A
fairly warm winter up to now, certainly at Amber Valley anyway. The
lawns are still green, and needing a trimming every few weeks. With the warm winter, the veld
has taken longer to dry, so fire break burning has been a bit delayed all over
the place. Having led two hikes at Kamberg this last week, EKZN Wildlife Staff have been hard
at work trying to complete the last of the fire breaks. The one good thing is that so far there have
been no run away fires. This time last
year, the berg had been well and truly burnt by run away fires. If you
do plan to go to the berg for a day, just check at the office on the fire
situation in the area. For those taking overnight hikes this is even
more important.
Club Activities
As
usual the club hikes to Mountain Shadows, and Keith and Margaret’s cottage have
been well attended. The Park Rynie week end was also well attended. Some
day hikes have had good turnouts, others not so good. The week end to Highmoor
was cancelled due to lack of hikers.
Club Evenings
Again
we have had good speakers, on interesting topics; unfortunately the attendance
by members over the last 3 months has been rather poor. Cold weather surely cannot be to blame?! If
members feel that we need more of a variety of speakers, please let us have your
suggestions, and a contact number of the sort of speaker you feel may draw
members to the club socials.
We
ask you again, please support the clubs activities.
Our “Thoughts and Good Wishes” from the club are
still with Chantel as she recovers her health and fitness.
BIG EVENTS DONE
Cycle Ride
Allison’s
dream of riding by bike from Pietermaritzburg to
Rhodes was successfully completed by everyone. We congratulate Allison on all her hard work
in organizing the trip, and our fellow club members for the many kilometers of
cycling they put in prior to the ride. For
those of you who are not at the club to get this newsletter, you would have
missed out on the slide/video presentation of this trip.
Grande Traverse 2008
WELL
DONE and CONGRATULATIONS to Keith Ashton, Irene Wisdom, Terresa
Whitfield, Christine Bro and
Also
of note to be recorded in the club’s history books is that
Another
remarkable feat started in July 2004, when a group from our club did the Amatola Trail. This
was also planned by Allison, although not a club member then, she involved
Keith, Margaret and I to hike with a group of St Johns ladies to do this hike. I must say, this is a very hard hike indeed. Amongst the first time hikers were Chantel and
Teresa. I remember Teresa in tears at times, hated
heights, tired, sore and not loving every second of it. Four short years later, two Grand Traverses under
her belt, and a lot of other hikes as well.
Well done Teresa.
Club Numbers
Club
numbers continue to grow, this is good news, as the more members we have the
more the subs grow, and this helps with the club finances. It may
also mean that despite escalating costs of running the club, subs may be able
to remain at a low level. This will all
come out at the AGM
CLUB AGM
Please
diarize the AGM THAT WILL BE HELD ON THE EVENING OF AUGUST the 19th at our
usual club venue.
The
club will be supplying snacks and eats as usual, as well as limited drinks .
Please feel free to bring your own drinks as well. More
info will follow.
Please
make an effort, diaries the date and spend a relaxing evening with members of
your club.
REMEMBER
We
need nominations for committee members; we need new people with new ideas to
take us forward into the next year. Please
consider who you feel should be on the committee, speak with them, twist their
arms BEFORE the AGM, get their consent, fill in the Nomination Paper attached
to the Notice and Agenda, and bring it to the AGM, or post it to the Secretary
before the AGM. It is your club, your input is needed to keep
it going.
See
you all at the AGM on the 19th of August 2008.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Members are reminded of the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING scheduled for Tuesday, 19 August 2008 at the
Church of the Ascension Hall, Brindy Road, Hilton
commencing at 19h00 (see Notice of Meeting and Agenda). The meeting will be preceded by registration
and followed by a Finger Supper which will be subsidised by the Club, while the
cost to members will be R25 per head.
In order to facilitate catering members intending to attend the AGM are
requested to advise Irene Wisdom on 082 575 4978 or by e-mail on irene@pid.co.za
by 13 August latest. Please also note
the Nomination Form attached to the Agenda.
