S is for Stromatolites: Lake Thetis, the weird and the wonderful

Microbial communities? Been growing for about 3500 years?

So Fred looks around and sees rocky lumps....but how interesting, never heard of Stromatolites until this morning at Lake Thetis, near Cervantes. The little Red-capped Plovers seemed to love the high levels of salinity too.

We also met a rather handsome lizard this morning - in fact Fred was getting to close and it turned around and hissed at him, showing his namesake, a blue tongue. Our host at Isabella's Cafe told us the tail mimics the shape and size of the head as a survival strategy. Wonderfully weird.

Bobtail Skink - locals call them the blue-tongued lizards.

G is for a Green Sea: Indian Ocean from Thirsty Point, Cervantes, WA

Windswept, jet lagged and happy to be exploring.

As I plan our trips I google images of the places I am thinking of visiting, Pinterest searches too and I was wondering about the remarkable sea images that define this Turquoise Coast north of Perth in Western Australia.

Our drive along the Indian Ocean Drive, some 250 kilometres north of Perth, delivered beautiful scenery, white sand, and this green sea. All I could say was wow.

A is for Airport: Leaving home for 3 months

We start our year of travel leaving Johannesburg for Perth from OR Tambo, and my alphabet listing will start too, airports, flight kilometres, cities, countries, the possibilities are endless and how I love the action of tracking and listing while I travel.

Takeoff

by Timothy Steele

Our jet storms down the runway, tilts up, lifts:

We're airborne, and each second we see more-

Outlying hangars, wetlands with a pond

That flashes like sheened silver and, beyond

An estuary and the frozen drifts

Of breakers wide and while along a shore

One watches, cheek in palm. How little wight

The world has as it swiftly drops away

How quietly the mind climbs to this height

As now, the seat-belt signed turned off, a flight

Attendant rises to negotiate 

The steep aisle to a curtained service bay.

"The east and the west are mine, the north and the south are mine"

Song of the Open Road

BY WALT WHITMAN

From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines, 

Going where I list, my own master total and absolute, 

Listening to others, considering well what they say, 

Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, 

Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. 

I inhale great draughts of space, 

The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine. 

I am larger, better than I thought, 

I did not know I held so much goodness. 

All seems beautiful to me

Soon I will start our year of travel and as the one line says from the wonderful epic poem by Walt Whitman, "The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine." 

Down south calls first. 

Our three months in Australia and New Zealand. 

I am divesting myself of the holds that would hold me, saying farewells, completing my work commitments, arranging my affairs, preparing to lock up and go.

Postscript: a foot on the path

 "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

Lao Tzu

My shoes have been taken out of the cupboard, my rather grubby looking white socks have been put onto feet that are healing very well and I am about to set out for a quiet walk around the Rondebosch Common.

I love how the weather here in Cape Town has helped me rest up and take stock. It has been overcast, windy, some rain and quite cold, so perfect to snuggle under my duvet and quilt.  Today though is clear and I am drawn to be outdoors.

And rest up I did, apart from the weather, my cough and cold also forced the quiet downtime. It was a pleasure to quietly read, work on my knitting for Shawni and watch endless cooking programmes on TV.

This year of walking, starting on the 9th January with the declaration to attempt to do the 301 km in 10 days by August, has been a joy. Right until the last day I did not know if I would accomplish this very personal challenge. 

I appreciate that I was fit enough and that I tapped into an endurance I did not know I had. Fred has always been the strong, fit and physically capable person in my life and he showed up, walked and loved the experience too, which made for special shared times, both on the Ultra Walk but also throughout the year. 

As I close this section of my blog and organise for a printed copy, I am turning my attention to the travels that we are organising for the 2 years of celebrating my build up to 60. 

Let the new journey evolve. Many more miles to come....

a foot on the path, beauty and surprise of Namaqualand

301km. It's done and I am done.

I cannot pretend that I stepped lightly along the coastal road from Eland's Bay into Lambert's Bay and onto the beach to complete the Eco Ventures 301 Ultra Walk with Fred and our fellow walkers.

But step I did.

We crossed the line, the champagne was poured and we played around in the icy surf taking pleasure in the moment and revelling in completing this crazy adventure.

So for the last time:

• Walking log: 25th August

301km of 301km. 

10 day Ultra Walk completed. 

A tough and challenging journey, many highs and as many lows.

Much pain and much laughter.

Stories, music and meeting locals along the way.

Seeing nature at her most beautiful.

Walking through blazing heat, through the cold, against strong winds, dark mornings and bright midday's, uphills, downhills, flat roads, back roads, farm roads, sandy roads, tar roads, bad roads and good roads.

I am proud of this dedication, our commitment to the preparation and am just a little in awe of having finished.

Remarkable.

It's done and I am done.

Fred's photos have been a joy and to end he snapped this final photo as the closing image for 'a foot on the path'.

Seagulls are calling

We have left the Cederberg and moved south yet again for the last walk, swopping mountains for the Atlantic Ocean. We are in Lambert's Bay for the last 2 days.

Our achy bodies and feet still wake us up really early and I can hear the ocean from my room and the seagulls are calling already.

It's odd to think this is the last early morning routine, getting our daypacks ready, taking supplements and meds, waiting for Frik to knock on our door to sort out plasters for our feet, coffee and a rusk, bundling into the vehicle and heading off in the dark to start the day's walk.

We drove down the coast towards Eland's Bay to get walking. There was a light rain as we stretched and started off following the coastal road. The overcast conditions certainly make it easier to walk even though it felt cold at times.

Our breakfast stop after 11km was a real treat at The Plaaskombuis about 9km before Lambert's Bay, as Denise said we have now had stewed peaches for dinner and breakfast, they were rather nice with the boerewors.

