Kalk Bay summer walking

Another perfect early morning here in Cape Town to be doing our Ultra Walk preparation.

Back to a favourite the Muizenberg to Kalk Bay and return walk, which we stretched to 11 km today, with a stop at C'est la Vie for crispy baguette straight from the oven with brie, bacon and rocket.

• Walking log: Wednesday 14th January

Upped the pace slightly this morning along the 11 km walk. Body holding up.
Awareness around the left knee. Feet seem fine.
Swim for cool down and feet exercises.

Total kilometres to date: 52.4

Seapoint Promenade

It was a pleasure to be part of the early morning activity along the Seapoint Promenade, runners, walkers, joggers, park exercisers, parachutists, dog and baby walkers, swimmers. And also people doing nothing but just taking in a beautiful early morning.

Perfect conditions, fresh breeze off the sea, fog not burnt off yet and I felt energised after my day off.

I particularly enjoy the art installations along the Promenade and I was pleased to see a new piece beyond the Seapoint swimming pool; a full size bronze daybed on a painted carpet.

Found a great spot for my cappuccino, Bootlegger Coffee Company in Seapoint's Regent Road, early morning coffee special for only R12.

• Walking log: Tuesday 13th January

Training was stepped up by 10% this morning. An 11 km walk from Green Point along the Seapoint Promenade to Bantry Bay and return.

Total kilometers to date:  41.4

Walking and yoga

"Feet love walks, rubs, movement and attention" 

I saw this while researching yoga and walking this morning. It is my feet that give me the most concern as I go into my preparation for my Ultra Walk and they do not always love walking.

On a walk through the hills of Girona in Spain a few years ago, I had to give up about half way through the trip because of blisters that had formed below my callouses on the soles of both of my feet. It was so hard to see the group leave in the morning and so hard to be left behind.

Today is my rest day.

Keeping out the sun, hydrating, I am barefoot, treating my feet, stretching them and the lower leg muscles.

I want to add yoga into my routine and preparation, so I took out my mat, and followed some suggested poses for walkers.

I hope that by practicing these yoga poses that strengthen and stretch the muscles, joints and connective tissue of the foot and ankle, my foot health, posture and overall health will improve.

"Treat your feet well and your body will appreciate you."

Forest paths: Newlands Forest

The morning started cooler and overcast, just perfect to be hiking in the Newlands Forest on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, which give or take a road or two or three, is our backyard here in Cape Town. 

There is something so restful about the toned down palette of a forest walk. I was surrounded by early morning bird calls but kept my focus on the paths, the switchbacks that slowly but surely climb to the Woodcutters Trail and then onto the wonderful Contour Path which traverses Table Mountain. Every now and again the forest opens up and we had lovely views of the Southern Suburbs.

The intention of the walk this morning was to get the heart rate up and to start our preparation for the more strenuous days of our Ultra Walk, which will be the Kamies Pass and the trails through the Cedarberg Mountains. 

Mission accomplished, I was breathing hard at times as the switchbacks steepen into stairs on the way up.

So I have now walked 30 km in 3 days, I have a sense of the distance, now just need to work up to doing that in a day, and then doing that for 10 days in a row....

• Walking log: Sunday 11th January

Training today was a 10.4 km hike in Newlands Forest, from the Reservoir, along the paths, steps and boardwalks of the Woodcutters Trail and the Contour Path, to the edge of Kirstenbosch before heading back down to the parking lot. Strenuous at times and got the heart rate up.

Felt strong.
We walked without stopping.
Total kilometres to date: 30.4

Fred has a Polar Integrated GPS Sports Watch which we are using to track our stats. The software is so cool and the GPS function generates a map of the walk.

So nice, I can see Fred playing around for hours telling me how and what I have or haven't done!

Urban pavements: Old Biscuit Mill, Woodstock

Old Biscuit Mill, sensory delights.

Saturday in Cape Town is market day and one of the best around is the Neighbour Goods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, a fascinating urban renewal project which is vibrant, arty, has fresh produce, good food and trendy retailing.

Instead of taking the car, we walked. Fortunately we bumped into our neighbour and she took the shopping home for us.

I am looking at a lovely bunch of proteas as I write.

• Walking log: Saturday 10th January

Training today was a 10 km walk from the flat to Old Biscuit Mill, Woodstock and back via a piece of the Rondebosch Common.
Walk: Urban pavements.
Awareness after 2 two days of walking 10 km; left knee, feet feeling tired. Swim to ease heavy legs and cool down.
Total kilometres to date: 20

On the road: early morning Muizenberg - St James - Fish Hoek

This stretched canvas photograph that I bought for our Cape Town flat captures an amazing moment at the old Kalk Bay lighthouse, which has stood solidly since 1919: a massive wall of water caused by a spring tide hitting the pier at a right angle.

