Update

Lakker nalia

Conophytum

friends along the way

Crab Spider awaiting victim

Iris family

It was cold on our last morning in Vanrhynsdorp. The car windscreen was covered in a layer of ice!! The area around Vanrhynsdorp is know as the Knersvlakte. It is characterized by quartz patches covered with dwarf plants, especially succulents. It an amazing world of miniature. Every step requires a stop to examine whats underfoot. Conophytums, Lithops and Argyroderma (babies bums) are all around. Moving towards Clanwilliam the vegetation gets higher and fynbos elements such as Restios and Proteas begin to appear. The area is full of annuals at the moment and buzzing with pollinators. Many bulbs are also flowering in this area especially Iris, Hyacinth and Orchid families.
I have walked 30kms everyday this week and have arrived at Clanwilliam.
It is great to get into the rhythm of walking far. Although today my knee began to hurt again a bit. Thankfully we managed to get the last available campsite at the Citrusdal warm baths for the weekend. So that should be great for my knee!! We will be moving on there tomorrow and will be joined for the weekend by Sue and Al. I’m looking forward to some company on the road.
I have enjoyed being alone on the walk so far but I seem to get songs stuck on repeat in my head for entire days. Toni Braxton – unbreak my heart, it was not fun that day!

Celebrations

Today Greg passed the half way mark and is going strong!
And tomorrow is his birthday!

Vanrhynsdorp

This weekend we took off and spent it in Nieuwoudtville with some friends. It was great to get out a bit and do some exploring and plant viewing. The Muncipal Caravan Park has a great variety of beautiful flowers too.

At the Nieuwoudtville Botanical gardens, we spotted the Rooikatstert Flower.

We are now staying in Vanrhynsdorp. We spent last night at the Caravan Park and this morning through Alida Van Rensberg at Radio Namaqualand, we have been put up for free at “Talk of the Town” B&B. Which is a very sweet purple B&B, Tea Garden and Gift shop. The owner Jannie is an ex-interior designer and the space has been done in a mix of old world, country style with a twist. The exterior is painted lavender and has Afrikaans quotes and sayings written on the walls such as: “Party mense kla dat rose dorings het- Ek is dankbaar dat dorings Rose het.”

Tomorrow afternoon Greg will be interviewed on Radio Namaqualand, so if you’re in Namaqualand, tune in.

new pics

whats new

Hi it’s Steffany here, I’m doing some updating today:
At Cosy Mountain Farm I was trying to spot the Bat Earred Foxes (endangered) that live on the edge of the ploughed land and the mountain, but instead got to see a Riverine Rabbit, also endangered. I had used them as inspiration for a range of jewellery for the design indaba. And had so far only seen pictures and a startled looking taxidermied specimen at the natural history museum, so I felt very fortunate to have seen one up close and by chance!
After leaving Kamieskroon we moved on to the Garies Muncipal Caravan and Camping Ground. Had an enjoyable 3 nights there, even though on the first night there was a squirmish between the caretaker and a local dronkie who thought he could make a quick buck selling wood to the campers (us). But, none the less, it was enjoyable. Also had the company of very many giant caterpillars in the Acacia tree’s providing shade over our campsite and along with the caterpillars came their droppings-very many of them, luckily they’re hard pellets that look like they have been squeezed out of a cake decorating tube.
Thursday and we have moved on to Bitterfontein, and are staying at a really sweet B&B owned by Maretha Cotzee called Blommetjie, in an old cob built cottage that she inherited from her father, but was built by her great grandfather. Its what I was expecting more of the West coast to be like, simple, charming and rustic.
Greg has had good few days of walking and has managed to cover close on 30km the last 2 days. His knee is in recovery, due to the fact that he is taking good care of it: stretching, icing/heating and massage. Which I think is part of what this adventure is about: learning how to work with your body, mind and environment.
Greg has just told me that he has covered over 300 km! Just under half way!
Tomorrow, Greg will be doing a shorter days walk and then we head to Nieuwoudtville, for Greg’s pre-birthday weekend off. Where, we will be joined by some friends from Cape Town, for some much needed social interaction.

Update

After 6 days of walking my body told me to take a rest, the physio told me to take 2 days of rest to let my knee recover. It was difficult to take 2 days off when I just wanted to be on the road walking, but in terms of the walk as a whole, it was important. It rained on and off so I didn’t feel to bad about being at camp, and it was Stef’s birthday on the 14th so it was good to relax . We also took a day drive to the Namaqua National Park which was good to see.
Back to walking for the last 2 days and my knee is feeling good. Its great to be walking again and I have seen some beautiful plants. There are so many things in flower, with insects and other animals also in abundance.
I found a lucky horseshoe.
We spent to last 4 nights in Kamieskroon at a great campsite called Cosy Mountain. Unfortunately our last night there was ruined by some very strong winds which cased our tents to collapse!! Tonight we are staying indoors at the Succulent Karoo Research Centre before moving on to Garies in the morning.

Stef and bakkie on the Knersvlakte

Daisies on the Knersvlakte

Truck and flowers near the border

Who knows???

The 'ferrari' plant!

We drove up on Thursday, the whole of the N7 is looking very beautiful. Full of colourful flowers everywhere. We camped for the first 3 nights on the Orange river at an empty and stunning campsite owned by a friend, Jaapie.
So far I have walked 5 days, doing over 25kms per day. It is tough going in the sun and wind. I feel exhausted at the end of the day, and my knees hurt.
Today I passed Springbok and popped in at the local physio to check out my knee problem. It seems to be inflammation from overuse, hopefully it will improve soon.
The flowers are great and there is lots to see, I have seen some beautiful sights already.
Stef, my assistant, is keeping me well fed and organizing our campsite very well.
We are now camping at the Springbok caravan park and tomorrow we will head on to Kamieskroon…
Here are some pictures so far…

Weekend Argus and other news

I was interviewed by the Weekend Argus today, so check it out on Saturday!!
Otherwise things are going well, have been shopping and stocked up with all essentials. We are still planning to leave early on Thursday morning, and start walking on Friday.
Reports are that the flowers are already in full bloom, so it sounds like good timing!!
Will try to update the blog as often aspossible while in the field....

Itinerary

Here is a very rough itinerary for the walk, working on approximately 20kms per day.

Aug 8th – Aug 13th: Orange River to Springbok

Aug 14th – Aug 17th: Springbok to Kamieskroon

Aug 18th – Aug 20th: Kamieskroon to Garies

Aug 21st – Aug 22nd: Garies Northern Cape /Western Cape Border

Aug 23rd – Aug 24th: Not Walking

Aug 25th – 29th: Border to Vanrhynsdorp

Aug 30th – Sept 2nd: Vanrhynsdorp to Clanwilliam

Sept 3rd – Sept 5th: Clanwilliam to Citrusdal

Sept 6th – 8th: Citrusdal to Piketburg

Sept 9th – 14th: Piketburg to Cape Town