Road to nowhere.

What a restless nights sleep. At bedtime (20h30) our bodies were a little tired from the trip and a glass or two of wine helped numb the mind a bit. We have a large bay window in the appartment with no curtains so the light shone on through, but it was curtains for us. I awoke somewhere in the middle of the night and was wide awake. It was slightly irritating to listen to the deep breathing of my adventure partner and not be able to fall asleep again for what seemed like hours.

Finally at 05h30 she awoke and we had both decided that this bed is just bliss to lie on. Almost like a magnet that refused to give you up to the morning routines. Somehow she fell asleep again pretty quickly and a hand on her shoulder was all it took to allow the Kabouters to let me wander into a deep slumber.  Roll on 08h30 and I felt like I had slept the whole night. Still the bed was unwilling to release it's hold on us, but after a bit of a lay in we broke free and headed for the kitchen and coffee. The filter coffee was a lovely strong brew and we decided to go to the Lidl (local supermarket) to do the groceries for the day. Our day would consist of a drive to the shops, brekkie, a walk through the local forest, lunch, an afternooner, a laze at the pool before dinner, the back gammon revenge match and probably another early night. There is no TV here and that to date has proved a real blessing. The word in general does not exist (Except in our direct personal experience).The Lidl here is pretty much a carbon copy of those in Holland and armed with a fresh bread and the rest we drove back home for breakfast and another lovely filter coffee.

Soon it was time to put on the hiking shoes and within minutes we were into the forest and the hills. Nothing like our flat landscape in Holland. Upsies and downsies we went. At a certain point I said to Ingrid, 'Imagine doing the Comrades marathon? It is this type of terrain (ups and downs) for 90 plus kilometers". Those Romans are CRAZY! (Speaking of the Comrades marathon, someone please give Bruce Fordyce this link). I watched a Facebook post of his about Vaccine damage (That is all that I have to say on that). 

Our destination was Hottentottendal (Or something that sounded like that). We had to leave the forest to go downhill for a kilometer to reach the village. Ingrid had suggested that we lunch in Hottentottensomething and then go back. The plans of mice and men.... Just before we decended to the Hottentotyness we sat on a bench under a tree and watched about 3 kites swirling around at a low height almost directly above us. Buzzards we call them. It was pretty impressive to see these okes glide along the airwaves and use their tail to flick, flack left or right with absolute ease as they rode a thermal or darted from one thermal to the next.

It was hot on the decent. 25 deg C so I was looking forward to an ice tea or an ice cream at a local establishment in the Hottentots. A church and about 50 houses was all that the Hotties had to offer, so it was back up the hill to the bench for a well deserved rest on the bench under the tree. Our journey back home took us on a circular route through the forest and we, to date, have not seen any of the wild life (Deer or Wild Boar). Our luck! How many times have we been to the Veluwe in Holland where these okes are also to be found yet we have yet to see them? Perhaps it is urban legend or they forgot to take down the signs saying that they exist....

Back home it was lunch and a bit of a catch up on the socials and to bed went Fred and co. That bed is surely a magnet, Herrlich! Bikini, Check! Off to the pool, a natural swimming pool.  Semantics. A pool where plants and soil etc clean the impurities. Good enoughto drink one could argue. We camped out under a tree and Glen finally got to start on that elusive book that he has been planning to read! Chapter one, sorted! Maybe a few more pages than that, but a begin has been made! (Call the papers!)  A little cooling off in the pond, as I refer to it, and Lary was as happy as toast!

I am guessing that the sun put the afternooner curse on us and it was lights out for a "small hour". It is pretty hot, but you do not hear me complaining, Iza African! Lekker man!!!  Shorts and no shirt, Sign me up!

I did help an old lady today who came walking down the road with 2 full bags of plastic refuse and a walking stick. I idled up to her and took the 2 plastic bags from her and carried them about 100m to the drop off point where she thanked me with DANKE. and off she went. I am guessing that this aunty was about 75+. Good on you Oma for being so fit at your age! NICE!

So now we are finished with our dinner here and in the region there are not many restaurants to go to so we cook in. Very tasty and nutritious! It is wind still and with the windows open we can heat the sound of different birds in the surrounding trees. Bees, yes we did see the bees. Cats, yes we did seed a cat who came and lazed under my chair at the pool, but after about 20 minutes he/she/it was up and off to chase a mouse or mole or something completely different.

The temperature is now pretty amicable. Time for a backgammon game. To be continued....

1-1! There is a God! Tomorrow is the re rematch! Who will come out on top of the leader board? 

Tonight we survived tilll 10pm ish. Time for that magnet and a full nights sleep. Tomorrow we embark on another adventure... Where? How?  What?