The Restory Retreat Centre

Maybe I'm exaggerating. But what's left of a good account if you can't stretch it? And somewhere in there is a kernel of truth, and the elements for a solution, if you listen carefully. With all the space we have, it feels as if I’m limited in movement. Here at Tafelkop it rains and rains and rains in summer. And if it's not raining, there's the mist. With the result that anything that can handle that much moisture, and the cold of our winters, thrives. Which is mainly the grass in general and Kikuyu in particular. Like a wave it rises around the orchard and the garden. Our mowed lawn ends against a wall of green. It is a weekly effort to hold back the tide. It is beautiful to behold, but it hampers movement. You feel like you’re going on an expedition just to reach the base of Tafelkop. It’s the same in whatever direction you venture. It’s a challenge for the dogs as well. They totally disappear in the abundant growth. Molly has developed a leaps and bounds style o...

Photo by George Angus The toad beneath the harrow knows exactly where each tooth point goes; The butterfly upon the road preaches contentment to that toad.                                                            Rudyard Kipling I am not exaggerating when I say that every morning, when I mount my bicycle and turn onto the main dirt road that passes our house, I think of Kipling’s poem. Traveling by car you rush past landmarks and speed over bumps and stones. But with cycling it’s a different story. Very early in the morning, with the sun just above the horizon, some of the bigger stones in the road even cast shadows.  The section next to the camp of the cows with their calves is particularly rough. The slope leading down to the dams where Sebastien does bass fishing has about a 100 metres of hard, smooth...

Photograph by George Angus “When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.”                                                                                                          H.G Wells Initially I had my doubts about writing this. But before I get to the reason for that, I have to provide some background. For a number of years I have been walking around with this deep longing to get myself a bicycle. During m...