Report back on the Five Assegaais Hike in August 2014

By Dean McCleland in Hiking, Personal 1 Comment

Deterred by blustery winds and icy cold conditions combined with a huge dollop of lassitude meant a truncated hike. Unlike the Quo Vadis Hiking Club of yore where despite the inclement weather or raging floods, the members would embark upon a hike with alacrity, it would not so be on this occasion. Never in the annals of the Club did I believe that such lassitude would prevail.

Never before could the Quo Vadis have been accused of disinclination to get up let alone hike. The disinterest was palpable on Saturday morning. Everybody procrastinated. With an icy blustery wind scything through the huts, nobody dared to rise. Even though my sleeping bag was rated to minus five, I was shivering. I dozed fitfully aware of the cold at all times. Having endured an uncomfortable night when I would awake every few hours due to the penetrating cold, I was not over enamoured to get moving. Inertia pervaded us all.

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Hiking with the Lions in the Kruger Park

By Dean McCleland in Hiking, Personal 0 Comment

Hiking through the Kruger National Park provides a close-up view of nature. If the truth be told, this is the correct way to observe nature.

There are two sacred rules when entering the Kruger National Park: never leave one’s vehicle after exiting the camps and never walk in the bush. In contrast, on the walking trails through the Kruger Park, all such safety rules are ignored in their entirety during the hike.

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Gallery of Andrew Royal’s photos of the 2013 Orange River Trip

By Dean McCleland in Hiking 0 Comment

All of these superb photos were taken by Andrew Royal, Malcolm Royal’s son and co-canoeist in the epic 2013 Orange River Trip where the pair managed to capsize on every rapid no matter how insignificant it was.

Of course they claim that rather than capsizing, they were deliberately bailing so as to cool off in the water.

Few of the other canoeists accepted this story but rather described the explanation as codswallop or something more uncouth.

I will let you be the judge of the veracity of that vignette.

 

Other Galleries of Stunning Photographs:

 

Photos taken at just the Right Moment

http://thecasualobserver.co.za/photos-taken-just-right-moment/

 

The World’s Most Beautiful Places

http://thecasualobserver.co.za/worlds-beautiful-places/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arnold Paikin: Showcasing one of Quo Vadis’ Self-effacing Selfless Hikers

By Dean McCleland in Hiking, Personal 0 Comment

Imagine this scenario. You are on the fourth day of a hike. By now one craves something special, anything different from smash and bully beef and possibly – heaven help us – perhaps an unexpected treat. At that moment one of your co-hikers produces a skillet from their pack together with a pancake mix. At first one believes that one is daydreaming but even the smell is too real for a dream.  Arnold could have charged us R10 a pancake but instead he made us all a few pancakes each.

Such is the temperament of fellow hiker Arnold Jonathan Paikin, a considerate selfless friend and co-hiker. In fact the best adjective to describe Arnold’s signature trait is solicitous which means to be characterized by or showing interest or concern.

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Never Deprive an Ardent Rugby Supporter from Watching the Final

By Dean McCleland in Hiking, Personal 0 Comment

The bookings for all of the year’s hikes are all made at the beginning of the year. Allowance is made in their timing for events such as the Comrades, the Two Oceans and the Argus as many members participate in these events but never for a Sports Final. But woe betide us when an ardent Hiker and a Rugby Fanatic is forced to choose between the two.

This was one such hike where this dilemma arose but little was I aware of the looming travails and what it would take to view the test match despite being in the middle of the bush far from any television set. At least they could have provided some prior warning as they schemed and plotted their nefarious stratagems and communicated in ciphers.

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Kurt Radzom: Celebrating one of Quo Vadis’ Finest Hikers

By Dean McCleland in Hiking, Opinion Pieces, Personal 0 Comment

Quite frankly by rights Kurt Radzom should have accepted a formal leadership position in Quo Vadis on George Malan’s hasty departure from the Club after the 120km Amatola Hike in 1989. Instead I naively accepted the role. Not that it conferred a large stipend or prestige, but insofar as the duties were involved, it was more akin to that of an Executive Secretary’s role.

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Report Back on the 2013 Orange River Canoe Jol

By Dean McCleland in Hiking 0 Comment

What a superb canoe trip! Personally I rate it as the best such excursion for a number of reasons especially for the personal gratification that the Cameron/McCleland team experienced in NEVER capsizing not even once during the five days much to certain attendees’ chagrin. As always, the main reason for such an agreeable trip was undoubtedly the camaraderie amongst all the guys. That factor alone is what indubitably makes Quo Vadis Hiking Club such an exceptional Club.

Notwithstanding that, it was not all beer and braais as we experienced two hard paddling days due to flat water and gusting head-winds but more on that later. At least we have a legitimate claim when we declare that it was not all plain sailing (sic) and that we had to do some exercise!

Amongst other things when one is paddling down the Orange, one has to learn a number of things apart from how to paddle – and rapidly. One also has to assimilate a new language, the unintelligible risible language of the Gariep River People. On previous excursions we had commenced learning the vocabulary. Everyday words such as sun and wind could not be uttered. There were Verboten! Banished from our lips. Instead they were replaced by the avant-garde words “spike” and “spoekasem”.

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The 1988 Wild Coast Trail – 25 year Retrospective Report – Part 5: The old & the future South Africa collide

By Dean McCleland in Hiking 3 Comments

Throwing down the gauntlet, Mike & Kurt were gone. With their long strides – Mike because of his long legs & Kurt, well, because of his long strides – they easily increased the gap between George & I. I strained to keep the gap as small as possible but to no avail. They steadily drew ahead. I could almost hear the strains of Straus’ Radetzky March that Kurt was humming to himself. Eventually I consoled myself with the fact that as the first of the team into Coffee Bay, they would have to resolve the transport issue which now became the focus of our concerns. It was upper most in all our minds at this juncture.

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