Old Biscuit Mill & Stellies

Had quite an adventurous Saturday. We visited the Old Biscuit Mill in Salt River in the morning. We took our time at each stall, tasting everything that was available and buying a few goodies at every other stall. The team's tally included things like:

• Honey and mustard pork sausages
• Champage and oysters
• Coffee
• Pancakes
• Hot Chocolate (Melted Dark Chocolate)
• Port
• Gluhwein
• Olive and Aubergine Pesto
• Creamed Honey
• Hamba Kakule T-Shirt
• Expresso Bean and Egyptian Rose Chocolate
• Butter chicken

We then motored off to Stellenbosch to find an estate to go taste some wine. Neethlingshof was open and had an available spot. We had a lively host who, along with Brian our resident Spelling B champion, kept us entertained for another few hours tasting various wines and trying to pronounce Gewurtstraminer.


We moved from there in good spirits to Kleine Zichte for more tasting. I picked up a bottle of their Shiraz which is one of my favourites. From there we caught the end of the rugby at 'The Forum'. This is situated opposed the Kleine Zichte estate, and has several projector screens up for games. The rugby was rather dismal, as was their food, but it was a good laugh observing all the locals in their element.

Greyton to Mcgregor

Team Warburg embarked on another of their infamous hikes this last weekend. We set off from the quaint town of Greyton en route Mcgregor and back. The hike begun with a river crossing and rather steep climb up to 'breakfast rock'. From there it was a slow meander through the mountains up to the Mcgregor hut.

The weather was fantastic. Eric and Marcelle set a brisk pace while team Smallbones took up the rear taking plenty time to admire the view and keep themselves hydrated. We stopped at Oakes falls for a quick dip and a sandwich. The water was pretty icy and only a few were brave enough to jump in.



As we exited the valley and neared the hut, we walsed past a group listening to the rugby on the radio. Heiden pulled out his cellphone, tuned in, turned it up to full volume and broadcast the game to the group. In between coming and going to shower and using fire grids and various other metal objects for aerials, we managed to catch the last two drop goals and were all pretty stoked that the boks managed to clinch victory so lose to the end. Sarah wanted to know who was playing.

As we were a rather large bunch, we decided to make a fire in the middle of the kraal as opposed to the fireplace which was looking rather small. We had a lot of chicken to get through and there simply wasn't space. Everyone took turns doing little jobs for dinner which included, boerewors, pototaoes and butternut. At around 11pm everyone, bar 3 ,had gone to bed and the chicken was yet to cooked. The brave few tried a few drumsticks after that and decided it was finally cooked and good enough to go with a little mayo for brunch the next morning. The second batch was going to make it.

The wind picked up a little on the morning of the return journey, but the moment we descended from hut level it dissapeared the stroll to Oakes Falls was rather pleasant. With a little encouragement from Heiden, I decided to jump off the top of the waterfall down into the pool. Heiden went first and I followed him in from a slightly different position. It was a fair fall (6/7m) which required some trajectory away from the rock face. I didn't even notice the cold this time as I was quite stoked after I came up safely :]

We stopped for lunch at 'breakfast rock', whipping out the last of the chocolate and left over snacks. Due to one or two 'injuries' we took the jeep track home as opposed to the mountain path which proved a little quicker.

I managed to take some snaps with my new nokia, most of which were inside the hut of the breakfast and lunch team. Anyways , thanks to Erik for organising a fantastic weekend.

Kasteelpoort

So what were you up to on Sunday Morning? I must admit, when some nutcase came up with this 'run over the mountain' idea on Saturday evening, I was pretty sure it was the booze talking. After some smack talk and a lil nougat semifreddo at Die Wijnhuis, we separated the men from the limpies, and made plans to meet up at Top Gate at 8am the next morning.

Through the mist three eager adventurers emerged, equipped with camel backs and rain jackets, to be greeted in awe by a group of comrades trainees on their wind down routine for the race in 2 weeks time.

We bolted through the Kirstenbosch gates, whizzing past the guard with a smile and a determined catch me if you can look and headed on up to the start of Nursery Ravine. It was more of a hike than a run up that steep trail, which was fairly testing so early in the morning. The view from the top was fantastic, and the amount of water rushing down the ravine was tremendous.

From the top it was a quick traverse through the mud and across the dam walls to Kasteelpoort. We stopped for a quick banana and a photo shoot while gazing down through the clouds at the stormy seas hitting Camps Bay beach. After half sliding down the path, we arrived at Sandbar to warm jerseys and a hearty breakfast. An awesome run, an awesome trio, good times.

"What were you doing this morning?"

"You see this leg? 100% Pure Beef"

"Going so fast I could be flying"