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Beach talk –– Christian Ernsten
Shipwreck on Long Beach photo: Dirk-Jan Visser
It’s hard to think of anything other than the crazy hike up Chapman’s Peak during Day 3. Walking an eroding path curving up the mountain while carrying full packs and challenged by strong winds. Not one of my best moments! But actually the day started with a soothing walk on Noord hoek Beach. For the first time perhaps, we walked and talked. We exchanged ideas on walking
Robert Macfarlane’s The Old Ways and Mountains of the Mind and, in relation to city walking, Teju Cole’s Open City. I recalled how Dutch artist and mapmaker Jan Rothuizen had advised me to read Bruce Chatwin’s Songlines and Barry Lopez’s Artic Dreams. Specifically for our hike, we spoke about Dan Sleigh’s Islands and Nicolaas Vergunst’s Hoerikwaggo.
and travel literature, resulting in an impromptu and kind of random reading list: Dirk and Nick spoke about Dutch author Geert Mak and his books In Europe and Travels without John, the latter about John Steinbeck’s travels through the US, as well as Tony Judt’s Postwar. I spoke with Hedley about W. G. Sebalt’s Austerlitz and Rings of Saturn. Hedley mentioned
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