Some people decided that going out for a run at 7am this morning would be a good idea when the temperature was 2 degrees C. Not only was it pretty cold as was witnessed by the frost on the ground (including the cow dung even), it is pretty hilly around here and so it wasn’t surprisingly that when I asked H how the run was that she simply replied ‘hard’.
The plan was to do some birding in the area and then some of the Midlands Meander route including some visits to the local markets. There was a birding site nearby to the farm we are staying at and it is part of KZN Wildlife (called Fort Nottingham Wildlife Conservatory). We saw a few different birds on route to the site but when we arrived at the area there were some locals hanging around and it did not seem that safe so we decided to give that a skip. We headed into the nearby town, Nottingham Road, and found a place for a coffee instead.
We then headed off to Piggly Wiggly which is a conglomerate of shops and eateries. The men split off from the women at this point as it was clear that some people might spend longer than others in the shops. After a quick 5 minute whizz around the shops, the men had seen a winery (with wine tasting) called Highgate Wine Estate. We thought we would do a tasting (KZN is not an obviously wine growing area) but once we sat down we discovered that 4 of the 5 wines on offer were actually from the Cape and only one of their wines was offered for tasting. We inquired why and it turns out that do the climate changes, their last harvest was not successful and so they could only produce a Cab Sav. We settled on just buying a bottle of the Cab Sav and tasting that while we waited for the ladies to join us. They did join us around midday and we ordered some cheese and charcuterie platters to enjoy for lunch.
After lunch we went back and did some nougat shopping at the Wedgewood store. I am a nougat lover and Wedgewood is made in the area. They also were selling nougat ice cream which (it turns out) is very good. H after saying no to ice cream then tasted a few of ours and went back and got her own and then pronounced ‘This is the best ice cream I have ever eaten’. A detour was then made to some leather shoe store in the area – still not entirely sure why because nothing was bought by anyone but after 30 something years of marriage one (or in this case three) have just learnt to accept and move on.
The Nelson Mandela capture site was nearby and we had decided as it was basically on route to go back to the farm that we should go and visit. It is the site of where Nelson Mandela was captured on 5 August 1962 (so yesterday was the 62nd anniversary). He had been on the run for around 18 months and had evaded capture until then but following a tip off he was arrested in this fairly random spot and that finally lead to his 27 years of imprisonment.
There is a museum and a sculpture on the site today and the sculpture is made up of 50 separate columns that marked the 50 years from when he was captured until the day the sculpture was unveiled (5 Aug 2012). The sculpture is of Mandela’s face and the full effect is only really seen by walking down a pathway. On the pathway they have 27 plaques to mark the 27 years Mandela was imprisoned with each one memorializing an important date in Mandela’s life. There are a few moving experiences in monuments like this that I have experienced in my life. This is up there with the 9-11 monument in New York, the holocaust wall in Berlin and the Apartheid Museum on Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. The sculpture is impressive. The photos won’t fully do it justice but give you and idea.
After that we headed back to the farm to enjoy the late afternoon sun and then a braai for dinner.
Until tomorrow …
P, H, A (he did the fire and braai again tonight), B (he didn’t drive today so no movement in his position), S (she gets the promotion for a number of reasons – the photo below being one of them) & O
