Our Glencain-Kleinplaas circuit junket had
thirty runners, including four newcomers, for a moderately tough but scenically
rewarding run around the hills behind Glencain.
As usual we split into two groups the faster Klipspringers and the
slower Shongalolos.
In the past the leaders/navigators were briefed
on the route to be followed but in a country with 11 official languages and an
ancient one used on heraldic devices spoken by only a tiny fraction of our
population- margin of error with verbal briefings was too great. Anyway who pays attention to instructions
before an event? So in the interests of
clarity and brevity I carefully plotted out the route in Google Earth, added
markers at every conceivable point of confusion and then painstakingly crafted notes
linked to each waypoint with simple instructions such as “Go left” .
It shall remain a
mystery as to why then when the printed route guide clearly says “Go right
through gulley” the leaders of the Klipspringers decide to go left? And then by some superhuman feat of
reciprocalitus manage to pick up the planned route and then run in the reverse direction! Not sure who was most started when the two groups met- the Shongalolos, who were peacefully
trundling along enjoying a glorious spring morning’s outing, or the hot and
flustered leaders of the Klipspringers pounding
up the trail? Needless to say their navigation error was pointed out and they
dutifully followed the Shongalos back to the regroup point at the Lewis Gay
dam.
But the tale ends not there because over
the last 3 ks they managed to loose five of their group. by taking a unscheduled detour so deceiving
their unsuspecting sweep who kept dutifully to the route. Fortunately 3 turned up after a short while
and just as the Search & Rescue party was setting out the other two were
found tripping happily along.
Finally having all made it back to the cars
we had a very brief Red Tee award to Veronica Barnes and Felicity Garbers who
had just completed their 25th sortie. Veronica is one of the founder members of our
group while Felicity joins husband Neil who earned his red tee three weeks ago.
The proper route was only 14Kms but it would seem some of the Klipspringers added in an extra 2.
And it must be the Christmas season as Bony M are to be heard again
All of the best --Peter
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| Shortly after setting out running through the nature reserve |
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| Looking back with Table Mountain in the far background |
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| Overlooking Noordhoek with Hout Bay in the distance |
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| Klipspringers & Shongalolos |
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| Veronica & Felicity proudly show their hard earned red tees |
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| The wrong route |
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| The right route |
