Struisbaai Day 5 – Fishing, Blisters and Sushimi | Diary of an Adventurous Retiree

Today was a fishing day for Earl so once again he was up at the proverbial Sparrow’s F&*t. I lingered on in bed until 7 then went for a run on the road as the tide forbade a beach jog and running later would be too hot.. Well …. If I thought soft sand was difficult, I’d forgotten about uphill in new takkies! I started from the front door and jogged toward L’Agulhas feeling great as it was overcast and cool. There wasn’t much traffic on the road but when a car came toward me I had to hop onto the gravel side path and take care not to stumble over pebbles. After 15 minutes I turned around and then had the cool breeze in my face – lovely – but hey now it was the up run! The backs of my legs were aching slightly from the soft sand jog and this incline was not helping! But I soldiered on – I am at the stage of one foot in front of the other – just keep going – you can do it and not at the wow I could go on for ever, runner’s high stage – My body was not exactly yelling – hey stop this is enough now but there was a whisper of “what the hell are you doing, the legs are hating this”. Not until 10 minutes before reaching home, that it – when suddenly I became aware of a strange burning on the side of my right foot. Oh no – not a blister. Yes a blister – it’s ages since I’ve worn takkies. I always train bare foot at the gym and only use my takkies to go on gentle bird walks. These particular takkies are quite new too. I stopped and walked for a minute then thought no way – I’m just going to run through the burn. I’d started at 7:10 and got back home at 7:40 – exactly half an hour. Now I was huffing, puffing and sweating – so into my cossie and off to the beach I went – enjoyed a 15 minutes frolic in the waves then came back for a leisurely shower and breakfast – what a stunning way to start the day!

There were a few visitors to my garden this morning – some birds and this tortoise

A wild visitor to my garden

And this juvenile Cape Robin-chat

Where’s your mom, Rob?

On Earl’s boat, Kiora, this morning were Clive, Pierre, Bernard and young Kyron (14). They returned at about 11:30 with a lovely catch of yellowtail. Kyron got the biggest, about 4kg, on his spinning rod.

Cleaning Kiora

Kyron de Stadler with his 4kg Yellow-tail

The Heroes with their catch

I had an enjoyable afternoon shopping, reading and doing mind Fair Lady mind puzzles while Earl had an afternoon nap – after such an early start to the day it was necessary. He was not in the mood for a swim when he woke up so we just went for a walk before supper and watched how all the holiday makers were having fun. The weather today cleared into a bright sunny day with pleasantly warm temperatures. Struisbaai was a perfect picture of summer activities.