When the gap between the lifestyle I wished for and reality became too large, redesign of the future went on the drawing board. The result was a decision to retire from my Accounting career of 30 years, leave my electronic office, take stock of my financial resources, sell my house, store some belongings and hit the road. The main objectives were to improve my health by being physically more active and to improve my attitude to life by seeing more of the world and learning from people.
The first leg of the adventure was a cycle tour in Europe. There were certain practical limitations:
· a maximum Schengen visum of 90 days every 6 months
· the cost of travelling in first world countries with third world currency
· the need to dodge winters in either hemisphere
I left Cape Town at the end of April 2001 for Paris in France and arrived in Budapest in Hungary after a train journey of 18 hours through Germany and Austria. Budapest is a beautiful city, the Duna river flows sluggishly through the centre, separating Buda from Pest and the building style is of an age long past. There are many ancient castles, art galleries and live music performances that made my stay unexpectedly pleasant . A bus ride of 2 hours took me to the previous capital, Esztergom, where I purchased a used mountain bike, fitted carrier bags, loaded sleeping bag, self-inflating mattress and tent and started pedalling.
Hungary was attractive for my purpose, mainly flat country and therefore friendly to old legs, not quite first world and therefore affordable. Huge green forests cover much of the land, rivers flow wide and the people are friendly. Communication of the verbal type was difficult, I had to brush up my German to avoid getting hot chillies in the excellent goulash instead of the mild paprika. Meat dishes of pork and beef are plentiful, while fresh salads and vegetables are less prominent, often ‘mixed vegetables’ would be a helping of boiled potatoes and French fries. My natural food preference is fresh fruit and I could indulge from the many cherry and mulberry trees found along the roadside and in the towns.
It took a few days for my legs and buttocks to adjust to cycling 4 to 5 hours a day, but by that time the first bike had been traded in for a better model with more sympathetic seat and gears that worked 75 %. Camp sites were plentiful and excellent, mostly situated where there was water. Hungary is riddled with hot springs, bubbling water to which healing properties are ascribed, resulting in swimming pools with hot water attracting many German and Austrian caravanners. Lake Balaton is large, 77 km long, with fresh blue water only one metre deep, taking the place of the seaside in this landlocked country, bordered by Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. Wines are excellent, both red and white, made from cultivars some of which were unknown to me, but beer, both local and imported, are popular. After all, Budweiser originated in the neighbouring Czech Republic. The most popular drink in bars is white wine (Olaszrizling, Italian riesling) with mineral water for men and red wine with Coke for women.
For two months I cycled my way through the Western parts of Hungary, crossing the Duna by ferry into the flat, agricultural Great Plain and sleeping overnight in campsites, occasionally in a rented room in a private house. My visit to Hungary ended where it started, in Budapest, with another long train journey back to Paris, but first the bike was sold to a bike shop.
My daughter Hélène flew out from South Africa and we met outside Austerlitz station in Paris at the beginning of July. We spent the first night at a youth hostel in Orléans, then took a local train to the town Mer. The purpose of our visit to Mer was to experience the ambience of the area where our Huguenot forefather Pierre Rousseau and the girl he later married, Anne Retif, lived before emigrating to the Cape of Good Hope in 1688, where they settled in the Franschhoek area of the Western Cape. A train journey to the South of France in overcrowded trains (the Summer holiday season had just started) brought us to the city of Avignon (remember the song: Sur le pont d’Avignon?), where we bought bikes of Taiwanese origin, which gave us excellent service.
Together we cycled through the vineyards and valleys of the Vaucluse in Provence. The weather was hot, campsites were crowded, but the lifestyle was utterly laid back. Hélène could speak some French, having stayed in Southern France for half a year earlier. We ate the good French bread (from baguettes to gros pain), had difficulty choosing from the wide variety of cheeses and many inexpensive wines, while fresh fruit and vegetables were plentiful. An occasional meal in a restaurant, usually the set menu, was relief from our picnic-style cuisine. In the Mont Ventoux area there are huge fields of lavender, the honey carries the taste and although it was already late, fresh cherries were still on trees along the way.
We are both wine lovers and used the opportunity to taste wines at the cave’s to be found in every town and at wine farms along the way. In Chateauneuf du Pape we indulged in a bottle of the superb red of the area, adding style to our campsite meal that evening. It was a sensual experience to visit the markets held in town squares on certain days, people milling about, fresh produce displayed, huge paella’s being prepared, sound, colour and movement combining. The method of selling wine in bulk from stainless steel tanks interested us, the locals would bring their own container for refill.
We toured through three valleys, visiting the town Menerbes, made famous by the books written by Peter Mayle, St. Remy, where Van Gogh spent a year receiving treatment in the St. Paul hospital (the olive grove and many sights to be seen in his paintings are still there), Arles where we spent some nights in the area where Van Gogh lived. After being together for a month, the sad day arrived when Hélène had to return, she travelled by train from Arles to Paris, flew to Germany to visit friends and then to Amsterdam, taking a biking tour through the Dutch countryside.
