February 2020. Addo. Tours. Hiking tours; Day outing of City Tour; Penguins; Hiking; Lunch and Wildlife experience; Tsitsikamma day visit;
Shore Excursions. Passenger ships in Port Elizabeth. Aida Mira; Sun Princess; Azamara Quest; Oceania Nautica. 3
Running races. Myrun; parkrun; 10kay Galaxy. Herald cycle Tour; Sundays River Mile.
Nicky runs her first 42k Marathon from Caledon to Hermanus. 3
Barbara leaves for Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro.
Peter Giddy Guided Tours -- Shore Excursions -- Addo Elephant and other Wildlife Reserves -- Garden Route. Flowers of Namaqualand --
0027 (0) 82 55 03 714 Whatsup
peter.giddy@gmail.com
- Addo Elephant Park Day Visit and Night drive.
- Kragga Kamma Wildlife Reserve
- Daniel Cheetah Project
- Pumba; Shamwari; Amakhala; Kariega -- Day trips Private Reserves.
- Three day tour of Mountain Zebra Park. Graaff Reinet, Nieu Bethesda and Addo.
- Tours: City Historical and Cultural Tours,
- Horse riding for both experienced and inexperienced riders
- Hikes and Walks around Port Elizabeth (2 hour Nature and Coastal walks)
- Garden Route Adventure Tours (Zip Lines; Segway in the Forest; Adventure Quad Biking; Bridge Walks; Bungy Jump; Knysna Elephant Park; Monkey Land and Birds of Eden; Big Cats Sanctuary; Oudtshoorn Cango Caves and Ostrich farms)
- Shore Excursions from Passengers ships.
- Day visit -- Historical City Tour; Beach Front; Penguin Sanctuary; Sacramento; Heritage walking trail; Seafood lunch at Barnacles and end the day with a 2 hour wildlife experience.
- Transfers. Airport; Hotel and Wildlife Reserve.
- Flowers of Namaqualand. Seven days of adventure and exploring places and sights you never even knew existed. History and natural beauty of the South West of South Africa
- Karoo to Garden Route. Six days of fun and activities. Prince Albert; Swartberg Pass; Die Hell; Oudtshoorn; Prince Alfred pass; Plett and Tsitsikamma.
Website -- petergiddyguidedtours.wordpress.com
For tours and bookings.. email me at. peter.giddy@gmail.com
Contact me on Whatsup.... 0027 082 550 3174
Saturday 1st February 2020
I pick up Haydn and Lola from the Boardwalk hotel. Haydn is from New Zealand and Lola from Nigeria. They both live in Scotland.
We have a great morning in Addo. Most of the animals are up close to the car and they get some great pics.
This evening our SA Guided Tours team has a celebration Braai. Chris and Elmarie come to support us. It turns out that both Chris and Elmarie are known to some of the team.
Sunday 2nd turns out to be a strange day as the Azamara Quest is delayed by three hours due to heavy mists. However we all manage to get our tours done successfully. I have Lorenz; Marezana & Mary and John for Addo / Kragga Kamma combo tour.
Monday 3rd. Load Shedding the morning makes me lazy to get up. A bit later I swim for the first time in a while. 1200m.
Tuesday 4th. Busy with Addo and other tour bookings. Run 8k with Stefany; Mike ; Chris; Mitch and Gaye. The heat of the past few days has been oppressive. I am fortunate to be able to swim 2000M in the Newton Park Pool.
Wednesday 5th. Swimming 1200m with Megan. I join the Wednesday walkers for a hike from Kini Bay. We walk west and then return east on the beach and pathways.
On the walk today. Robin. Des, Bev, Julian, Danny, Dave and Heather, Dave, Dave and Dave, Ralf, Flo and Debbie, Jean and Jeanette; Judy, Keith and Steve; Paul; Eugene and me
Thursday 6th.
Addo Tour from the Oceania Nautica. Jane made the booking .. With her are Richard and friends Robin and Linda and John and Maggi . A good day ending with Lions at Vukani.
