THE WILD COAST
Craziest thing was the fact that we had to literally drag our bicycles through sandy beaches, carry them over mountains, and swim with them through river mouths. Keep in mind that our bikes weighed anything between 70 & 80kgs, depending on the amount of water we carried at any given time. Dante and Katryn were still puppies, so they couldn’t always keep up, and wanted to remain in their baskets, which made things a little more difficult. Every day here, was a challenge, both mentally and physically. We would wake up with the breaking of a new day, push forward, and it would be dark before we stopped. The most debilitating thing to do, was check the distance traveled on the meter at the end of the day, because it was rarely anything more than 7kms. There was no cell phone signal. We ran out of cash, and had to trade cell phones, or anything worth something, in order to eat, and we ran out of water once, for 2 days. It wasn’t so much that there wasn’t any water around, but we just didn’t know where to find it, plus we were so intend on moving forward, that we forgot the basic rules of survival, and catching up dew with the tent. What was brilliant about this stretch of coastline was that after each grueling day, we could look around, and still be thankful for being where we were.
One of the reasons I love the Transkei so much, is because this was one of the truly mystical places along our way. We got stuck in the most hectic of places, and were destitute many times, but every time, out of nowhere, someone would appear, usually with a biblical name of sorts, to help us out of our predicament, only to disappear in the same mysterious way. The stretch between Mzamba and Port St Johns, is spectacular, untouched, and has an unbelievable energy. Most of our challenges were met here, especially those I set for myself. It was here that I realized that nothing is impossible. The transition in coming back to civilization was something we hadn’t anticipated. The simplicity, and ruggedness of the Transkei, weighed up against a busy East London, where electricity was something that happened with the flick of a switch, and water was available on tap. It took us a whole week to adjust to this change, and I would say this was because, once you go without something, you learn to appreciate the things you take for granted, and very few people understood this.
Craziest thing was the fact that we had to literally drag our bicycles through sandy beaches, carry them over mountains, and swim with them through river mouths. Keep in mind that our bikes weighed anything between 70 & 80kgs, depending on the amount of water we carried at any given time. Dante and Katryn were still puppies, so they couldn’t always keep up, and wanted to remain in their baskets, which made things a little more difficult. Every day here, was a challenge, both mentally and physically. We would wake up with the breaking of a new day, push forward, and it would be dark before we stopped. The most debilitating thing to do, was check the distance traveled on the meter at the end of the day, because it was rarely anything more than 7kms. There was no cell phone signal. We ran out of cash, and had to trade cell phones, or anything worth something, in order to eat, and we ran out of water once, for 2 days. It wasn’t so much that there wasn’t any water around, but we just didn’t know where to find it, plus we were so intend on moving forward, that we forgot the basic rules of survival, and catching up dew with the tent. What was brilliant about this stretch of coastline was that after each grueling day, we could look around, and still be thankful for being where we were.
One of the reasons I love the Transkei so much, is because this was one of the truly mystical places along our way. We got stuck in the most hectic of places, and were destitute many times, but every time, out of nowhere, someone would appear, usually with a biblical name of sorts, to help us out of our predicament, only to disappear in the same mysterious way. The stretch between Mzamba and Port St Johns, is spectacular, untouched, and has an unbelievable energy. Most of our challenges were met here, especially those I set for myself. It was here that I realized that nothing is impossible. The transition in coming back to civilization was something we hadn’t anticipated. The simplicity, and ruggedness of the Transkei, weighed up against a busy East London, where electricity was something that happened with the flick of a switch, and water was available on tap. It took us a whole week to adjust to this change, and I would say this was because, once you go without something, you learn to appreciate the things you take for granted, and very few people understood this.