I continued my cycle tour in France for another two months, working my way North through the Ardeche, along the Loire valley, through agricultural Bresse (famous for the white chickens with purple feet and blue cheese), the Beaujolais vineyards, Dijon (tasting the traditional mustard), seeing beautiful lakes with pure water, historic towns with ancient buildings. At times the weather became bad, raining for days on end, making camping out a trying experience, but then I would find shelter in small hotels or in chambres d’hôte (room in a private home). At the end of September I arrived back in Paris, spending two nights at a youth hostel conveniently close to the Gare de Lyon on the bank of the Seine. A walking tour of 9 hours one day enabled me to see many of the famous sights, the Notre Dame, Hôtel de Ville, Louvre art gallery, Tuilleries, Grand Palace, Champs Elysées, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel tower, University of Paris on the West Bank, the Invalides, where Napoleon lies buried. On a rainy day I flew out of Paris to the USA, to California and San Diego on the West Coast, where it was a home-coming to my son Stefan, his wife Charissa and daughters Chiani and Alaya.
Stefan took some much-needed leave from his demanding job as Engineer in electronic hardware systems design, we travelled by car to the National Parks: Yosemite in California, where we climbed the well-known peaks El Capitan and Halfdome, Bryce Canyon in Utah, with red and ochre sandstone formations, Zion Canyon in Utah, where we also climbed some of the peaks, notably Angel’s Landing. On our way back, we stayed over in Las Vegas, naturally losing cash to the slotmachines, but regaining with a vengeance shooting craps (but we had to attend an instruction session first to master the game). The Strip by day and night was amazing, so far removed from my outdoor activities in Hungary and France, causing me to reaffirm my intention to avoid as much as possible city life and seek clean air, simple lifestyle and solitude. On our long car journey we could listen to talks by the Dalai Lama on the human quest for happiness and by Deepak Chopra on Magical Mind, Magical Body, with in-depth discussion afterwards among ourselves, deepening communication.
Back home in Ramona we packed up and Charissa and the daughters joined us on a week-long trip to Mexico, to the Baja peninsula. We crossed the border at Mexicali, then followed a dirt road to the Guadeloupe Canyon (fortunately the 4x4 could negotiate the rocks). The Canyon has huge palm trees and hot springs, we had our own hot pool at the palm-leaf covered lapa, where night bathing under the full moon was popular and we could taste the fiery mescal liquor. We drove to the shore of the Sea of Cortés, to the fishing town San Felipe, camping on a ledge raised above the beach (Playa del Sol), where Charissa could shop freely, meals were preceded by huge margarita’s, we swam in the calm water of the sea and grilled fresh fish bought from fishing boats on the beach, at night on the coals.
I stayed in Ramona for some weeks, enjoying the tranquil and large garden, fixing two old bicycles and testing them on short trips, experiencing the American events of Halloween and Thanksgiving, swimming the Pacific Ocean at Encinitas, strolling the walkway at La Jolla, looking at an open-air art exhibition in Julian, visiting the San Diego Wild animal Park and the Zoo and generally being coddled and treated to exciting meals, notably a Mexican in Old Town and a Vietnamese.
Sadly, Stefan had important work to do and could not join me for a weeklong trip to Mexico, only taking me across the border at Tijuana and taking a bus ride as far as Puerto Nuevo for a crayfish lunch. I continued by bus in Baja, carrying a rucksack, sleeping in motels at Ensenada, El Rosario, where Independence day was an event with street parades and a carnival in the town square, Guerrero Negro and Santa Rosalia. From Santa Rosalia I crossed the sea by night ferry to the mainland at Guayamas, taking a bus to the nearby town of San Carlos, then to Magdalena and Santa Ana in Sonora, Caborca, San Luis de Colorado and back to Tijuana, where Stefan met me. The following day I spent packing, saying farewell and then returning to Cape Town via Paris, where I had to stay a full day waiting for a connecting flight, having all my luggage opened and hand-inspected (necessary safety precautions after 11 September). It was a pleasure to be met at the airport by Amanda, Hélène, my other daughter Lanelle, her husband Pierre and son Robert.
Did I achieve my objectives on this 7-month tour? I did not learn anything not known to others, but reaffirmed some principles for myself:
· patience, especially with people and an effort to understand, is hugely rewarding
· circumstances are often not favourable, the best practice is to wait for the window of opportunity to open and then to act with vigour
· non-verbal communication is powerful
· there are many people less fortunate than myself, the lonely traveller needs some shelter and nourishment, much sympathy with the sick and helpless cost little, but unselfish kindness means much to the recipient
· I am still selfish and must learn to be helpful to others
· I have benefited from a more active and healthy lifestyle
My travels are continuing, watch this space, answers found to Life and Everything will be shared!