Tom and I had a good run together except for taking a short cut. But fun.
Friday 7th February 2020
I have a tour from the Aida Mira. I have 7 people with me doing a City Tour; Beach front; Sanccob; Sacramento and Heritage Trail and then Lunch at the Sacramento Restaurant. Last stop is Kragga Kamma. I meet Michaela Smith who was a life guard with Ally and studied Nature conservation and is now a permanent staff member at KK.
Saturday 8th.
I have 24 guests from MKU and 7 who booked directly with me. After a bit of confusion with 5 vehicles we get under way; A great day with Lions; Buffalo and Elephants all seen within the first hour.
I have nothing but positive feedback.
Sunday 9th. No touring today. Humewood Golf course for the Myrun is a great way to start the day. A small intimate group of walkers and runners have the option of 2.5 or 5km.
| 2 | Humewood Golf Club | My | 00:32:17 |
Monday 10th. Swimming 1500m with Megan. The rest of the day is admin.
Tuesday 11th. Running 8k with Adele and Stefany. Susan; Chris, Mike, Gaye, Antoinette and Mitch.
Hauled out my Road Bike and did a 20k Grassroof cycle. Charles du Toit has written a book.. Onboarding which is about new people in an organisation, Exclusive books did the launch
Wednesday 12th. Running 8k with Gary; Antoinette; Liesl; Gaye and Stefanie. Addo tour for Ellen of Babuka. 5 x people off the Azamara Quest.
Thursday -- Meet up for a slightly different route -- 6km. Around St Georges park into Hallack Road and down Target Kloof back up the steps: with Danny who has not run with our group for a long while. This morning group of Stefanie; Antionette; Mitch; Danny; Liesl; Mike; Chris and Gary.
I pick up Katie and Nico from Germany for an Addo Safari tour today. She is a Beautician and he is in Finance in an Chemical Company.
Friday 14th. Happy Valentines Day. Swimming 1500m with Megan. Now almost ready for next Sunday River Mile.
Pick up Andrea and Dennis for Addo. They requested a German Translator so I have asked Helmuth who is a member of the Thursday Hiking group to do this for me.
Saturday I run the Grassroof parkrun. After the run I had intended to cycle but was really just not up to it so I drove to the Newton park pool only to find it fully booked out with a Gala.
This weekend Barbara is canoeing on the Kowie River with a hiking club.
| Sardinia Bay parkrun results for event #150. Your time was 00:31:39. |
| Congratulations on completing your 83rd parkrun and your 15th at Sardinia Bay parkrun today. You finished in 47th place and were the 28th Male out of a field of 377 parkrunners and you came 1st in your age category VM65-69. |
Kim registered for the 55k Herald Cycle tour on Sunday 23rd and brought me my number. We will be in the same group. I saw Andrea at Grassroof and she says that she had just completed a 60km training cycle. Completely out of our league.
Bruce Gault visits. I had seen Bruce at the myrun last weekend. He will be joining us on Wednesday next week for a Addo Tour off the Aida Mira.
Sunday 16th.
Barbara is in Port Alfred on the Kowie River Canoe Trail
I run the 5km Myrun and put up the Marker Boards that Rob Ermes (Signorama) donated to us.
| POSITION | VENUE | DISTANCE | TIME |
| 2 | Humewood Golf Club | 5.00 km | 00:30:01 |
Also at the run today is Craig who always wins.
Bruce and Beenzy and Sean who is keen to swim River Mile next year.
It is extremely hot this morning and no breeze.
After buying my supplies I drive out to Colchester where I pick up Sebastian and Joana. We have a successful day. Later this evening they do a Night Drive with an Addo Ranger in their open vehicle. On the way home after 9pm there is lightning in the distance. Then as we approach Nanaga it begins to rain really hard. I drive in a heavy downpour -- quite scary as other vehicles seem to ignore the danger. I drop my guests off at Colchester and then drive home in continuous heavy rains. I am glad to be home and pretty much exhausted.
Monday 17th. Swimming 1500m with Megan. I share a lane with Colleen who I had met at Achilles last week. Drop the Combi off for some mechanical repairs.
