Over the mountains and the sea...

Your river runs with love for me...
Yesterday we vroomed up the new Avis car and meandered on to a farm situated somewhere between the mountains and the sea, next to the Sundays River, Colchester.

Colchester is best described at http://www.madbookings.com/southafrica/guide/colchester-south-africa.htm

As a kid, all Colchester meant to me was 'where the cops like to put down speed-traps'. 

I vroomed the shiny, new Kia onto the farm of a guy named Rossie and we had ourselves some good fun! 

Diego, Rossie, AMP, Shiny car and my Sister

Diego handled the Quad all by himself. My nerves were toast on some parts of the 'adventure'.

Dante and I

 I had Dante-koala as a passenger and at some parts of the drive some unsavoury words slipped from my mouth. My guess is that he didn't hear it over the revving engine because if he did hear, he would have called my out on it.                                                                                            

I loved every moment of the ride-out. The adrenalin, the revving and even the sore right thumb -that is where the accelerator was. At some spots I even forgot that I had Dante as a passenger as getting up and down those hills and keeping my eyes on the leader were all I could think of. Getting down was also crazy: huge boulders, crevices, thorn trees and sheer drops, but staying focused on the leader got me to the bottom and I could enjoy the ride with cows, sheep and horses, and prickly pears to look at. The farmer sometimes had to stop to open and close some gates because of his animals on the farm. 

I had to 'let go' and allow Diego to ride on his own; and at the difficult hills, he got a ride with his dad. I crashed into the big white thorn trees and kept going.

I realise that this is so much like my 'usual, crazy' everyday life...all I concentrate on is 'just get up and down that hill and try not to crash'. Allow my boys the space they need to figure things out for themselves and still be 'around' when they need help.

And everybody's hill is different. We all have different kinds of bikes, gear, leaders and mates that help us get to the top of that hill. We all face shut gates at some point in our lives, and if we just look for the leader, he is there ready to open another gate leading onto another road. Our Dad is right there next to us to give us a ride when things get tough...we just have to ask.

And most times we enjoy the calm and beauty of the journey. The journey is not all just uphills and crazy downhills.

Just one question remains...who is your leader?