The Great Garden Route Trek – Fifth Blog

Week 5 progress update from
Speedy Springbok …

Hello again trekkers. The miles are certainly flying by and to date we have completed nearly three full circuits with quite a few updates still to come in – a phenomenal effort! If you have made it to this point and are still in one piece, hearty congratulations.

Leaving Hout Bay and taking the scenic route over Chapman’s Peak, we descend towards Muizenberg on the warm Indian Ocean side of the Peninsula. From there it is north past Constantia (with its beautiful wine estates), between Table Mountain and Newlands (well known to cricket and rugby fans), past the University, then cutting east with the famous Groote Schuur Hospital on our left and out towards Somerset West. Even though it is a bit longer, we take the beautiful, winding coast road past Gordon’s Bay and round towards Kleinmond, a small seaside town with holiday houses and a small community of fishermen. Here we work with Alta van Wyk who heads up Siyabulela pre-school and oversees e’Pap feeding there and at a number of other pre-schools and creches in the community. There are few employment opportunities in the area outside of the tourist industry, which has been hard hit by the pandemic. As a result, many families are in a desperate situation. Alta loves teaching and has a great concern for the children and the community; even when the school had to close, she was able to arrange for the children to come to the school for a cooked meal and to receive e’Pap to take home. Here, as elsewhere, we have heard how the health and general well-being of the children have improved with a regular e’Pap breakfast.

From Kleinmond we take the short route back to the national road to emerge in “apple country”. A long and rather tedious journey follows before we skirt George and cut over the pass towards Wilderness. A stunning view greets us as we crest the hill at the top and see the Indian Ocean below. After winding our way down we zip through Wilderness to Sedgefield, where the e’Pap Children’s Feeding Project provides e’Pap breakfasts at a number of pre-schools. As I mentioned at the start, Peter and Shelley Godsell run this organisation from Knysna and what an amazing job they do with their team of 100 volunteers serving about 100 pre-schools and some primary schools. They cover Knysna, Sedgefield, Plettenberg Bay and recently they have found partners in George. The two bottom pictures on the right show the feeding in Sedgefield while the schools have been closed.

Well trekkers, only three days to go before we walk, run, cycle, swim and row into Knysna for the grand finale! Keep going – soon you’ll be able to rest those weary limbs. Next week will be the last blog which will include some special stories and special thanks.

Speedy Springbok

P.S. do watch the video below of children from Kleinmond thanking us in song in Afrikaans and Xhosa.

If you would like to read a bit more about our route from Cape Town to Sedgefield, click here.

To read Speedy Springbok’s fourth blog entry, click here.

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