Paternoster – 10 August

Welcome to Paternoster!

 

We ended up here after a long drive from Kamieskroon via different roads. The night we spent in  Kamieskroon  was memorably cold. Since I lost 24 kg I have an issue with my core temperature and that was certainly the case now. It was just incredibly cold with strong winds and low temperatures at night (2-3 degrees). Besides, it started raining, and then you know.

 

On Monday morning we continued to drive south on the N7 through Namaqualand. This is a kind of desert but not as we Dutch know it (sand hills) but one with rocks and occasionally some shrubs. This region is known for its flowers in August due to the rain. Now the Dutch are spoiled in flowers but it is nice to see yellow and white flowers in the desert and this will only get more beautiful in the coming weeks.

 

Tom called with a toilet problem, but that was quickly solved by the plumber at home.

 

We drove on to Clanwilliam where, the ‘veldskoentjes’ very well known for South Africa  are made. After doing some shopping (no wine due to women’s day, really), we found a place to sleep in the Cedar Mountains. A beautiful camping spot where we went for a walk. After 6 o’ clock, however, it got cold, very cold. Lisa had scored some wood at the manager’s and with that we lit a campfire. I put some rocks in there that Lisa used to warm up her feet. But it got so cold that at 7 pm, we just lay down on the bed to get warm.

 

Tuesday morning we looked at each other and, although we loved the mountains, we decided to rent a chalet for a few days to have some fun with our evenings. It is wonderful during the day in the South African winter but the nights are too cold for camping.

 

From Clanwilliam we left for Lamberts Bay on the coast and drove south, through the in blooming desert, to Elands Bay and Velddrif. A beautiful trip that took us along the railway line between  Sishen  and  Saldanha. My father had been sent to South Africa in 1974   to build a port in Saldanha where they wanted to export iron ore which was extracted in  Sishen  (near  Kuruman in northern South  Africa). We partly followed this railway line and we also came across an empty train.

 

Velddrif was a revelation to us. What a very nice and beautiful looking town this was. Everywhere tidy and nice and the same was true for the town of Vredenburg where we drove towards Paternoster. I’ll tell you more about that last place later, but Lisa knew this from her childhood. We sit here in a cottage by the sea and stay here until Friday to warm up and, in my case, wash myself. Actually, just don’t do anything!

 

The last few days, I’ve been sucking my left foot. Because of wearing sandals I suffered from cleft heel that became a bit worrisome due to my bare feet. Later I also got gout symptoms.

 

Today everything is perfectly healed.