Being married to an after-hours endurance athlete, means a lot of road tripping to nice places, of which my South Africa has no shortage. So this weekend we went off galavanting to the Trans-Baviaans 24hr Mountain Bike Marathon where our team of four rode into the mountains, following dirt roads, single tracks, orienteering through the kloofs and slipping down snot-like mud downhill towards thick gravel and potholes. They started at 10h00 in the Karoo town of Willowmore and had 24 hrs to make to to Jeffreys Bay. They're allowed only a 1-person logistical support and the checkpoints, and none on the road. Our novices did quite well, considering one broke his chain in three places, and another had to be medevacked (but is now fine), and they're happy with their finish time of 14:40.
That was at 00h40 in the morning .
#imstillblearyeyed
That was at 00h40 in the morning .
#imstillblearyeyed
We, the Wives of Cyclists, did what the support team does and that is to take a long, slow drive, and pitstop at nice places along the route :-)
First stop was at The Heath, a favourite for good coffee on the the N2 and a nice spot to find some community project hooky:
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| Mmm...an idea for that basket or straw bag where the bottom corners are getting a bit...worn? |
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| Pretty clutches |
Onwards to Old Nick's Village, where I walked with my hands firmly tucked behind my back at Mungo's and just had time for a quick dash through on or two doors...
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| ...where I spotted the lady at Indalo working on these squares! |
By that time our boys' support vehicle reported a pitstop at a local church bazaar (fête) and lo and behold, it was just up the highway and 8 km off behind the mountain, so there we went!
The community of the tiny hamlet of Kareedouw hosts a Fietsfees (Bicycle Festival) during TransBaviaans weekend in the form of a bazaar on the church grounds:
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| How beautiful are these sandstone churches? |
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| Ja...we had to pose...me lurking in the back with the red scarf. |
As church bazaars go, there was some craft to be found, and spotted this beauty of a baby blanket:
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| Love the sandstone colours. I might be right in thinking this was done in Elle Premier Cotton DK, a beautiful mercerised cotton yarn. |
And again, beautiful work from a community craft project, and I walked away with new washpeg bag and these potholders for me and my sisi:
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| Some shwe-shwe brightness for my kitchen, with crochet in Elle Premier Cotton |
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| These hand-embroidered proteas will be making their way to Ireland |
A most enjoyable, tiring weekend, with very little of my own hooky being done!
Will catch up, hoping for a quiet morning :-)
Will catch up, hoping for a quiet morning :-)
4 comments:
Love love love the proteapotholders. Lovely post.
Nice to read... Recognisable how you walked by that place Mungo's with your hands behind your back, haha... I don't know that place but I also have to restrict myself sometimes when it comes to yarn and stuff :-)
So great that you spotted all the crochet. Inspirational pictures..
beautiful findings!!!!
xxxx Ale
Thank you for sharing your travels - I enjoyed this post sooo much. I love the way you are always on the lookout for crochet and also have such an experienced eye to recognise and make well-educated guesses about the things that you found.
I love learning about your country. Some of your words are new to me; e.g. 'shwe-shwe' and 'kloof'. Could the latter be a cliff or a gorge?
Your photos are beautiful and I am glad that you were not too shy to allow your good self to be in one of them. It is important to make the most of these journeys - a happy support team is a good support team!:-)
xxx
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