Kitta Burger regaled us with stories of the family on this farm, 6 generations, while serving the porridge, breakfast and mugs of coffee.

So much of this trip has been about the companionship, either while walking, in the vehicle or over food, this collage of photos brings back so many moments along the way. An extraordinary journey for us all.

301 moments.

Secret world of walkers

A dear friend Sharon, after reading Wild, Cheryl Strayed book about hiking the PCT was quite shocked about the stories of Cheryl's blisters while on the trail.

Another Sharon, who is on the Camino at the moment, is also managing the hardship of long distance walkers - blisters, rain and any number of other challenges.

I asked the women walking with me to list their aches and pains:

• calf muscles, hip muscles, knees, shins, a bunion, a spider bite, heat rashes and blisters, allergies, split lips, flu symptoms, coughs, running noses.

This photo is not for the faint-hearted, but I need it as a reminder of my own personal challenge on this walk, because the shock of the pain will recede as it always does and the beauty of our experiences will be what lives on.

For the lovely ladies: Mary-Ann, Luciel, Sannie, Denise, Caren, Marike, Beverley.

Day 9: 270km of 301km, walking into Clanwilliam

Proteas among the daisies

Our early morning routine was a pleasure this morning, stretches at dawn and on the road soon after, this first 8 or so kilometres of walking are always lovely, we are energised after a good sleep and looking forward to the day.

After breakfast we packed, left our cottages and turned left out of the gate to tackle the next 15 kilometres.

I immediately battled, could not get my rhythm going and the pain of my feet was making me feel ill. Even Fred has the odd blister now! At least the beauty of these proteas and the other flowers along our route were a pleasurable distraction.

At our rest stop among the potato fields outside of Clanwilliam, I noticed that one of the blisters was exposed, so Frik did a quick repair, I took some serious pain killers and enjoyed the rest of the day, far more at ease and particularly enjoying our first time in the Cederberg.

We also had a taste of the dramatic rock formations of the Cederberg, walking past the Soldier's Head. We will have to come back and spend more time here.

Cederberg, Soldier's Head rock formation

• Walking log: 24th August

270km of 301km.

We are now nearing the end of our Eco Ventures Ultra Walk. I can feel the pressure of this event slowly peeling back and finished today with relief. We have this in the bag. 

Finding the huge Clanwilliam Daisy

One of the target flowers during our stay here in the Cederberg is the sunny bright yellow Clanwilliam Daisy. It's a large untidy bush with these massive flowers.

They make one smile.

Day 8: 240km of 301km, Namaqualand Daisies

How I love these happy faces!

We left the Knersvlakte after the first short walk of the day and headed further south to walk along the secondary road into Clanwilliam. The road is wedged between the Olifants River and the foothills of the Cederberg.

Fred was in a happy space finding wonderful flowers to photograph along the way. I so enjoy his excitement when he sees a new bloom and get the 'perfect' shot'!

I had been looking forward to seeing masses of the white Namaqualand daisies, they are a delight and did not disappoint.

I found the going tough though, the weather swings from the early morning cool to the heat over midday and we had some 20km to do along this hot and dusty road.
Even the refreshment stop did not seem to revive me.

Eventually we flopped into our cottage at Boskloof Swemgat, had a lovely meal put together by Frik and a good nights sleep too.

• Walking log: 23rd August

240km of 301km, another day in the bag. 

I have been walking with Luciel from Messina, she and I have a similar pace and we help each other with the pace setting, which makes a difference to the walk.

Walking towards Clanwilliam

Knersvlakte: Finger-and-thumbs and Baby Bums

Vast and flat, glistening with white quartzite gravel, the Knervlakte

Finger-and-thumb succulent

I realised very quickly on this trip that I will not easily retain all the plant and flower names that have been shared with us, but these two succulents on the Knersvlakte, the succulent Karoo, will definitely stick with me, the finger-and-thumb and the baby bum!

This is a unique place of miniature succulents dotted among the quartz, which grinds underfoot as we did our first walk of the day. These plants have an extraordinary instinct for survival which they need for the extreme heat of summer.

Baby's Bum succulent

It was about paying attention to the tiniest details, quite remarkable

• Walking log: 23 August

The change in rhythm today was quite a challenge for walking today. We did not do an early walk as we needed to get to the succulents and we had the comforting breakfast too. So it felt like a rude awakening to be walking on a happy tum!

Even more frustrating for me is that I developed another blister, I am managing 9 blisters....

Message from my sister Doreen, who has been carefully guiding me from afar on this walk:

'Succulents have stored water to see themselves through dryness..you are rich in reserves,,you are an incredibly strong, determined woman and you have everything you need including the most supportive husband to finish the next 3 days. When you see the succulents you will know you are going to be just fine!'

Garies to the Knersvlakte.

A welcoming stop here in Garies. The Stal(i) in town opened their doors for us last night and we had game pie served with stewed dried peaches, a local speciality which was so good.

Fred bought us a 5 year old Quiver tree for our Cape Town garden as a memento, it is no more that half a metre in height as they are slow growers. He also found a signed second-hand copy of "Garden of the Gods" (1984) by the American photographer Freeman Patterson. It is an iconic book from the region.

We keep heading south each day now and our first stop is the Knervlakte for a walk about among the succulents.

Before the walk though we were treated to 'roosterbroodjies', butter, cheese and jams with huge mugs of 'moerkoffie' at the Knersvlakte Spens. The wood fire was going and we were dressed in a few layers keeping warm. Such pleasure in the simple things in life. The family here are succulent specialists and have run a nursery for some 50 years.

We were also given a talk on what to look out for on our walk into the Knersvlakte.