She is supposed to be at a hockey clinic but a late night puts her off completely. Barbara is man down with the flu.
Monday and Tuesday: I am able to run both mornings. It is very cold in the morning. Monday I run with Andrew. Adrienne, Svenje and Marilyn. But Svenje has now become too strong for the slow group. She is as fit as ever and is now far ahead of us. Tuesday it is just Marilyn and I trying to keep up with Svenje. Again she drops us. The Fast Group catch us and we regroup and manage to catch Svenje when she fetches.
Wednesday I skip the running. Feeling a bit tired. This evening I have an Alpha Course at Church. Thursday back on the road with Adrienne and Pat and Svenje run past us before the main fast group of Suzanne, Dale, Kobus, Tim, Lynne and others come charging past.
Friday is our normal rest day.
Friday afternoon Barbara and I drop Ally at a friend for a school dance and then we head off to Joubertina where we meet up with our cell group. We spend the night at Die Kraaltjie. Very comfortable single room cottage.
Saturday morning we drive to Louterwater where we catch up with Richard Cacwebe the Minister of the Methodist church there. We spend the morning pulling down an old shanty. Later we go back to a pub in Joubertina where we watch rugby before driving back to PE. Ally has her last Hockey match for Old Grey at NMMU. then win the match to take a bronze Medal.
Sunday morning I run the Sunshine Coast trail run. Tough event.
I meet up with AD Cole who I had met at Dryland last year. The Bodisch sisters: ANja and Nina tell me that they will be doing Dryland this year as will; Sian and Sheena; Marc and Carol; Jane and Dallas and I am sure many others from PE
I run a good deal of the run with Rozanne Kruger from Grahamstown. She teaches Law at Rhodes. And AD Cole. We form a little group and enjoy the outing. This run is not an easy outing. The rough pathways and hills make it quite a challenging event. AD tells us that it is easy compared to some of the trails that are organised in George.
We see the ocean in the distance. It takes nearly an hour to get there. We fill up at the refreshement station and the over the dunes where we initially take a wrong turn before heading into the bone yard and up over the dunes. THere are some tough climbs on this soft sand. We finally reach the shorefront and turn LEFT to the vehicles which do not provide water. Back up the dunes it is a long pull before we finally are back at the refreshment station.
On these events it is essential to take your own water. Limited water supply and lots of hills makes you very thirsty. Up the final couple of hills we walk and jog as far as we are able. And finally reach the finish.
We are part of the last group in an miss the guitar player who I had so enjoyed last year. Prize giving starts immediately after which we head home.
I have recently done two things:
firstly I lost my computer and am now using an Ipad as the replacement is a poor excuse for a computer.
Secondly I am now into FACEBOOK and so not doing the same amount of Blogging that I was in the past.
This month:
URBAN RUN
September 16th. Sunday morning. This is a real fun event. Starting at the Donkin and through the City. Up to the FORT, to the St Georges Park into the stadium and to Settlers Park. Cross the Baakens River twice and then to the Train station where we run through a train then into the parking Garage up and down again. Finally back to the Donkin where there is a variety of activity. I did this event with Rob Ermes and Friend.
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24th September. I had spent the weekend in JHB for the Annual Launch and Back on Monday morning for the Annual Achilles Relay. I was first off and did my 7km in 39minutes in to the wind and slight up hill. we had a great team of Tom, Ron, Africa and Linda. I had to leave early as Jacqui was due to arrive from Israel.
Nicky and her family spent the week with us as well. I took a week of leave.
On Friday 28th Barbara and I drove to Grahamstown for the TWO RIVERS HIKING TRAIL
We were with Julia and Michael Zivor. Charles was with Adrienne, Paula and Theo. The first hut is on the river / dam and is really picturesque. We lit a fire and were soon joined by Fred and Penny Kohler. A couple of drinks and a supper of Cuscus with Prawns and Veg were really enjoyable under the stars. There are two 6 bunk huts. We were ten people on the hike and up reasonably early on Saturday morning. As always there was a bit of a climb to start the day. Barbara had recently come off a cold and was not coping well with the hills.
The trail is not tough but also not a walk in the park. We walked along fields for part of the day but mostly we were in the valleys of the two rivers: Assegaai and Kariega. We stopped regularly and stayed together as a group for most of the day. At one point the trail goes up to the Old Settler ruins where Strelitzia grow in the stone walls.
There were a couple of long hills where you were advised to take a break at the start. The shaded indigenous streams are really a treat. At the top of the last hill Michael and Julia were waiting for us. We walked along slowly. Barbara stopped to greet a wild stallion. Until finally at the top of the hill we see our overnight hut far in the distance. Barbara sees a farm house close up but it is wishfull thinking that that will be for us. The second house has a large barn as the kitchen area.
BARBARA FEELING PROUD TO HAVE MADE IT TO THE TOP OF ONE OF THE CLIMBS
FROM HERE IT IS NOT TOO FAR TO THE SECOND OVERNIGHT HUTS
When at the hut the best part of all is the hot showers.
It is a real treat to be able to wash in hot water. Michael points out that in Israel you can expect the very best in the way of pampering including a Jacussi and prepared meals. Our Barn Kitchen has a gas cooker and pots. This is luxury enough for us. Again we light a fire and enjoy a Braai of Fillet with Roast Jacket Potatoe and Vegetables. A couple of drinks and I am ready to Hit the Sack.
Sunday morning. Barbara is not at her best and decides to stay and get a ride with the Farmer. He is most obliging and loads up all the bags and is happy to drive Barbara to the hut where we had started on Friday evening. Here Barbara makes herself comfortable and spends the day reading and relaxing.
Meanwhile we walk across the suspension bridge which is a bit of fun before setting off on the path for the day. At one time we miss the indicator ( as we cross the wier) and have to back track. Today there are a couple of hills that would, if we had backpacks, have made us battle. But after 4 hours of hiking and lots of chatting and including a couple of snack stops; Michael and I jog the final 500 meters to the huts where Barbara is waiting. We have a quick swim before the rest of the group arrive.
We pack up and are home as Nicky and as Cathy arrive from Cape Town. This afternoon I go to Nippers as it is the opening of our season.
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