Barry Armitage » Blog Archive » Wild Coast Recce: the start
Wild Coast Recce: the start
November, 2012 | 1 Comment
We are riding a recce of our newly launched Wild Coast Adventure Trail, a 200km skedaddle down this magnificent coast from Port St Johns to Kei Mouth. We rode this stretch of coast on our charity ride Into the Unknown and knew that we had to share it with the world as a commercial trail, so that other people could get a taste of the incredible things that we have been so privileged to experience.
As Joe and I left Durban for Port St Johns the rain started and by the time we reached the somewhat scrappy but charming little town the rain was thundering down. We had planned to camp for the night but needed to revise this as we are simply not cut out for a drenched night in a small polyester bag held up by some fancy whippy sticks!
We dealt with the most pressing issue first: where to watch the Springboks beat England in the last rugby test match of the year. We did our bit for national pride, found a bar, drank beer and swore loudly at the utterly incompetent referee who clearly wanted England to win. He almost had his way but our boys, struggling under his competence as England’s sixteenth man, just managed to magic a win. First problem of the afternoon was sorted!
The second problem was quickly solved when one of our beer swilling bar buddies suggested the Jungle Monkey backpackers just up the road. The place was full: it was Saturday night and it was live music night! This could be good we thought and we were right; a band of local youngsters blew us away and we rolled into bed late happy and with much wine in the system!
The drums were still playing in my head when I woke in the morning but there was no time to dawdle; our horses, crew and client were on the road from Kei Mouth and we needed to make sure that arrangements were in place for their arrival. We had a well laid plan but once again realized that it was…well…a rubbish plan, and scrabbled around to make a better one with the horses accommodated in an impromptu paddock at a picnic site overlooking the beach next to our start point, Umngazi River Bungalows.
The drums were still playing in my head when I woke in the morning but there was no time to dawdle; our horses, crew and client were on the road from Kei Mouth and we needed to make sure that arrangements were in place for their arrival. We had a well laid plan but once again realized that it was…well…a rubbish plan, and scrabbled around to make a better one with the horses accommodated in an impromptu paddock at a picnic site overlooking the beach next to our start point, Umngazi River Bungalows.
I got that little trill of excitement when Julie-Anne Gower, our partner, in this little caper rolled in with two horse boxes carrying Tara, Tenna-sea, Reign and Tamzin. She also had with her our brave client Irishman Victor Kee, who will hopefully be getting the ride of his life over the next week, and Nicky Hoseck, who guides trails for our partners Wild Coast Horseback Adventures.
Having suffered the considerable charms of Umngazi River Bungalows for the night, we loaded the back-up vehicle, saddled up, set off, and crossed the shallow Umngazi River to canter down the hard sand of the beach beyond with everyone still on board by the end: the perfect way to start our 200 km journey!
Having suffered the considerable charms of Umngazi River Bungalows for the night, we loaded the back-up vehicle, saddled up, set off, and crossed the shallow Umngazi River to canter down the hard sand of the beach beyond with everyone still on board by the end: the perfect way to start our 200 km journey!
We hit the Umngazana River after a few kilometres of trotting through the evergreen Wild Coast hills; this short but deep swim was a great way to introduce everyone to the bigger swims ahead.
Day one of this trail is short, just 20km, but the terrain en route to The Kraal, our overnight venue at the idyllic settlement of Mpande, is challenging. This horseback ride is an adventure, and the negotiating the tracks on the steep wooded hills and valleys after coming off the beach makes you feel like an old world explorer. The reward at the end is taking in the spectacular view of Mpande from high up on a headland, before plunging down through a tunnel of beautiful coastal forest to a ridiculously beautiful river mouth direct from the set of Blue Lagoon, just without the topless Brooke Shields unfortunately!
On arrival at The Kraal, after settling the hoses into their paddock, we sloped up to the shabeen to get a cold beer; salty and thirsty having just had a quick swim in the lagoon. The beer which had came out of a freezer was, as you would expect, icy cold and we spent an hour sitting around drinking beer and chatting to the locals before wandering back down the road, extra quarts of beer swinging from our hands, to prepare ourselves for our dinner of a delicious local fish curry. My tent called soon after dinner and I gave up on a fabulous day to get the rest I needed for our challenging second day.
Read the next instalment here
Read the next instalment here
For more information on The Ride’s Wild Coast Adventure Trail go to: http://www.barryarmitage.com/expeditions/wild-coast-adventure-trail
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