Follow the yellow sand beach

On Saturday morning I got up super early for the Walk for Wheels! An 18km walk from Gaansbai to Grotto Beach, Hermanus to raise money for the hospice that supported Woody's mum when she was dying.












And the proof that I got up early - this is earlier than I would do on a work day and not only that we are 2 hours ahead so thats 03:45 UK time.

We met on Grotto Beach for registration and then we got on 2 busses to take us the long way round via road to De Kelders.

We were dropped off at the entrance to the Nature Reserve where there was a run on the only toilet and some obligatory speeches before we were off!

It took awhile before we got down onto the beach and it was a mix of soft sand and interesting rock that had been windswept into looking like solidified water.

This is us dropping down towards the beach and Hermanus is in the distance.

It's a long way! 18km away....

You can see the rock surface here and how it drops away and down to the sea...

We were supposed to stop at 6k for a break but it was more like 4k.

There just happened to be some helpful rocks providing both seating and shade... we all topped up here with drinks and snacks that we had brought with us.

I spent the walk with a couple who are from Yorkshire who swallow here for the Summer/to avoid British winter most years but think this may be their last year as the travel gets too much. Keith and Zena have had some amazing walks and holidays and also appreciated the chance to go on this walk that we would never have done otherwise.

It was then another long steady trog to the next break which was at... 

12k....

There were a lot of black oyster catchers around and often calling and trying to divert us away from their chicks who could not get away from us as they were often still downy and not really flying yet.

This chick was behind me on the rocks as we had our break and it's parents were on the sand between us and the sea torn between trying to lure us away or herding us. Hopefully they safely reunited on our departure.

The view was stunning looking back towards De Kelders and ahead to Hermanus...

Eventually we got back towards Grotto where I could see a landmark we normally use when walking the other way as our about turn point - 3 posts in the sand that we call the Meerkats as they look like three meerkats standing lookout. At this point I called the boys and let them know where I was and they came to the beach to meet me walking the other way....

Deja Vu - 12:49 - at the beginning again!

It ain't over til it's over.... got here now to walk the last bit to the car!

There was time to get home for a swift shower and change before we met David, Sam and Charlie at La Vierge for steak lunch. Here is a photo from the window of some passing baboons also hoping for a steak....

Afternoon was reading and resting my feet! Some blisters but feeling fine today.

I like to ride my bicycle 🚲🏍

We have kept in touch with Jacques who originally sold Woody Trinity, The Honda Transalp that we have in South Africa. He was very sad to give up the bike but at the time his wife had just become pregnant and they needed the cash freed up.  We generally meet up once a year when we're over if possible as he was working very hard especially with the water shortage and he being in a business that supplies water drinks machines (or something like that). He missed his bike so much that his prayer group got together secretly and saved up and bought him a bike so in more recent visits we have met up for rides together, often with other friends of his.

We were both invited on this ride but I chose not to go (and glad I didn't) as it ended up being 800 kilometres door to door and would've been extremely uncomfortable on the back. The first pic shows the planned route and was supposed to cover 12 mountain passes but Woody thinks that the plan had evolved since the printing of the t-shirt and that they did at least one extra pass and clearly 200 extra kilometres!

Woody is now the proud owner of the Old Timer's 12 Passes T-shirt!

A few of the guys at Burgerspas - not a McDonald's in sight.

A line up of most of the bikes on the trip...

There are other photos but mostly of motorbikes and those who ride them and not scenic views! No time to stop for snaps!

Yep... just bikes and bikes....

and more bikes...

Papa and I went to Church in the morning and then in the afternoon I walked Harry Houdini round to neighbours for drinks on their stoep.

I saw these intriguing flowers on the cliff path. i've not seen them before so it's likely they only show themselves after rain... of which they've had not much by English standards but a lot by South African ones.

 

Monday's supper was a nice sushi started at Lemonlicious (previously LemonButta) and then cooked fish for mains. Photo shows a Rock Shandy (best summer drink ever) and the view round Walker Bay towards Gaansbaai.

The problem in the UK is that to reduce sugar in drinks even the full fat drinks now have reduced sugar and added sweeteners in so I haven't been able to find a clear lemonade that does not have nasty chemical sweeteners in.

