Citrusdal and The Baths

Hi its Stef again…
We were unable to update the blog this weekend as we were staying at the Baths, which are situated in a valley on the side of the Pikeneerskloof Pass, which is beautiful, but does not get reception. It was a great weekend there, even though our camping table was nicked. Soaking in the hot pool while the biggest storm in the last seven years was brewing, quite something to behold! It was great to spend time with Sue and Al, and to be treated to dinners, breakfast, and a night indoors and they are great to be around and very entertaining.
Greg was pretty excited to camp on Saturday night while the storm hit- me on the other hand had to talk myself out of being scared- while lying in a tent that’s being pelted with rain and next to a raging stream, yes a raging stream. It was easy to get carried away (not literally, although it crossed my mind…) I realized I was talking myself into being scared). Thankfully there was just heavy rain (and our tents are waterproof, yay!) and lots of snow on the surrounding mountains!
Greg, Al and Sue managed to cover good ground on Saturday. Sunday Greg took off, as the weather was pretty rough and he was feeling quite tired after 6 days walking, so we spent the day relaxing in the pool and taking it easy. Monday back on the road accompanied by sue and al for the morning.
Today we have moved on to Malmesbury. Thought that Mooreesburg was going to be our next stop, but their campsite is closed till October.
Its quite something to be driving so close to Cape Town, and realizing that today Greg will have less than 100kms left and that it’ll be over on Friday! While I am really happy to be so close to home I am also sad that this amazing experience is coming to an end. It has been fantastic to see the Western part of our country, to know that I can camp for weeks on end, and survive winds and rain. And most importantly to have helped Greg with his journey!
Greg managed to walk just over 40km yesterday!
Tonight we are joined by Brian (Greg’s dad) and Dannali, for our second last night and will be walking with Greg tomorrow.

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!

new pics

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.

GREAT SUCCESS

Thanks to everone who came to he exhibition on Friday and Saturday. It was a great success. The feedback was great, more people came than I could have hoped for, and people bought prints. It was a bit of a rush to get everything up on time, and to be honest a few people arrived while the labels were still going up!! But it would have been much worse if I did not have the amazing help of Marc, Danna and Julia. A HUGE thanks to them all!! Thanks again to Rhiannon for organising the venue. It was a great space for an exhibition. Thanks to Cas and Spies for the loan of the spots as well! The wine was kindly sponsored by Bruce Jack from Flagstone, Thank you!!

I'm sure the money raised will be enough to see us throught the trip, even if it costs R700 to fill up a bakkie these days.

So now its just doing the final preparations for the walk and the data collection.

Lucky to have had such good rain this winter, it promises to be a great flower season.

I am planning to leave Cape Town on the 7th of August and start walking on the 8th.

I will update the blog with progress as often as I can, so keep checking....

Spotted in the N7 Road Reserve

On a recent trip trip to Garies, I saw these beauties in the road reserve. The Amarylid Hessea stellatus and the succulent Conophytum subvenustratum.