Back home and relaxing after a great weekend away. Another peach of a day at the Southern Tip.
Good run yesterday, some excellent football results, a couple of cold beers with the braai, and then a walk along the beach with the beagle this morning before we hit the road.
All is well.
Public holiday today for Heritage Day. I needed a weekend away to recover from my last weekend away, so Agulhas it is.
There are worse places to be. And so we’re here.
Right now, I’m having a discussion about Google Home, so obviously, I can’t write too much.
More tomorrow. As always.
The weekend away was a massive success. Fun, friendship, general foolishness and a frightening amount of drinking. And while we kept ourselves to ourselves for the most part, when we did go out and about we were sensible, respectful and cognisant of the current situation. We also went some way to supporting the local economy of this small farming community in the Western Cape by buying all of the wood that they could provide.
All of it.
The place we stayed at was close enough to civilisation to be convenient, but remote enough that we didn’t have to restrain ourselves too much.
And there was this view when we arrived as well:
Rubbish composition because there was only a tiny balcony to get the shot from. Sorry.
If this sort of geological feature was in the UK, it would have a name and everyone would know it. But the best description I can find of this is the edge of the Koue Bokkeveld (the “cold buck shrubland”). I think it deserves more.
The scenery around the place was all pretty amazing though, and I’m hopeful that I can get the family out there to have a visit at some point in the near future.
…about that weekend away.
Partly because we needed to get down there and check everything was OK. Party because “intra-provincial travel for leisure” was allowed again. Partly because we just needed escape from Cape Town. And yes, partly because there was a family birthday.
We couldn’t really have wished for a better weekend. The weather was incredible, prompting walks along the shore, photography and late night braais. Not bad for the middle of winter. And the fact that our place was built to withstand the worst that the South Atlantic could fling at it meant that it had done exactly that: it was all in good, ship-shape condition. In turn, that meant that we had plenty more time than we thought to just relax and chill out.
We used it wisely.
Even as the weather closed in on Monday evening, we stayed out and about until the very last minute, grabbing every last bit of sunlight:
And even when the weather was scary, stormy and windy the next morning, I still managed to get out and get a PB for 10km, despite being off road and on shore for much of the distance. Chuffed. (Spoiler: the World Record is still very much intact and in absolutely no danger from me. I are not fast.)
More photos (you may have seen a few of them over the previous few days on here) are now up on Flickr. Some decent stuff in there, though I say it myself – remind me to tell you about my epiphany at some point.
A great weekend with friends in Agulhas. Braais, games, laughs, drinks, beaches, walks… all of the good stuff. The only thing that marred it slightly was me taking a heavy tumble on Struisbaai beach during a last-batsman rush to save the game of beach cricket.
You wouldn’t think that sand could be so hard.
I now have a large knee, a bruised shin and my dysesthesia is back with a vengeance. Walking is fine, running is a non-starter and I’m feeling rather foolish and more than a bit pissed off about the whole thing. And so we concentrate on the positives, which are plentiful and include:
1. The fact that I made the run, before retiring hurt and successfully avoiding vomiting in the Indian Ocean. Much like the contents of my stomach, I was not out.
2. The fact that otherwise, the weekend was a proper jol, and
3. The fact that we got back to Cape Town just in time to see this guy…
… brilliantly slot home the winner against Bournemouth.
I’ve always been a fan of his.
The Blades up to fifth, looking properly good, and the press now talking of Champions League footy at Bramall Lane next season. And for once, they don’t mean just on the big TV sets in the Blades’ Social Club.
I’m hoping that we’ve just about done enough to avoid relegation at this point and while the actual Premier League title seems just out of reach, I’d be very happy with any finish in the top half of the table. I’m not sure we have the depth of squad to take on the rest of Europe right now.
Still, that league position is fantastic (and actually, totally justified) and the attention is flattering (and actually, totally justified).