One of Luke Rhinehart’s books, not quite as famous as ‘The Dice Man’, is ‘Whim’. I won’t go into detail now but it’s a pretty abstract (as you might expect) pshycho-analytical analogy of, um, life… and stuff! In it, there is a paragraph from which I have quoted in ‘the book’ and although the specific section clings tentatively to a rather ambiguous logic, I was horrified and delighted to find an actual example of it while travelling back from a half marathon in De Rust’ at the weekend. The passage I quoted goes something like this…

“Near as I can figure this island’s been here a long time, but since it ain’t got no name, damned geographers never put it on their maps, and since it ain’t on the maps, the modern sailor knows it can’t possibly be here.”

“But…” Whim began, “but what if I should name this island?”

“Then you’d create a dangerous hazard to navigation,” the old man answered.

 “Don’t exist unless you name it. Once it’s here, though, lots of boats going to have to steer around it or get wrecked.”

Hmmm, like a say, an ambiguous logic. Well, this weekend I competed in the Meiringspoort Half Marathon; an unimaginably scenic 21km run through the rocky valley ending in the Africaans village of De Rust. That was all very nice but what came as a real surprise (besides the wild baboons watching the race with rather bemused expressions) was the drive home. I was travelling with my friend Ben and we decided to take a convoluted route back following ‘Prince Alfred’s Pass’ and back through ‘Phantom Pass’ into Knysna. I can’t remember if it was at Uniondale or Avontuur but the R339 eluded us and we had to stop and ask directions.

“Aah” said the surprisingly helpful man, “you must turn left at the sign that’s covered with a blanket”

“Eh!? Why is it covered with a blanket?” I asked – not unreasonably

“Well, there was a flood… two or three years ago… and bits of the road are missing” he replied with total sincerity and not even a hint of irony.

So we turned left and negotiated our way along an unbelievably dangerous road which, in places, had fallen away into the rocky stream some ten or fifteen metres below. I was reminded of the line from ‘Whim’ and wondered if, adopting the same logic, if the road is already named, and already a hazard to navigation, and there’s no budget to repair it (despite having one of the richest mineral resources in the entire world!), deny its existence and “the modern ‘driver’ knows it can’t possibly be here”

Problem solved… Brilliant!

That’s where the adventure began. I’m sorry there are no photos. I didn’t have my camera although I plan to return to Prince Alfred’s Pass one day and will avail you with photographic proof of the frighteningly precipitous drops, the loose gravel road that clings to the side of the steep mountains, the winding tracks through rocky overhangs and trickling streams, the breathtaking views over the Outeniqua mountains and of course Angie’s G Spot! (Google it!) It is an incredible drive that is not for the faint-hearted and I will return one day but for now, it’s just one more reason for wanting to stay a little longer in this beautiful and unfathomable corner of Africa.

Oh, and as for the half marathon… 1hr 40mins.

Bye for now,

Bee

Rob Clark

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