Day 68 Clan William and onwards

Day 68 Clan William and beyond

Woke to a lovely sunrise and a clear but windy day, short beach walk, petrol and hit the road to Clan William, cruise control up to Graafwater and then got hit by the wind that nearly pushed us back to Lambert's Bay, wow that is powerful, we had a lovely change of scenery coming into town as the mountain range got closer and closer. Had Lorraine sourcing campsites for me but when I went to the info desk in town I discovered that none of them would take the dogs, so we will just have to find a spot tonight to hide ourselves in, there is a dam here so lets see if we can get through the gate and try there.

Stopped at the yellow Aloe for breakfast and free wi-fi but with the wind howling the wi-fi was not working, just my luck with internet access and this town is not big enough for a wimpy or any other form of wi-fi I can try and of course, 8.ta is a no go.

We drew some cash at Capitec, having spent our last cent on the best breakfast I've had in a long time, I still need some grease for my step, a vet for Pepi, a dentist for me and some food supplies that will keep us going for at least a week, once we head off down the coast on some iffy roads I have no idea when we are likely to hit civilization again and don't want to be left stranded because of bad planning.

We stopped in at Klawer but it was too small a town for all I want so we had a milkshake at the wimpy and enjoyed a long session of free wi-fi so I could update the blog a bit, albeit hastily, will have to make corrections and add pictures later, also got to watch about an hur of the SA vrs Pakistan game at the Champions league in England.

We ended up going to Vanrhynsdorp which I was not originally going to do, we were going to take the road to Vredendal from Klawer but I had a feeling that I wanted to see this town, a good feeling as it turns out. What a lovely drive out of Clan William along the N7 bordered by the Krakadouw mountain range and then an even more stunning drive from Klawer into a valley with what appeared to be a complete range of mountains surrounding us and completely shadowed by the Gif mountains on the left, what a stunning backdrop it made coming into town. We found a lovely campsite, basic but has electricity and a shower, as long as you use it between 6 and 8 if you want hot water. The owner is very friendly and had no problems with the dogs, only one other caravan here and it has a restaurant so I should be able to collar some locals tonight and get some local info and see if I can find out about what to expect when I get to Skaapvlei which is my last port of call before I start exploring the coastal roads. These apparently are shit poor excuses for roads or not so bad, depending on who you talk to.

We're pretty close to our end game here and the thought is scary, cannot even imagine how I intend to start building a farm in the middle of nowhere, but the universe has got me so far so I guess I have to keep trusting that the answers will come from somewhere.

Tomorrow I will attempt to tick all my boxes and get everything done so we can head to the coast the following day with everyone happy. The dogs are really tired of travelling, getting them in and out of the camper is a real hassle, especially Lani, she just wants to lie in the sun, Jos just wants to keep walking and Peps wants to do nothing, that dog is really sick, she is losing weight alarmingly, I've never seen her so skinny, will have to visit the vet tomorrow.

For tonight, we are comfortable, warm and out of the wind.

Woke to another bright day, no wind, this is strange weather for the middle of June in the Cape, have not got out of my shorts yet. Did have a sleepless kind of night trying to decide what to do with Pepi and all our options for moving, staying, travelling down the coast, stocking up etc....

Did nothing much of substance in the end, travelled around the town a bit, on the prowl, a little waystop is how the info lady described the town, only busy when the flowers are out, can be seen in as much a there is no business here of a personal nature, shopping centres, dentists, vet, doctors and so on, just a lot of guest houses and B&B's waiting for the influx in season, so just a stopping off point. I did have my leak in the campervan seen to, cost R210 to replace a pipe, bought some grease to fix my step, yet again, had some time at the library to catch up with the cricket score and some e-mails, bought some groceries and lots of juice as I have a very cold fridge having been on 220 volts for awhile now, 4 days makes this fridge into a real icebox, the very helpful lady at the info desk gave me details of the vet and the dentist in Vredendal, also spoke to her peer and asked about land ownership, also gave me info on Skaapvlei, turns out it is not huge town, just a huge camping place with no facilities, an arrangment with the farmer lets people go and ca,p their but they have to take everything they need with them, including water and toilets, that has changed my plans somewhat, I thought I was going into a fully serviced town, will have to rethink my strategy.

She did give me a very good idea and said I should tell my story to the local rag in Vredendal and maybe get myself a sponsor, either a farmer or the mining company that busses all it's people into work at Brand en Baai every day, maybe they will want to sponsor a permaculture farm.

Peps is still down in the dumps and alarmingly skinny but had a little more oomph today and chased the cat, ate a bit and walked with us albeit like a geriatric. Hot walk up hte hill toaday, tuckerd us all out, lay outised on the blanket and finished my book, quite a lazy day in the end.

Did talk to my neighbour, he is up here working for a few days, for Afrox and heads to Springbok next, likes his job as it gets him travelling up and down the coast, good life, he travels in the caravan with his wife.

Went to dinner at the restaurant in the campsite, a popular one it seems always busy, had a simple garlic roll, not great and three vegetables, better but over spiced.

Home to let the dogs out of the van, and to take them for another walk they acted like I had deserted them instead of just letting them sleep comfortably for 30 minutes or so. Wrote out 8 pages of my story to give the vredendal rag tomorrow.

Very mild night, sitting in t-shirt and knickers, had to close the door on the mossies, they are infecting the camper, did the same thing last night, not sure why we have them in such a dry place, but we do. Dogs are all snoring on the bed, no more novels to read, will have to get into my permaculture handbook. 

coming into clanwilliam

camping site in vanrhynsdorp

lovely sunset in vanrhynsdorp