Should you wish to nominate a member to serve on the committee for the
forthcoming year please complete and bring along to the AGM or mail/e-mail to
Club Secretary, Keith. Thank
you in anticipation.
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
Members are reminded that Annual
Subscriptions are due 1 August 2008.
Please bring your cash/cheque book along to the AGM to renew your
membership for the coming year. This
will obviate the necessity of having to send reminders to members in this
regard. Thank you for your co-operation.
When this hike
was advertised, I think we all thought we were in for a pleasant easy stroll
around a housing estate. WRONG!!!
Margaret
had mapped out the route so efficiently and thoughtfully, that we had a good
few hills to puff up and a nice hard 9-10ks under our belts. Amber Valley provided us with beautiful
views over Umgeni Valley as we walked on winding,
freshly cut paths though grasslands where we saw Reedbuck, a Red Hartebeest and
a Blesbok family with its newborn.
Dave
Sclanders has planted many indigenous trees and his own garden is abuzz with
bees.
We
ended our hike at Keith and Margaret’s lovely spacious cottage where they
provided us with a sumptuous spread of freshly baked cakes and bikkies and beverages to suit all tastes taken on their
huge verandah where we lolled comfortably, enjoying their view.
What
a perfectly lovely day-with-a-difference –
THANK YOU Margaret for all the work
you put in to give us such an interesting informative hike.
BRIAN’s ROCKY BAY
Roseanne
Dix
13-16
June 2008
14 adults 2 children
Rocky Bay is an extremely popular campsite, proven by
the solid wall of luxury caravans with obligatory satellite dishes. However, having negotiated our way through
the maze, we located our private camping space --- just metres
from the sea and with an unspoilt view all the way to
the horizon.
Saturday: We walked to Pennington (a round walk of about 14ks)
in search of scones, but had to settle for huge slices of delicious cake and
ice cream. A most welcome treat after
the plod in soft beach sand.
Margaret and Melody did an excellent job of cleaning
up the sandy coves which were littered with bottles and fisherman’s trash.
Our Saturday night braai at
Bushy’s luxurious tent was warm and friendly with the
usual chat between good friends, which is what Midlands Club epitomises.
Sunday: Most of us drove to Vernon Crookes’ where Brian led us on a winding path though
grassland and forest. The aloes are in
full bloom, showing off their vibrant shades of red and orange.
There were baby zebras, still in their woolly baby
coats, grazing unconcernedly next to their Mums.
The two young children were so good and hiked very
strongly with Brian’s innovative ideas keeping them from boredom.
Sun Evening, another braai
made special by the donation of very large hunks of fish (WAHOO?) from a
friendly neighbour.
Monday: home time again, but this time the tedium of breaking
camp was lifted by the magnificent display of dolphin and whales playing with
what must have been the remains of the Sardine Safari. The gleaming backs
of the dolphins arching through the waves and plumes of spray from
the whales was a magnificent sight.
Another beautiful weekend blessed with the type of
perfect weather which makes us all Proudly South African.
A very special weekend with a very special leader. Thank You Brian for all your hard work in
making this weekend such a pleasure.
HINTS FOR HIKERS
The most enjoyable way to hike is to take it slow and
easy. Set your own pace and forget
about keeping up with the others if they are walking a lot faster than you feel
comfortable. It is preferable to hike with
people who walk at the same pace as yourself if this is at all possible. Walking too fast we often forget why we are
in the mountains or just out in the country fresh air. We miss the opportunity to study the birds
and animals, both big and small, the trees and the flowers, the chance of a
cooling dip in a mountain stream and generally just to chill out.
Blisters can be a huge problem and spell disaster for
a hike, but they are preventable. One
suggestion is to wear two pairs of socks.
Another is, before wearing new boots for the first time, rub dry soap on
the heels of the outer socks and soften the boot heels with polish or
a suitable leather treatment. Should you be unfortunate enough to feel a
blister starting, immediately cover it with a LARGE piece of plaster. If the blister has already formed cut a hole
the size of the blister and stick the plaster around the blister. This should reduce rubbing in the affected
area. Broken blisters must be kept
clean to prevent becoming infected, so always carry something suitable like Dettol or Savlon cream.