Hands down walking to this lighthouse from Muizemberg is one of my favourite walks here in Cape Town. 

So it feel right that this walk marks the start of my 6 months of preparation for my Ultra Walk.

The first stretch of the walk to St. James is along a seaside concrete path.

The sea sparkled this morning, the salty spray from the high tide catching me every now and again. The Southern Black-backed Gulls were abundant but I missed seeing and hearing the African Black Oystercatchers.

The iconic colourful wooden beach shacks are a highlight as are all the quirky shops along Kalk Bay, I was feeling pulled to do some clothes shopping, but it will have to be another time.

This walk also comes with great food options, our two favourites in Kalk Bay are C'est le Vie and Olympia, and both deliver on great cappuccinos, pastries and breakfast, so today we broke the walk at Olympia. 

If this is what preparation looks and feels like, more please.

• Walking log: Friday 9th January.

Training started with an early morning 10 km walk along one of my favourite walks in Cape Town.
Muizenberg - St. James - Kalk Bay - Fish Hoek return.
Walk: Coastal path and road.
Total km to date: 10.

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A pause....

Five months has passed since our extraordinary four months of travel in the Bahamas and the western USA.

I have been in a self-designed pause since coming back to South Africa in late July 2014,  resisting getting into a new project, or planning a holiday or thinking about a new destination.  It has not been a comfortable place to be in as I love the possibility that all of the above provides me.

The priority was to reconnect with my family and friends, to make my spaces feel like home again and just picking up where I left off. Fred and I have travelled many, many thousands of kilometres across South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe since coming back, being part of special events; a wedding, a funeral, birthdays, many special days and many ordinary days along the way.

And all this time I paused, not directing my energy or passion in any one direction.

The pause is done.

Fred was telling me about Andy, a friend, who today, in Egypt, has started to cycle the length of Africa. I was thinking, I do not cycle but I walk.

August will also be the start of the last year in my fifties and I feel like a challenge to mark this milestone.

My challenge will be to complete an Ultra Walk:

301 kilometres in 10 days.

The starting date will be 15th August.
The place will be Namaqualand among the beautiful carpets of spring flowers.

Training starts today. I will be on the road walking.

I am excited, energised, nervous, anxious about my feet, my knee, I will blog, I will list, I will find good food along the roads, I will bird watch, I will immerse myself as only I can do.

Walks. The body advances, while the mind flutters around it like a bird. ~Jules Renard

A call to be on a road.

Thank you David Whyte, rereading this poem, I am feeling the excitement of the challenge I am setting myself.

2015, I will be on the road, walking, exploring, testing my body limits as I do so.

SANTIAGO

The road seen, then not seen, the hillside hiding
then revealing the way you should take,
the road dropping away from you as if leaving you 
to walk on thin air, then catching you, holding you up,
when you thought you would fall, and the way forward
always in the end the way that you came, the way
that you followed, the way that carried you into your future,
that brought you to this place, no matter that it sometimes
took your promise from you, no matter that it always
had to break your heart along the way, the sense
of having walked from far inside yourself out into the revelation,
to have risked yourself for something that seemed
to stand both inside you and far beyond you,
that called you back in the end to the only road
you could follow, walking as you did, in your
rags of love and speaking in the voice
that by night, became a prayer for safe arrival…

© David Whyte
From SANTIAGO in PILGRIM: Poems by David Whyte

'When the wind had wings"

A broken song beneath the snow,

the echo of a soaring joy,

a shape in the mist,

a touch in the rain,

in wilderness you came again…

you tell us what we used to know…

you speak for all the free things whose ways

were ours when the wind had wings.

'Wind the wind had wings' Bev Doolittle.

Final trip in numbers….

So here we are, last early morning call to fly back home.