Tuesday found us walking the dog along the cliff path - I don't tend to take many photos of this area now as we have shared the views many times before but for the first time we saw a crocodile...

Never smile at a crocodile...

Supper was a braai at home on the stoep. Harry clearly recognised the sight and smell and was waiting for goodies to emerge. 

As the sun set we were treated to lovely colours towards Hermanus and Venus above the horizon. I uses an app to identify it which tells you planets, stars, and the constellations.

The black circle is the moon which was a tiny crescent in real life.

On Wednesday Woody and I went to Bredasdorp to the Kapula shop which is more like a warehouse. It's absolutely huge and full of candles and ceramics which is a business which also helps local women gain an income.

In the evening we went to The Barefoot Cook. We met friends there. Nigel had met a very interesting english gentleman through Church called David who sadly very recently died but we have kept in touch with Sam his daughter and her husband and their daughter Charlie. Whilst there was a bit of a wait for the food to come we enjoyed the company and the wine!  

I settled on confit of duck which was extremely flavoursome and a chocolate sponge dessert ( I dispute any dessert without layers is a Mississippi Mud Pie) and Woody had the line fish and Tarte Tatin for his dessert.

On Thursday we went to Volmoed for their weekly Eucharist. It was led by the Benedictine brothers who have fairly recently moved there and I had not met them before this.

Whilst it was cloudy I appreciated the chance to cool off and whilst you can't clearly see the mountains behind it is still a beautiful spot and where Mama had her ashes scattered.

 

After giving a friend The Book of Bunny Suicides  (funnily enough not heard from them since) we got home in time to whip up a typically English bbq. English in that it was raining. We still managed drinks on the stoep as it wasn't cold but did eat inside. 

In the afternoon Woody and I went into town for a spot of shopping....

It really does rain here too!

We found an Alley that had small bars in it selling all kinds of international street foods - no space after our lunch but interesting to explore on another day...

We enjoyed this lovely mural and came home to find that someone had put themselves to bed...

Yup, another day another walk on the cliff path...

Harry really does enjoy sniffing... walks tend to be on the slow side with him until the return journey when he is happy to walk without revisiting the sniffs that so detained him on the outward journey.

We have been to Pringle Bay to visit Julia and Granny. Granny is Julia's mother-in-law and we call her Granny because she looks very like Woody's maternal grandmother so she has been adopted as an honorary Granny. We still keep in touch and went round for a stunning Ox Tail Stew and sweet potato mash (normal potatoes specially cooked for Nigel) and then lemon meringue pie.

The house is decorated with a wide variety of warthogs and this little fellow is one of my favourites.

Julia, Woody and I am Harry and Jo the doggies had a nice beach walk after lunch whilst the other 2 chatted or napped til our return. No photos sadly as I didn't take my phone. Suffice to say it is beautiful but windy.


And last but not least a candlelit supper as we have been experiencing "load shedding" where they have cut off electricity for about 2 hours a day to take the load off the supply so that everyone can have electricity for some of the day.

As raindrops say, two’s company, three’s a cloud. 🌧🌦💧💦☔️☂️

We’ve come a long way from Kent...

Woody has been in South Africa 🇿🇦 10  days longer than I have but has yet to get to B’s the best steak place so that is still on our to do list! Tonight though it is raining and even the dog won’t go out without being carried and whilst the sound of running water is provocative he runs straight back inside....

