A few days away - for sleeping

 I enjoyed a few days away last week with my mom and our dogs. This was my first proper break since April last year and it was much needed. 

We stayed little over an hour from George, near the little town of De Rust. The other side of the Outeniqua Mountains, near the Swartberg Mountains in the Klein Karoo is vastly different from George in climate, terrain and vegetation. The warm-to-your-core temperatures were very welcome as well as the crispy-towel dryness. 

Looking towards the Swartberg Mountains.

Our three-days, four-nights away we filled with few activities. Day One consisted primarily of sleeping, reading, hanging with dogs, sleeping, reading, eating, dog walking, reading, sleeping.

Our cabin had a bookcase with an interesting assortment of books. I picked up a book of the 'Best of Roald Dahl' short stories, which I devoured. I'm also busy reading 'Burchell's African Odyssey', a new book on William Burchell's return journey to Cape Town via the Garden Route. This was back in 1814-ish and is utterly fascinating. During his four-year journey, the guy collected 63,000 specimens (plants, insects, mammals etc) - a regular Darwin! I'm about 3/5 through the book, which is one to be savoured.

Day Two, I met up with a chap who I met out hiking in April last year. We enjoyed a morning walk on a nearby farm. It was a beautiful out-and-back route along a small river - a section worth a lot more exploring. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea-and-cake with Jeanne and his wife in town in the afternoon. After being awake for so many hours, a post-outing nap was in order, followed by a dog walk, dinner, a few rounds of Bananagram and more sleeping.

Day Three: We drove the Meiringspoort mountain pass. We've both been through it before (more than once for me) but it is a drive that can be enjoyed over and over again as you gaze in wonder at the exposed rock folds.

Being a 'poort' that follows a river rather than a pass that goes up and over, the gradient is gentle and the scenery is magnificent with bridges over the flowing river, exceptional rock formations and, according to Mountain Passes South Africa, "63 bends, corners and curves".

That outing demanded another read and nap. 

We left to return home on the morning of Day Four.

Dog walks did give the opportunity to capture observations for iNaturalist. I've been stretched learning about fungi, ferns and fynbos... and now succulents, which are abundant in this area.

Those lichens, top right, were great finds for me. I'm not 100% sure on their ID but they caught my eye and were good to log. 

Nice finds here included the angulate tortoise (top right). It was my first time seeing a spekboom tree in bloom (pink flowers centre top). I found a few cactuses with flowers and learned, from my book on succulents, that we only have one indigenous cactus in South Africa. The rest are all alien.

The dogs loved being away. They settled in immediately, didn't stray and were game for walks and naps at any time and in any order.

We had little to no mobile signal in our cabin, which suited me perfectly.

It feels a shame to go away to such a lovely area - one worthy of a ton of exploring, and to spend the bulk of my time sleeping. But, this was exactly what I needed. I've been exhausted and stress has been getting the better of me physically. These last months have been challenging.

I generally handle stress pretty well and mentally I'm mostly on top of things. For the past few weeks, I've been struggling with swollen and numb fingers and hands. Circulation is compromised as well as dexterity and I wake up in the night with no feeling in my hands. I haven't been able to sleep on my sides. 

Three weeks ago, I went to a physio who nailed the problem as tight muscles in my neck, shoulders and back. I initially thought that it was purely physical as it started in the weeks when I was moving Vagabond and other stuff into storage almost daily for 2.5 weeks. Instead, this is more a physical manifestation of stress with the spasmed muscles affecting nerves to my hands. I've had so many weird niggles these past months and they are certainly all related to stress. I handle fine, but it does take its toll.

The physio's work, my ongoing exercises and these few days away have improved my hands significantly. I saw the chiropractor on Friday. He uses an electrical thing to hyperstimulate muscles to 'exhaustion' so that they relax. This works too for rectifying alignment, which I needed again. I can now lie on my sides to read in bed and even to sleep a little on either side again.

On Sunday morning, I enjoyed a lovely run at the Garden Route Dam. At 13km, this is one of the longest runs I've done in a long time. Pace was chilled, morning was perfect and I ran easy - like in the 'old days' (2.5 years ago). This evening, I joined the weekly 'Social Run' for an 8km at the dam. 

I hope this is the real start to be becoming 'normal me' again.