The regular Wednesday afternoon kayak to the village and back has resumed for the season.  A bit of a breeze this afternoon, as usual.  It's certainly great to see the river in such good health these days - I've seen some of the biggest schools of fish (numbers, not size - yet) in a long time.  Click on the image below for the workout details on Sports-Tracker.com

6:30 a.m. - just finished the 60-minute Island Bootcamp:

- Stretch, then warm-up jog around The Island
- 30 seconds of stretching
- Normal speed run around The Island, including Link Road & Waterkantweg
- Push-ups for 30 seconds
- Sit-ups for 30 seconds
- Normal speed run around The Island, including Link Road & Waterkantweg
- Ski-jumps for 30 seconds over the low fencing
- Normal speed run around The Island, including Link Road & Waterkantweg
- Step-ups for 30 seconds on the bench seat in the middle of the park
- Sprint to corner of Melkhout & Park Roads
- 20 modified burpees in the tennis pavillion (start with legs apart & knees bent, then jump up with arms crossed overhead and legs crossed at the ankles)
- Sprint to the corner of Acaciaweg & Link Road
- Slow jog down Link Road to river via the path at Waterkantweg
- 10 push-ups with feet elevated on retaining wall
- 20 side jumps (push-up position, then bring feet up and to one side and return to original position, then other side counts as one jump)
- slow jog to the corner of Island & Melkhout Roads
- 30 seconds bicycle sit-ups
- jog around The Island
 -10 modified burpees (extend arms overhead, down for 4 push-ups, 8 quick steps while remaining in push-up position, jump up with arms extended overhead counts as one)

Time for a coffee & a shower!

We were on a roll, so when we finished up with the Sedgefield markets, we decided to pop in at Timberlake Village to see what was happening there.  Unfortunately, all of this market-hopping meant there was no time left in the day to hop on the bike...

They may be slow in Sedgefield, but they are no slouches.... their Wild Oats Community Farmers' Market and Scarab Village Market have been going for years and are always popular - but in the last year they've stepped things up a notch since the Outeniqua Farmers' Market in George got going - and they've added a new section between the two markets with even more foodstalls and crafts. 

Lauren's Deli Eatery in George (see Tripadvisor reviews) comes well-recommended and have a stall there.  We had a couple of the the rather non-traditional prawn falafels which were pretty tasty (with a wasabi-mayo dressing, lettuce and pickled ginger) before doing the rounds in the markets and the nursery.  Check them out the next time you're looking for a bit of an outing on the other side of Wilderness.  See the Farm Stalls & Craft Markets section of this website for opening times and more info.

After finishing up the Oystercatcher Trail trip, we took a couple of the other hikers out to see the Swartberg Pass and Prince Albert (after a quick drive through Oudtshoorn), coming back via the scenic Meiringspoort route (recently re-opened after torrential rains about 2 weeks ago).  I was concentrating on driving, not taking photos - the steep, windy gravel road up the Swartberg pass is worth it for the breath-taking scenery as is the circuit through Meiringspoort.  Well worth it if you are at loose ends for a day.

After attending a talk and archaeological tour of the Pinnacle Point caves last week, we were lucky enough to squeeze into a couple of open slots on Fred Orban's renowned Oystercatcher Trail which starts just down the road at Mossel Bay.  We joined 9 others (a group of 5 and two other couples) who were doing the slack pack trail, and with apologies to my Xhosa friends, we just "clicked" - it really was a great group and a great hike.

We were led by the famous Xhosa guide Willie Komani who was assisted by South Cape Rangers' Chris Carr.  We were a bit slow on the first day, so unfortunately, we didn't quite reach the planned end-point at Dana Bay.  Instead, we stopped about 4 km short at Pinnacle Point (some of us scrambled down to one of the caves below with Willie - don't worry, it wasn't one of the caves currently under archaeological examination).

We saw all kinds of wildlife - oystercatchers (of course - including a couple of chicks and eggs), terns, gulls, fiscal shrikes, sunbirds, swallows (forecasting good weather as they sat in a row on the telephone line), cormorants, as well as dassies, tortoises, a couple of snakes, bats, lizards, skinks, agamas and numerous plants which Willie had a million-and-one uses for....

