Can Do! Trekking for Trash’s Camilla Howard recounts the next leg of their journey, McDougalls Bay to Kleinsee.
Can someone switch off the wind please?
Following a rest day for my birthday we had 2 days to walk 61km to get to Kleinsee and again we were denied access to the coast for this stretch. We managed to persuade the head of security at the mine to escort us to the Seal Colony in the mine which was a real treat. We felt so privileged to be able to spend time watching the seals and photographing them as it is strictly off limits to the general public. The sheer number of them is quite staggering, as is the stench! There was less litter along the dirt road to Kleinzee but we still managed to collect 24kg’s. The town of Kleinsee is eerie, the streets are empty, it has become somewhat of a ghost town as De Beers has slowly pulled out. There is a skeleton staff left and most of them are only in town for the work week and head back to Springbok on weekends.
There is no longer an operational Spar or any type of shop. You can get meals intermittently at the Golf Club and 3 times a week at the Crazy Crayfish were we celebrated my birthday. The handful of people left in the town were there and they really are so hospitable and warm despite their hardships. If you are ever passing through make sure you stop there to try Nathalie’s legendary mussel soup. Her husband Charles may also be able to organise you oysters from the farm on the mine. Our kind and generous sponsor (Nampak and Collect a Can) had called ahead to organise me a bottle of bubbles and a meal on the house! We had a great evening and I left sporting a “Crazy Crayfish” t-shirt – my proudest achievement of my 20’s – when I met the challenge posed to me by the owner which included salt in my nose, lemon in my eye and something else in between!
Needless to say Sunday’s hike with a birthday babalas shan’t be repeated. We coped just fine the past two days despite the heinous wind and I’m so looking forward to getting my feet in the sand tomorrow morning as we head towards Brazil.
We’ve heard a few stories from the locals here about “Rocky” who lives there and we do hope to run into him en route.
