A Walk from Melkbos to Saldanha July 1972:
Story and Pix

Finally, on 20th July 1972, the Thursday before the walk weekend, at 18h28, Fr. Ian Eve dropped Don and me off at the beach, just North of Melkboschstrand, called Van Riebeekstrand. I had taken some advice from one of my fellow-councillors, Thys Louw, who was a very experienced walker - I had smeared my feet with Vaseline, put on a pair of normal woollen socks and over that pulled on a pair of my new "Norwegian" mountaineering socks.   The Vaseline was to prevent chafing and blisters.   I was to do this every morning before setting off on the next stage. I think we must have pitched our 2-man "pup" tent at about 21h00 that evening.   Don, who was the experienced "outdoorsman", had brought along a tiny metal fold-up "stove" and lit "Blitz" bricks under this: this was how we warmed our tinned goods and heated water for our Ovaltine!!  We got into the sleeping bags fully-clothed, having just removed our boots.   It was bitterly cold and when we woke up next morning the inside of the tent was wet with our condensed "breath"!! Sometimes I found it difficult to "tune out" the noise of the constantly-crashing waves on the shore on our left.  Don and I would chat animatedly for a while and then we would perhaps not say a word for the next few kilometres.   Some time mid-afternoon on the Friday afternoon (I think) we ran out of fresh drinking water. After a distance we clambered over a farm fence and headed towards a cement dam at a windmill and replenished our cans - brack water had never tasted so good!!!.  We got back over the fence quite smartly as a small herd of oxen had started approaching in (to us) a rather menacing way!! In spite of his outdoors experience, Don had made the mistake of wearing a pair of canvas "PF-type hockey boots".   At one stage we had to walk for quite a distance over rocks about the size of tennis balls and here Don almost "came a cropper" a couple of times!!   I was fortunate - with my 2 pairs of socks and a pair of Army boots my feet and ankles were very well "strapped". But, apart from running out of water, being chased (we believed) by a herd of oxen and Don's problems with his feet, the walk was uneventful and we were blessed with wonderful weather. On Saturday 22nd July, late morning, by prior arrangement, Thys Louw, George van der Bijl and Stan Gilham, three of our fellow church councillors, met us at Yzerfontein.   This was arranged just to check in case we needed anything.   This was of course years before cell phones were availabele in our country - and walkie-talkies, such as we would have needed, would have been prohibitively expensive. I will never forget - I had asked them to make sure that they brought with them a cold Appletiser - and they did, bless them!!   The following photos were taken at that "check-point". First photo from left to right:  Thys Louw, myself on haunches, with my "Kalahari Harry" hat, Stan Gilham, and Don on haunches - George van der Bijl obviously took the photo. Second photo from left to right:  Thys Louw, myself, Stan Gilham and Don - again George van der Bijl obviously took the photo. Third photo from left to right:  George van der Bijl, myself, Don and Thys Louw - Stan Gilham obviously having taken this shot. Fourth photo - the two intrepid souls. Fifth photo - preparing scoff!!   From left to right Don, myself, Stan Gilham and Thys Louw, George van der Bijl once again having taken the photo. Sixth and seventh photos show Don and myself "tucking in"!!! Eighth and ninth photos show Don and myself getting ready to continue our walk. I can't recall how long they stayed but it could not have been too long as they had needed to get back in time to be ready for the congregation's 10km walk which was set to start at 14h30 that day. In order to arrive at the Saldanha picnic camp site the next day, Sunday, at around lunch-time, Don and I HAD to spend the night at Langebaan.   By the evening we had had to veer inland to the road to get around the Lagoon.   Since mid-day, Don's feet had been giving him some discomfort. At around 22h00 a chap in a "bakkie" stopped and offered us a lift.   We were sorely tempted, but we explained what we were attempting and that we could not accept any lifts.   At one point he said to us (in Afrikaans) that "nobody would know!" and we answered that WE would know!!   We thanked him several times for his offer and he drove off.   I think he had been out for a "toot with the boys" and was in a "happy" mood - and probably thought we were totally insane!! This part of the walk was probably for me the most trying mentally!!   We would approach a rise in the road and Don would be certain that our destination was just over the next rise - and this went on for literally a couple of hours!!   Eventually we arrived at our sleeping place at 02h55.   The temperature was not as low as it had been on the first night but even if it had been, I think we would have been too tired to notice!! The Sunday morning we were on our way again around 08h00 and we walked into the Saldanha Bay picnic area at 13h50:   Don later calculated that we had actually covered around 122Km. The car rally had ended here probably between 1 and 2 hours earlier but most if not all had stayed to welcome us.   And boy, were we hungry!!   The photo of Don below was taken at the picnic site - one of the first things he did was to take off his boots and socks!! I was, fortunately, completely none the worse for wear although I swore then that I would not easily do this walk again!!!   Don and I were thrilled that, through the generosity of some of the congregation members, our walk raised just over R600 for the church "coffers" - a lot of money in those days!!!  Later that afternoon, before leaving on their separate ways home, many of the group then attended a Communion Service, organised by Reg Scott, at the local Anglican Church in Vredenburg. Home Page Maps Photos from above 1965 Walk