May 11th Kenton-on-Sea

We made good time to Fort Beauford, crossed the Victoria bridge and took a short walk on what looks like a hiking trail, probably isn't, back on the road to Grahamstown, came in on the old road through the squatter camps, donkeys in the bins, litter everywhere, did not indear me to this University town, we saw some nice Church buildings but lots of squalor and kept going, found a nice place on the way out of town to stop for a long walk up the mountain side before getting back on the road to Port Alfred.

The trip to Grahamstown was truly beautiful, always mountains in the distance as a backdrop, rolling green hills, lots of trees, the prettiness of it all, there is no erosion in these hills like the the Transkei and Ciskei had, lots of lovely picnic spots well off the road, the road snakes around the mountains with sheer drops and magnificent views, the road to Port Alfred was even better, higher up and lots of snake turns down into the valley and to sea level, wow it is certainly great to be back in the beautiful Cape, they know how to do things properly here.

We stopped for a meal in Bathurst , about 15km from Port Alfred, a pub and country meal establishment, had about 16 people drinking outside that turned out all to be family members, ordered steak, egg, chips and veggies, got cold mushy veggies, 10 chips, dry egg and a cold, tough raw steak, divided it up in 4 and gave it all to the dogs, I ate the chips, paid my R58 bucks and hit the road, yet again hungry as hell, not winning on the food front at all, should have known not to order steak.

Coming into Port Alfred it looks about 10 times bigger than when I was last here, could not find the beach, the river is taken over by an upmarket housing estate which means plebs like us cannot get to it, finally ended up in the arse end of town on a lonely beach with lovely sand dunes, windblown but deserted, so we finally managed to get out of the camper and go for a long walk on the beach and the dunes, 200km in the camper is too long for me and definately too long for the dogs.

Unfortunately we did not find anything to make me want to stay the night, so I bought milk, yet more fuel, and hit the road again, this time only as far as Kenton-on-Sea and what a lovely little town, and the most stunning beach which a local lady directed me to, she said you can't take your dogs their though, well we ended up , again, on a deserted beach and by 5pm half the town was down there along with their pooches big and small, so my four fitted right in.

The dogs loved the beach, the sand, the ball, the wind, the time out the camper and especailly the fact that we have no more driving to do today.

I phoned Gloria and made arrangements to go and see her in the morning in Port Elisabeth, hope to find someone who sells Pro Pac and an XD card for my camera, I am very grateful to Lorraine for finding me the one I have, but I can only take 33 pictures and then I have to get out the computer to download them before I can take any more, so I would love to get at least a 64 meg card so I can take at least 120 pics before needing to download.

Have not been able to get a connection so hope that will happen in PE.

We moved from the beach to a little green patch behind the carpark that says 'braai area' so we will braai here for the night, a bit windy but the wind has blown all the clouds away and we can get very cosy in the camper so the wind should not bother us, I do need a bucket bath though and the carpark in front of me is well lit so not sure where I will go for that, but I'll make a plan, hate the sticky feeling of sea air and salt all over me.

The dogs have eaten, walked again on the beach and are now cuddled up and snoring in the camper while I write, I think they don't realise what well travelled, lucky dogs they are.

All in all not a bad day considering the amount of travelling we did, way more than I want to be doing, but the more I travel the more I realise their isn't a lot I want to see and I am starting to get itchy and antsy and want to find a place to settle in and just grow my veggies, I think I'm past wanting to explore, too many idiots out there and lots of cruelty, squalor, poverty, paranoia and to be honest, I think I am happy just finding a plot and building what I have in my head, trying to learn from what others are doing is not going to help me at all, everyone does their own thing and their particular farms will always be different or have different weather patterns, Shanes place was great but I don't want to do the backpacker thing, nor have a lot of animals as I don't want to eat them, just chickens for eggs and goats for milk. I also want to do things my way which is how I will learn what works and what doesn't, so I am probably going to start heading in straight lines and not worry about missing out on all the sites I had originally planned on seeing, the dogs will be pleased.

We will still have to go past Blaaukrantz bridge though as I need to see if I will have the courage to do the highest bungi jump in the world.

But for now life is comfortable, money is disappearing at a fast rate, petrol is twice what I had budgeted as is food and camping, but I guess that will sort itself out, I need to start putting my name out amongst the charities that work with the people of the Northern Cape, one of them will sponsor me to start a permaculture farm for a community of needy souls, I just want the souls to be Bushman ones. - We will see................ Night