Barry Armitage » Blog Archive » Wild Coast Recce: day 5
Wild Coast Recce: day 5
December, 2012 | No Comments
We had had a bit of a party at The Haven. The pool table had beckoned and as is the norm when playing this game we had a few drinks or rather, a few more drinks! Victor treated us to a fit of his very special giggles kicked off by the recounting of a misunderstanding between him and Joe around Jacob Zuma that had happened while riding that day. A Xhosa man had walked past us on the beach wearing a t-shirt with the image of our president printed on it. Victor had greeted him in the only word of Xhosa that he knew “molo” and Joe said “Jacob Zuma” making note of the picture on the guys t-shirt! A ridiculous conversation ensued with Victor convinced that “Jacob Zuma” was the plural of the greeting “molo” and Joe not too quick to let on that it wasn’t! It had us all in stitches!
It rained extremely hard in the night and our tent leaked resulting in even more wet clothes. The rain eased slightly by morning but everything in the world was soggy.
We dithered before setting off undecided about whether to wear wet weather gear or not as the rain had eased up and we wanted to avoid that poaching feeling that a waterproof jacket gives when you are wet underneath, when the day warms a little and you are generating body heat from physical exertion. We decided to go without, carrying our jackets in our cantle bags.
The mighty Mbashe River was shallow and wide but our obvious crossing point was guarded by patches of sinking sand and we chose to cross at the mouth instead; it was over 200m wide at this point and I set out ahead of the others to make sure that there were no surprises in store. There weren’t and we all crossed without our boots hitting the water. Joe and I have ways feared the crossing of the mighty Mbashe but it has always been kind to us, allowing us to cross her sometimes formidable waters without incident.
After that we alternated fast exhilarating beach riding with long extended trots on winding paths into the ever flattening hills, able to get into good rhythm and maintain a steady pace; not too fast, good for the horses, and good for covering ground.
After that we alternated fast exhilarating beach riding with long extended trots on winding paths into the ever flattening hills, able to get into good rhythm and maintain a steady pace; not too fast, good for the horses, and good for covering ground.
This section of the trail feels very remote; we are still in the Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve and winding up some steep heavily vegetated hills desperate for some heavy grazing or a fire. We ploughed through this rampant greenery, me promising myself to bring a machete next time, before descending onto some very lonely beaches that seem never to have seen man. We then cut inland a bit riding through beautiful mature forest on well established tracks, and exited the reserve through the front gate.
Our next river crossing was what Joe and I call Bunker Boat House River or the Nqabara River, the spelling of which offers little suggestion of how it should be said unless you are a fluent Xhosa speaker. This is not one for Vincent’s fledgling Xhosa! The rain had started again with some intent so the swim across the Nqabara just added to our abject state of wetness. In this weather soggy was the new dry!
Our next river crossing was what Joe and I call Bunker Boat House River or the Nqabara River, the spelling of which offers little suggestion of how it should be said unless you are a fluent Xhosa speaker. This is not one for Vincent’s fledgling Xhosa! The rain had started again with some intent so the swim across the Nqabara just added to our abject state of wetness. In this weather soggy was the new dry!
The countryside flattens steadily towards our overnight stop at the holiday resort of Kob Inn and we were able to move through the landscape with an efficient rhythm even though the rain was chucking down. We had long since resorted to our foul weather gear as the temperature had dropped markedly and I was snug in my new bright coral red UVU jacketwhich breathes beautifully avoiding that dreaded poached feeling of most rain jackets.
The last river of the day was the Shixini, another spelling that defies the spoken word, and required just enough swimming to get us properly wet just in case the rain had missed some secluded spot. We were all looking forward to a hot shower, dry clothes and the comforts of a room at Kob Inn after a long 42km day. We were all in a buoyant mood though; there was just one more day to go of our Wild Coast Adventure, albeit our longest, and the horses were doing well.
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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