Can Do! Trekking for Trash Day 18 – 22
We were dropped off back at the Olifants river mouth after a very scary drive through the thick, slippery mud and headed south from the point we’d swum across to the previous night. A couple of hundred meters later we came across a ginormous sea creature in the sand. After tweeting a pic to our followers, it was confirmed that we’d found a Sun Fish. Very exciting. We came across our first humans too, as we walked up to Strandfontein!
Nothing much going on in this sleepy seaside town but I did absolutely love the labyrinth we came across on the top of a cliff on the Doringbaai side. A magnificent setting to walk in circles in quiet contemplation. We had planned to stop in Doringbaai for lunch but the walk took us a lot longer than expected (as usual) so by the time we got there we were ravenous and devoured 4 sandwiches each! After lunch we walked another 10km in the direction of Lamberts bay where we stopped and called it a day. Erlo collected us and we headed for the “Lamberts Bay Hotel”.
I reveled in the luxury of having my own room and bathroom and took a long bath. My mum arrived that evening (our first visit from the outside world) and we took a sunset stroll down to the docks and then headed to the delightful “Isabella’s” for dinner. The food was outstanding and we highly recommend a stop here. The next day was a rest day and Mike, myself and my mum spent the morning at the ganet sanctuary. It was so interesting to learn about these creatures and their mating habits. The smell is something I shan’t forget in a hurry. We all then headed to Muisbosskerm for a lengthy lunch by the sea and got an early night.
On Monday morning we were dropped off where we had finished on Saturday afternoon and we walked most of the day to get to Lamberts Bay. We came across some interesting marine litter, a huge orange sphere which I used as a pilates ball, big gallon drums, kitchen appliances and hundreds of plastic bottles. We were also sternly reprimanded for being on private property at one stage! There are some amazing houses and estates along this stretch. We went back to Isabella’s for dinner and spent the evening catching up on admin.
First thing the next morning we went to Lamberts Bay Primary School to give a presentation on our trip and teach the kids about the importance of recycling. It was incredibly well received and Mike’s Afrikaans surprised us all! They all waved us off as we walked off in the distance towards Elands Bay! Plaaskombuis very kindly offered us tea and scones en route. While we sat there taking a moment I noticed my left shin was quite sore. By the time we had finished the long beach stretch into Elands Bay I was in agony. The ‘pain is temporary’ mantra I’d been repeating to myself only worked for the first 3 hours and then I became frustrated that my body was letting me down and may even admit to feeling a tad sorry for myself. Every step was hell. Thank goodness my boyfriend, Matt, was on his way up to visit and being an ex-rugger bugger he quickly diagnosed it as a shin splint and treated it accordingly (massaging the living cr*p out of it until I was blue in the face with some ointment meant for use on horses and then icing and strapping it!)
We went to a local hangout, the Wit Mossel Pot, for mussels and beer and then had a braai to wish Erlo farewell. It was his last night with us. A big thank you to Elands Bay Guest house who put us up for 2 nights!