•   travelled 10993 miles, (17590 km)

•   northern most point of the road trip, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 47 degrees 41’ N

•   southern most point of the road trip, Salton Sea, California, 33 degrees 31’ N

•   been in 10 US states – California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, New York

•   explored 13 National Parks - Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, Golden Gate Alcatraz, Lassen Volcanic, Redwoods, Lava Beds, Crater Lake, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Bryce Canyon, Zion

•   visited 8 State Parks - Big Sur, Salton Sea, San Jacinto Mountain, Hearst Castle, Red Rock, Red Rock Canyon, Humboldt Redwoods, Valley of Fire

•   National Forests; 7 Sequoia, Sierra, Tahoe, Lassen, Fremont Winema. Mt Hood, Gallatin

•   slept in 24 beds; 7 hotels/inns, 8 motels and 8 timeshare units, 1 private home (make it 30 with Bahamas)

•   Shawni and Craig joined us for nights 10 nights

•   ate Ben & Jerry ice-cream, 13, Cherry Garcia; Chunky Monkey; Triple Caramel Chunk; New York Super Fudge Chunk; Americone Dream; Cheesecake Brownie; Everything but the….; Coffee. Coffee Buzz Buzz!; FroYo, Half Baked; Pistachio, Pistachio; That’s my Jam, Core; Red Velvet Cake; Scotchy Scotch Scotch

•   added 55 birds to my US bird list which is now 219 and my world list is 1502, top bird Roadrunner

•   popped into 5 museums, Palm Springs Art, Cable Car (SF), De Young (SF), Maritime Museum (Lake Tahoe), Latimer Quilt and Textile

•   farmers markets, 3; Oakhurst, Ferry Building (SF), Portland

•   decaprio 4 movie catch-up, Aviator, Gatsby, Departed, J Edgar

•   Oscar 6 movie catch-up, Dallas Buyers Club; Nebraska; August: Osage County; Zero Dark Thirty; Charlie Wilson’s War; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

•   relished organic extra virgin olive oil, 3 farms 

•   walked 222 miles; beaches, mountain trails, coastal meadow, high altitude lakes, golf courses, climbing red rocks, national park trails, canyon rim, canyon trails, valley trail, river trail, desert paths, Las Vegas Strip, mountain hikes, many city blocks, Central Park

•   walking on schedule, no ways we were not going to meet this goal, so walked 12 miles in New York to ‘beat’ the car (for each 50 miles driven we want to walk 1 mile)

•   longest hike 10 miles on Four Mile Trail, Yosemite with 3200’ climb on steep switchbacks

•   took a bike, cycled along the Truckee River for 16 miles, (26 km)

•   canoed 9 miles along the Upper Klamath Canoe Trail

•   rode a horse on a high altitude trail, Big Sky, Montana, for 4 miles

•   watched 7 episodes of Game of Thrones, season 4

•   lowest driving elevation, 214’ below sea-level at Furnace Creek Golf Course, Death Valley

•   highest driving elevation, 9945’ Tioga Pass, Tioga Road, Yosemite

•   got cold at the lowest temperature below 40 degrees F in Tehachapi (3 degrees C)

•   was hot at the highest temperature of 115 degrees F while walking in Death Valley (46 degrees C). Car registered 125 degrees F at one point – over 50 degrees C

•   wine tasting, 2 at Tablas Winery, Paso Robles and Souza Family Vineyard

•   modes of transport, 14, helicopter over the Grand Canyon, ferry to Alcatraz, cable car, bus, metro, streetcar, bicycle, paddle boat on Tahoe, canoe, Big Pink Trolley in Portland, ski-lift at Timberline, Mt Hood, horse, taxi, subway

•   shows/events, 6, in Las Vegas, O Cirque du Soleil; in San Francisco, Beach Blanket Babylon, SF Giants baseball in San Francisco; in Reno Extreme Bull Riding, in Reno, Rodeo; in New York, Kinky Boots

…what a trip...

A sweltering, humid NYC, but still fun to be walking familiar and unfamiliar places.

Walking Central Park to 'beat' the car. 

New York: Brooklyn Bridge

CNN was covering a story about New Yorkers waking up today to a white flag flying from Brooklyn Bridge.
Outcry about lack of security.

By the time we got to the bridge today all was back to normal though.

1 WTC changing the skyline, looking dramatic from Brooklyn Bridge.

New York: roof garden at The Pod Hotel

Day started with reading birthday messages, coffee and pastries and the rooftop garden at The Pod, a respite from the busyness of the streets below.

Could not be more different from the weeks and months we have spent in nature but New York has an energy that could be addictive.

man-made hoodoos indeed.

Foodie Interlude: Dean & Deluca, Soho

No better way to celebrate on this steamy summer day, a visit to my favorite foodie store in NYC - Dean & Deluca. Bought sushi, caesar salad, baguette and stood at the window counter - watching the frenetic to and fro along Broadway. Would have loved to fill a basket with treats but flying tomorrow.