Is it a bird, is it a plane...

No, it's a couple of intrepid hikers on top of Brandwag Buttress!

Earlier this week I posted about our trip to, and hiking experience in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. (See here, if you wish.) Grant and I were walking along the main tar road when he spotted the hikers on top of Brandwag (Sentinel) Buttress. Using my point-and -shoot camera, I didn't think they would be visible on the photo, but they are!

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Meandering through my garden

No matter what time I work in or walk around my garden, I can always be assured of at least three dogs and three or more cats who accompany me. Above you can just see Angie's back in the foreground of the photo. Also visible in the photo are strips of plastic around the selected trees which my gardener will take out and load into Debbie's vehicle when they overnight here next week

Last week I posted about our son, John and his wife, Debbie who are starting a new life on their own piece of paradise in the Drakensberg. You can read about this here. Debbie has already begun to plant lawn around the caravan (which is their abode until they complete their building) as well as many indigenous trees and shrubs. Today I worked in my garden and together with gardener number one, John Tsie, we picked out many saplings and shrubs for Debbie. He will take these out and load into John's vehicle when John [Hedges] and Debbie stay overnight next week. We marked the selection with strips of plastic shopping bags.

Angie's tail and Eddie running into thee distance, show the presence of my pets in my garden

We had a wonderful shower of rain in the night which made me want to take dozens of photos of my garden - and I did. These photos will bring back beautiful memories once I'm back in the Sudan next week. Angie can be seen enjoying the garden as much as I do

Eddie is just visible in the lefthand corner of the photo. If she's not trying to catch tadpoles in my ponds, she's on the hunt for rats and other unsuspecting creatures under the shrubs

We have about seven barbel (catfish) in the large pond. Grant and I have been feeding them cat pellets at sunset. They have become amazingly tame and almost come up out of the water to eat the pellets which I scatter on the surface. The three dogs and Chip, our dopey cat, soon got to know the drill. Now they beg for a treat at the same time!

The garden is a haven for all our cats and dogs


Chip has her own natural scratching post in the garden

Pudding, my second oldest cat, always lies on the patio in the late afternoon. She seems to enjoy the warmth of the paving. Megan and Chip can be seen in the background

All the cats adore Angie and often cuddle up to her. Here she and Clarice share a special moment

While I was meandering around the garden photographing my memories and precious pets, Grant was preparing our motorcycle for sale. He will ride it to the city tomorrow where it will be displayed in the BMW bike dealer's showroom and hopefully catch a buyer's eye

Last Part of our Holiday

Our minimalistic camp set-up

On Saturday we went camping at Golden Gate Highlands National Park which is nestled in the rolling foothills of the Maluti Mountains of the north-eastern Free State. The park derives its name from the brilliant shades of gold cast by the sun on the park's sandstone cliffs. (See header photo changed especially for this post) Grant and I have regularly camped here over the past fifteen years. Since 2007, when we decided to camp as much as we can while travelling on our motorbike, we have spent several enjoyable weekends camping at Glen Reenen Rest Camp. On one occasion we even overnighted in a Sanparks rondawel (round hut with a thatch roof), which, for me, was wonderfully luxurous compared to our normal minimalistic style of camping.

The beauty of camping at Glen Reenen is that there is a general dealer store run by the friendly Sanparks staff so we buy our foodstuffs as we need it. We also enjoy hiking in the mountains.

On Sunday at 8.30am, we started out on a climb to Wodehouse Peak (2438 meters/7998 feet). First you continue along a short 45 minute walk to the bottom of Brandwag (Sentinal) Buttress. (See photo below) Then with the help of a chain, you clamber up the side of the buttress to the top. Once you're up there, you walk as close to the edge as you dare and photograph the camp below (Well, that's what I do, anyway!)

The imposing Brandwag (Sentinel) Buttress which guards the entrance to Glen Reenen Rest Camp
Grant standing on the edge of Brandwag Buttresss overlooking Glen Reenen Rest Camp

The campsite, Sanparks offices, accommodation and general dealer photogtaphed from Brandwag Buttress
The round rocky outcrop visible just above Grant's arm, is called Mushroom Rock (for obvious reasons). Once we reached the top of Wodehouse, we would carry on and down over this rock eventually meeting up with the road below. The entire route is semi-circular.

From Brandwag Buttress you immediately begin a long hard slog up the grassy knolls towards Wodehouse. Grant and I did this hike in 1997 and within half an hour of walking, we realised that this time was going to be quite a challenge. An hour after leaving the buttress, we reted on a crest for a drink of water and a few biscuits. In the photo above, I purposely included Grant's arm to try and give an idea of how high we were in relation to the road far below.

Grant looks up up at the peak which was still quite a long way off...

Finally, the last ascent to the top

Grant waits up at the top while I take the photo...

Wodehouse Peak (2438m/7998ft)

After a delicous cup of tea which Grant brewed on our little gas cooker and a more sweet biscuits for energy, we started off down to mountain. We made reasonably quick progress descending the grassy knolls (thinking that this was going to be easy) when suddenly we arrived on the top of Mushroom Rock (see header photo). From there the route was so technical that we found it quite dangerous. Because of plentiful summer rains this season, the rocks were running with water and the path down was almost non-existent.
We gingerly slid across and down the large, flat expanses of wet rock, clutching onto grass tuffts and tough mountain shrubs for safety. The above photo doesn't do justice to the steep downhill traverse we made but muddy moss stains on the seats of our shorts shows how difficult the route was... Eventually we were down and crossing the river. We had to walk back to the campsite, which lay one kilometer ahead, along the main road. It was with no small relief that we stepped onto the tarmac.

Grant strides ahead to the campsite. (Brandwag Buttress, where we started the climb, is visible in the photo). Being Easter Sunday, there was plenty of traffic on the road. My husband was not impressed when I suggested we hitch a ride back to camp with one of the vehicles (lol!)

A welcome cup of tea in the campsite

There was a heavy downpour on Sunday night but our little tent was as waterproof as ever. Next morning (our last day in camp), we awoke to overcast skies and before we knew it the heavens opened again. There was nothing for it but to pack up in the rain. Which is what we did.

Half an hour after leaving Glen Reenen, the skies began to clear, the sun came out and the rest of our ride home was - as always - glorious. This was the last trip on our motorbike. We are taking it to the city tomorrow where it will hopefully be sold for the worthy price it deserves. We have had three wonderful years and covered 37,000kms/23,000miles on this beautiful machine. When we return from the Sudan in August, we will look at buying a BMW Adventure. We then intend to do a trip overland through Africa (Lynda in Tanzania, has promised me a cuppa on their farm at the foothills of Kilimanjaro!) and across to Europe. Time will tell...

Meanwhile I hope to record our many bike trips over the past eight years on my other blog. More about this when I return to the Sudan.

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