Throughout the trip, Willie told us about the traditional medicinal uses for the various plants we came across - or he explained the feeding habits of the varied bird life - that is when he wasn't walking straight up to nearly invisible oystercatcher nests (they lay their eggs in a little hollow in the sand), or pointing out pairs of wrestling snakes from 50 metres away.  Chris, meanwhile, spoke about the efforts underway to stop people from feeding the dassies in Mossel Bay, and enthusiastically shared his knowledge of the flora & fauna in his own affable and good-natured way.  Both of our guides were knowledgeable about the archaeological work in the area - and showed us numerous middens where seashells had been discarded by previous inhabitants, and where there was evidence of ancient stone tool use.  Between the two of them, we were certainly in good hands.

As usual, I tracked our route with Sports-Tracker and snapped some photos along the way.  My battery was draining pretty quickly so, with the exception of the last day, I split the tracking into two parts each day to ensure I didn't lose it all if the battery ended up dying.  Click on any of the tracking images below to see the route details on Sports-Tracker, including photos - or go to the respective Flickr Sets for the photos themselves.

After a cool drink in the clubhouse, we were transported to Boggomsbaai where each couple (or family) was shown to their own charming & cosy Sandpiper Cottage, followed by a communal dinner & drinks at the Sandpiper Sports Centre.

The next morning, we were back at it.  First breakfast at 8:00, then at 9:00 we were whisked back to Dana Bay for the start of that day's hike which would see us walk along the entire crescent beach, returning to the Sandpiper in our bare feet.  There was time for some great body surfing along the way and a dip in one of Willie's secret swimming holes.  The water was a bit tea-coloured due to the recent run-off, but that didn't stop us - it was a welcome cool down from the unrelenting heat of the sun!  And then, we spotted the dolphins...

Once back, we showered before heading to Sandpiper Sports Centre for drinks and a bit of an archaeological appetizer as Fred Orban gave a run through of Curtis Marean's work at Pinnacle Point Caves, as well as a peak at Peter Nilssen's presentation before dinner.

The next morning, we hiked from the Sandpiper Sports Centre, down to the beach and all along the coast, passing by Vleesbaai before stopping for lunch at Fransmanshoek - and you guessed it, more great body surfing (some were a bit thrown off by the sports angler attempting to reel in a shark on the nearby rocks, but I figured so long as the line remained taut, it meant there was one less shark to worry about!).

After lunch, we continued along the coast until we reached the Gouritz River where a boat ferried us to the other side where our transport back to Sandpiper was waiting.

Day 3 was a long, hot day - even though some found it a bit gruelling, I think it was still everyone's favourite - it had a bit of everything: rocks to scramble atop of, beach walking, cartpaths in Karoo-style farmland near the Gouritz - you name it.  It really was majestic.

It was a great trip from beginning to end - and Fred kicked off the celebration by offering up couple big platters of oysters (from Munro's in Little Brak, of course!) and champagne during "prize giving", followed by dinner on our last night back at the Sandpiper Sports Centre.

Thanks Fred, Willie, Chris, Annemarie and the rest of the Sandpiper/Oystercatcher team - as well as the other hikers (Blair, Jane, Gareth, Thomas, Liam, Rainer, Cherry, Mark & Katherine) - for making it such a fun and memorable trip!

If you were around The Island anytime after about 8 p.m. yesterday, you probably heard a bunch of excited shrieks and screams....

One of the things I used to do to initiate house guests here at The Island would be to suggest a lovely midnight paddle - you know, under the stars and moonlight.  "Oh, but here, wear this headlamp so you can see where you're going," I'd suggest helpfully.  Of course, fish are attracted to light, so when you're out there paddling in the dark with a headlamp, well, let's just say things get a bit exciting.... for the (mis)trusting paddler and everybody within earshot!  There are some pretty good sized fish in the river, trust me, and when they're flying through the air, whizzing by your head, across the bow of your kayak or hitting your paddle - you name it - all in the dark, well, it's like a cross between dodge ball and some slightly insane amusement park ride. 

