De Kelders

I woke up during the night feeling dehydrated as I hadn't left enough water in my bottle and didn't want to disturb Often sleeping in the cab by getting more water from the truck. I therefore slept fitfully with regular trips to the toilet. I got up at around 7.30am, had a well needed hot shower and shave, and was treated to a lovely breakfast of fried potatoes and beans prepared for use by Jemma and her partner Grant. The combination of the hearty breakfast and plenty of water helped me to overcome my dehydration hangover. After a leisurely breakfast, we all walked up to the town to buy some lunch in the supermarket. We returned with the idea to eat our lunch and go for a walk along the coast, but the intense sun caused us to wait until later in the afternoon and spent the next few hours resting and writing in the shade overlooking the sea before having a short nap in my wimdblown, open tent.
At about 3.15pm I decided to take a walk along the coast now that the full intensity of the sun had passed. This stretch of coastline had a very varied ecology. I had only been walking for a few minutes when I ran into a beautifully patterned and very large puff adder already moving away into the carpet of bushes that grew on either side of the path. I think the adder heard my footsteps and moved away. I was fortunate I didn't encounter this highly venomous snake head on as I was within a few feet of it. I continued down the path a bit more wary of what was ahead of me on the path now. The coastline was very rugged and rocky with large rolling waves pounding the rocks and throwing up white spray. It reminded me of walking along the coastline at home in Devon and Cornwall and I felt connected with the surrounding nature and in my element. I passed a large tidal pool but sadly had not brought my swimming shorts with me. The path was well made with wooden bridges over sections of the coastline where the sea came underneath. I eventually reached a parking area with good information boards about the local ecology. Ob the rocks in front of the car park was the impressive sight of thousands of cormorants sitting in lines along the rocks and filling the surrounding sea with bobbing long necked forms. I continued on around this beautiful coastline. Over the large bay you could see the huge range of mountains that lime the garden route. I saw a fur seal frolicking and fishing in the kelp filled seas, before heading back the way i had come. On the way back, I walked out onto the jagged rocks so that the waves came in around me and I could see the through the cylindrical holes made by the large rolling waves as they rose onto the shore. I collected a couple of intact shells to take home with me as natural souvenirs of this beautiful place.
I returned to the camping area and chatted with my fellow travellers while Jemma and Often cooked us a very nice dinner of pork chops, potatoes and my favourite broccoli. We ate heartily as the sun slowly descended towards the sea. After dinner I walked down to the shore and out onto the rocks to watch the sunset. Around me were hundreds of small seagulls preparing to roost on the rocks for the night. Occasionally, they would fly up into the air silhouetted by the setting sun. It was a beautiful scene of nature and I felt deeply connected to all the life iaround me. I then had a moment of clarity where I knew that I wanted to commit myself to becoming a nature artist.
I returned to the camping area as the sky turned salmon pink. Venus glittered in the sky above the sea and the stars began to appear with the Orion constellation directly above. We all talked for a while before retiring to our tents. I looked through some of the photos of our journey and reminisced about all the natural wonders I had seen. I then fell to sleep with the rhythmic sound of the waves and the strong wind flapping my tent. It had seemed that all the elementals of nature had been with me that day.Read more