Whilst Woody was away I was working as usual and also I attended a 3 day panel interview in Ely and the result is that I have been recommended for training for ordination. It was a pretty hectic time and a pretty full schedule. They are changing the process now but the one I went through was very rigorous and for me the preparation for this interview lasted 3 years meeting regularly with someone once a month and doing assignments and reading books as requested. There are 9 criteria which you can see here but in summary are:
Criterion A: Vocation ....................................................................................1 
Criterion B: Ministry within the Church of England .......................................3 
Criterion C: Spirituality..................................................................................5 
Criterion D: Personality and Character.........................................................6 
Criterion E: Relationships.............................................................................8 
Criterion F: Leadership and Collaboration..................................................10 
Criterion G: Faith........................................................................................12 
Criterion H: Mission and Evangelism..........................................................13 
Criterion I: Quality of Mind
So pretty much everything then. The criteria are divided into 3 groups.
On arrival in Ely we had to complete an inventory which was basically a questionnaire - 6 sides with each page had questions for three of the criteria and you answers to which could be used to form the basis of the questions in your interviews. We had to lead a 5 minute presentation and then hold a discussion on our presentation and then summarise the discussion in 2 minutes. The presentation could be on anything you wanted but had to relate to one of the criteria. I did mine on relating to people who are different from us. There were 13 candidates in total and we were divided into 2 groups so I was in a group of 6 and there were therefore 6 interviewers. We were given a playing card face down which decided the order of play. Once this part was over it was much less nerve wracking and we then just had 3 interviews each up to about an hour and then we also had to fit in a pastoral exercise where someone had emailed us about an issue and we had to respond to them in a way that was thoughtful and considered and theologically sound.  In between we had services and meal times where we were expected to rotate round the tables so that the interviewers who did not move places had a good chance to see us in a social environment. There was also some free time if we weren't doing our pastoral exercise so we could walk, visit the cathedral (got to go in for free) and read. I had taken some light reading - We Need To Talk About Kevin - which is excellent for those interested in psychology and the nature/nurture debate.

We joined most of the tour of Ely cathedral and heard the story of the ceiling being painted and other interesting snippets but could not stay for the whole thing. For them's what is interested then you can read the detail here.

One evening I went out in twilight or dusk (lovely words) and had a nice walk down towards the river where I saw the tower of the cathredral which was floodlit.

On getting down to the river following a path lit with tiny lights like a fairy path I got to the river where there were sculptures...

The first being a rock out of which flows water... 

And this plaque which reads... Stones like this built the House of God you see before you, The Bible says "you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house." The local Christian community wishes you a happy and blessed time in Ely.

Further along the river there was a sluice sculpture that also had a more functional purpose and you can read about it here. Haven't included my photos as they weren't very clear but I did see the water changing on the video screen.
I walked further down river to a bridge and got this picture of Ely at night.

I walked this way to the train station on the way home which, albeit cold, was sunny and not hailing as it had been on arrival. 

It wasn't all serious and Jan and I broached the bar having a bottle of chenin between us. She is Very generous in pouring!

Once we left, the interviewers would remain for at least one more day to discuss and would write a report and make a recommendation for the Bishops of the areas people came from (all over the country) who would then make a decision and we would be informed. There was no competition and no limit on places so each case was decided on by merit. You could get a no (but you can apply 3 times and have 2 years between each attempt), a yes with conditions or a straight yes. The interviewers all had to agree so would stay as long as it took to get a unanimous decision.

I have since heard from Bishop James of Rochester that I have been accepted for training.

The next is a view from our garden down to the river Mudway... Since Storm Chiara it had dropped back within its banks but Storm Dennis found the waters raising again and many homes have been flooded across the country.

We haven't seen it rise further than this and it is unlikely to as there are much flatter parts f the valley that would have to get much wetter before we were at risk.

Our hellebores were coming into full bloom and we have a variety of colours...

I am hoping they will seed and spread and fill our woods with colour in winter.

I am now in South Africa with Woody and one of our first outings was to a winery that we have not been to before but was recommended by our friend John who had tasted their wines at a London Wine Fair... this is a modern building but built to look like a Church with the mountains robed in clouds behind.

The wineries in this valley all have a Heaven and Earth theme and you can read a little of the history here.

We visited Ataraxia and tasted their wines... before lunch!

The chardonnay seems to get 90's/100 in all the rankings but we did not feel it was worth the price though significantly cheaper than in the UK. We are now the proud owners of some sauvignon blanc and some Serenity.

The toilet was nicely decorated - seemingly freehand not stencil.

Woody liked the artwork on display but not for the price!

This is the view up the valley.

We also went to Domaine des Dieux for Papa to buy some bubbly... the view looks back towards Ataraxia.

Harry of course escorts us everywhere....

Even out to lunch at a restaurant called Salt.

I have now finished reading this...

which coincidentally features a bit about Tiger Nuts which I grew successfully in our garden last year and hope to plant some more as they are more flavourful than Mr Muir allows!

And Harry hangs around wherever we go!

The first evening we had drinks with friends and saw the baboons and their babies heading back to the mountains under Harry's observant eye.

So far having a relaxing time with good food and wine. Pancakes this morning and Lent tomorrow! What are you giving or taking up?!