Tuesday 18th. Fabian and Kie from Aloe St Forest Hill. Alejandro from Peurto Rica. Barbara from Jikeleza. Rain for most of the morning. Then overall a successful day.
Wednesday 19th February. Aida Mira. We have a huge number of guests taking 6 vehicles. Bruce; Frank; Alan and Peter all have 8 people in a Quantum. Mike has two guests in his car and I have 6 in my Combi. We are fortunate as the park is looking stunning -- water everywhere. And the Grasslands are great for animals.
Friday I pick up Sonja; Renata and Sandra -- Austrians. From Addo Vista which is on a dirt road next to the South Gate on the Sundays River. Turn right near to the old Barclay Bridge. Sue is the owner.
Saturday 22nd. Start the morning with a run with Chris and Liesl. They are walking so I carry on ahead ... I have a lot to do before my tour of the day.
I pick up a group of 7 Canadian Roumanian and Polish people. Helena and Vlad; Ed and Nina; Rolanda; Avi and Corina. We have a wonderful day of game viewing.
After the day in Addo I pick up Kim;s bike from her home and get everything ready for our cycle in the morning.
Results for the 55k in previous years.
2020 2H.28. 158/228
2019 2H.32 190/285
2018 2H.28 183/268
2017 2H.27 251/363
2014 2H31 191/289
2013 2H18 136/251
Sunday 23rd.
Herald Cycle Tour. This year I have done exactly two cycle training rides of 20kay each. Kim has done not much more. Andrea tells us that she has been doing regular training rides. I saw her one morning after she had completed a 60km ride at Grassroof. And she is doing stationary riding at home.
We meet up at the Picknpay parking lot. This is the same as last year. Kim and I have agreed to cycle together. A leisure ride. Our event starts at 8.09am. We are in the BM group. We go out fast as usual. Up Walmer boulevard and all the way up Buffelsfontein road. Right into Old Seaview Road where I meet up with a chap needing Alan Keys. So I assist him to fasten his handle bars. Kim is waiting for me at Longbarn. We press on down and up and Down and Up to the top of the Chelsea T Garden Road. Down the long steep hill and onto the New Seaview Road.
I go on ahead and stop at the refreshment station to get some juice and sweets. Kim tells me that her pastor is on the bike and that we must work to pass him.
So off we go. I am getting tired. No Training does not help. And bum and leg sore.
But Kim is up ahead so I must work to catch her. Finally we meet up at Sappershoek in Schoenmakerskop. And now with about 18km to go we must catch and pass the pastor. We finally do so but a slight slacking off on my part means he passes us again. .
So off we go. Trying as hard as we can. But the pastor hangs in there with us.
Now I really try hard. Ignoring the sore bum and legs, I work as hard as I can around the last University bend and past the Humewood Golf Course. Into Summerstrand and pushing all the time. Kim stays with me and we manage to stave off our rival into the finish line.
Just behind us are Bertus and Christein. They too had a good ride this morning.
After the cycle I have to pick up Megan and her friend David. We drive out to Sundays River for the swim. I thought that Megan started at 1.00pm but it was in fact 1.30pm. We were early. We meet up with some of Megans friends. Carla from BWB. Zurika and Shereen. Carla and Megan are swimming. Shereen made the mistake of swimming in the Wet Suite Mile on Saturday in a howling gale -- Miserable conditions. Today we have perfect conditions for a swim.
I have a sleep while waiting for the mens mile. David and Armand join me. Simone takes our stuff back to the start.
I have a great swim. The current is strongly in our favour. I am able to swim non stop and staying on line the whole mile.
Megan has a show house so we rush back. I have to prepare for Monday Morning tours.
