24th July 08

Date: 24th July 08
Location: Betty’s Bay, South Africa
Weather: Clear blue skies and sunshine, 24°c
Status: Tent secure, Land Rover topped up, Bre happier but ill, Ben just plain ill…well man flu!

Tent had dried out well with the offshore wind overnight so packed up early, scoffed some breakfast down and hit the road towards Cape Town.

A beautiful drive along the coast on roads which had been hewn out of the steep mountain sides and towered above the crashing Atlantic Ocean all the way along to Gordon’s Bay. What a collection of architects dreams with designer houses all along the shoreline which must have set the owners back a pretty penny, perfect material for Grand Designs.

Drove through the municipalities of Muzinberg and Kommetjie and found our little backpackers ‘Chill and Surf’ after asking some of the locals for directions. Settled in and decided to head out to Long Beach as I’d visited it previously and remembered it was a great location.

Took the kite out of the Colonel for the first time since I’d collected it from Nigeria where my sister Becky had very kindly arranged through her contacts at BG Group to have it delivered to, and finally after 2 months of sitting there I collected it from!!

Ahh that makes me think lots about my nephews Fin and Jacob who I haven’t seen for so long and miss terribly. Love to you both….

Made our way to the beach, had a chat with some of the locals in the car park about the mission and the buffalo, and then walked down to the long long sandy beach.

Awesome onshore wind which was superb for the 5m kite and it was a real effort to keep me on the ground as it applied enormous force to the taut strings, Bre and Alex both had a go which was so amusing as they both were dragged on their faces across the sand eating it as they went!

Stopped for an ice cream on the way home, cooked dinner and then to bed

End of day location: Kommetjie, South Africa
Distance covered: 160kms