We don't have as many house guests that fall for this anymore (not so many house guests period, hmmm, wonder why that is....), so I let the neighbours in on the secret a while back.

They didn't pick up on my demented motivation (or politely ignored that rather large character flaw); instead, they decided it would make a fun activity for a few families.  They even made sure everyone knew up front that the fish would be attracted and would be jumping.  I was sceptical of that degree of honesty, but it turns out that squeals of delight are just as appealing as squeals of fright.  Who'd have known?

It was low tide, so not ideal, but what the heck, we're always up for a good splash or two, so joined in, heading into the full moon night.

Altogether, there was a small flotilla of about 7-8 boats/canoes/kayaks/singles/doubles, etc. loaded up with dogs, small kids and some of us big kids, plus the head lamps and torches.  It was a lot of fun.

It was difficult to capture the images in the dark, especially while ducking & darting to avoid the jumping fish while trying to paddle at the same time, so apologies for the poor quality pics (my phone, which spent most of last night and today drying out, is fine by the way).

The single-lane wooden bridge connecting The Island to the mainland was temporarily out of commission this morning due to a very large pothole that had developed at the bridgehead on The Island side.

The bridge was closed to traffic for about 2 hours while the crew from Dada Civils (contracted to the Municipality) made repairs.  Thinner pedestrians were able to squeeze between the bakkie and the bridge railing to come & go, but otherwise, no bikes, strollers, cars, etc. were able to pass.

The bridge was re-opened to traffic around 1:30 p.m. while the crew continued working, applying concrete cement to the underside of the bridgehead foundation where there was a large hole.

Thanks to Werner & the rest of the guys at Dada Civils for the emergency repair.  It was a hot day, too.

Incidentally, the wooden surface of the bridge is expected to undergo refurbishment some time in February - and it will be once again closed to traffic at that time.  I'll post more details here once they're known.

A glorious day today - seems I was the only one  out there - maybe because it was about 28 degrees...

Rode up the gravel road behind the Spar which had just been graded and was being sprayed by the water truck to keep the dust down - fun riding through it, but it would have been even better a bit later in the ride, rather than at the beginning. :)

Then out past Misty Meadows (behind the blueberry farm) and all the way along to Tramonto in George (I suppose it's actually Blanco).  I looked at the clock at that point and it was 57 minutes.

Then swing a left, passing by the entrance to Tramonto and kept going and going, eventually heading out to Cape Pine in Jonkersberg before heading back to the R102 and heading home. 

There was a strong onshore headwind all the way back from Jonkersberg - WindGuru had gusts up to 27 km/hr, and I believe it.  I can usually get up to about 75-80 km/hr coming down the R102 hill, but was lucky to get to 50 km/hr.  It was pretty oppressive, especially on the gravel sections (95% of the route), which is why I decided to take the easy way out at the end and stick to the R102 instead of heading down Voorbrug Road and into the village via Mossienes.

I took a few photos along the way mostly to show a few points of interest (available on the Sports-Tracker site  or the Mountain Biking set on Flickr) or when I was stopping to reapply sunscreen - otherwise, pretty well non-stop other than a quick drink of water in the shade at Cape Pine in Jonkersberg.  The idea of stopping for a bite & a nice cold beer at the Mooi Uitsig Kombuis (just past Voorbrug Road on the R102) sure was tempting though!

I'm not sure about the accuracy of the distance in the image below.  I received a few phone calls in the midst of the ride (which I ignored) and this seems to have kicked Sports-Tracker into "pause" mode, so I'm not sure if the km's are correct (the overall duration is correct, but not the average speed and certainly not the maximum speed of 3144 km/hr - if it was, then I should be the national spokesperson for Jungle Oats and Baruch's Coffee!).

At least the overall route is outlined for anyone that's interested - see the image below.  The scenery is spectacular, whether it be the farmer's fields, the rolling hills with the Outeniqua Mountains in the background, or The Island and coastline on the way back. What a great place to live!