2020 results
48/200 Armand Beer 311 21 M 22/62: 15-29 20:32.9
58.200 David Barker 690 30 M 5/15: 30-34 21:02.4
150/200 Peter Giddy Achilles 452 69 M 8/13: 65-99 26:46.3
29 Liz Van Der Merwe PE Masters 524 50 F 1/10: 50-54 24:06.0
51 Ronel Scheepers 353 44 F 4/14: 40-44 26:32.7
71/171 Megan Holden Self Employed 451 38 F 6/11: 35-39 27:54.5
95 Anja Maria Bodisch none 372 52 F 4/10: 50-54 29:45.7
101 Serina Heynike 815 23 F 37/57: 15-29 30:13.4
109 Carla York N/A 369 29 F 41/57: 15-29 30:38.4
2019 results
71 /238 Armand Beer Port Elizabeth 441 20 M 25/66: 15-29 19:00.3
207 Peter Giddy PE 353 68 M 6/11: 65-99 27:06.3
122 / 214Megan Holden Self Employed 352 37 F 5/9: 35-39 23:58.4
139 Carla York N/A 374 28 F 38/55: 15-29 24:34.6
Last few years:
2020 26.46 150/200
2019 27.06 207/238
2018 40.23 211/254
2017 and 2016 -- did not swim.
Wednesday 26th. Mike and Alison. Pick up at Higehiem. Addo -- successful. Barbara leaves for CT and Tanzania. Zip Line on Mossel Bay.
Thursday 27th Jurgen and Josephine for Addo. Dole stuff and Barbara Birthday.
Barbara Birthday in Cape Town with Ally and Nicky.
Friday 28th. Start the morning with a 8kay run with Chris; Gaye; Susan; Mitch and Mike. Running to Target Kloof; 9th ave Walmer and back.
City Tour with Marie and Audrey from Scotland. We do a bit of History and current affairs and then the Heritage walking trail.
Barbara leaves for Tanzania.
Nicky and Ally are in Hermanus for Nicky's first attempt at a 42k marathon. Caledon to Hermanus.
 |
| Nicky finishing her first ever 42k Marathon in fine style. |
Saturday 29th February Leap Year 2020
Barbara arrives in Addis Ababa; Ethiopia. Stays over in an Hotel. Leaves for Kilimanjaro Airport Saturday morning.
Nicky runs her first ever 42k.
Mike; Elmarie and I run the Beachfront to Admiralty and up to the Spar. Across to 2nd avenue and back down to Hobie. Probably about 8km. Mike and I swim. Then after a Seattle Coffee, Elmarie and I go to run the Wells Estate parkrun which is on the promenade this morning. An easy route. Elmarie makes me work for my time. We run hard start to finish.
| Wells Estate parkrun results for event #86. Your time was 00:25:18. |
| Congratulations on completing your 84th parkrun and your 5th at Wells Estate parkrun today. You finished in 10th place and were the 9th Male out of a field of 89 parkrunners and you came 1st in your age category VM65-69 |
Saturday afternoon I receive a call to take some guests surfing. Tawana from Botswana and his son -- have a great time in the water. Exhausted but enjoyed. Tawana's son and cousin are at Woodridge.
February 2020 turned out to be a busy month. Plenty of passenger ships; Touring is busy. Various runs. Herald Cycle Tour. River Mile.
Barbara canoes up the Kowie River and leaves for Tanzania. Barbara does Rhino watch at K Kamma. They sell two of the Rhino.
Nicky runs a 21k half marathon and then a 42k Marathon.
This write up on Facebook pretty much sums up the race:
Inaugural Hemel en Aarde marathon 29 Feb 2020
who said it’s a PB marathon? Who said it’s a nice downhill fast marathon? Who said it’s an easy qualifier?Whoever said that needs their head examined!!!
If I had believed them and used this as a qualifier for Oceans (being the second last weekend before qualifier cutoff date), I would have been in serious trouble.
This race was tough, tough, tough.
It’s either up or down. You almost forget what flat means. Just when you think you’ve reached the top, there’s more uphill. The downhills remind you of the run into Durban or the run from Constantia Nek to Rhodes Drive...exhilarating but quad killing. You work hard the whole way......
But that being said, I loved it. It was well worth flying in from Johannesburg to run this.
Ally is in CT to seek out a short term future for herself.
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