Running is repetitive. One step in front of the other. We keep moving forwards but never quite knowing where we will end up, often with feelings of running in circles. Such is life – repetitive, falsely assuming we never going anywhere, but actually the circular trails we trace always have purpose, even if it's to confirm we are on the right track....
Running a race is very different to volunteering at one. The former is an event, the latter is unique. This was my third visit to the Fish River Canyon in Namibia, having hiked the canyon in 2005 and run the 100 km Ultra race in 2013. Besides being a privilege, volunteering at the Fish River Ultra 2019 as a back-race marker sweep was not only diffe...
The run was simple – traverse the entire length of South Africa’s longest uninterrupted beach in one go, running in a straight line. Yet it’s not what we read on the maps of the line drawn with one’s GPS that determines the simplicity. With trail running, the more varied the terrain, the more vertical gain and losses there are, and the more places ...
Travel evokes a place of where one would go. Together with this, adventure travel evokes a purpose of why one would go too, with a probability of no idea where exactly. This Tale is difficult to write as we do not have it all figured out. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inherit...
Creating Trailblazer Trailer was not an end in mind. Usually with small businesses there is a desire for growth, which enables survival, driven by profit. Principally, these three attributes are key to a business’ purpose. Usually. With Trailblazer Trailer, which specialises in relational artisan coffee we have realised that there is so much more t...
Most special moments cannot be orchestrated. Such a moment was had on this well-known ultra trail run in the Eastern Cape of South Africa – the Addo Elephant Trail Run. A faint humming sound was heard coming from behind me, and got louder as the sound caught up with and surrounded me – thousands of wild bees, covering a moving area of around 10 met...
This new look website via this Tale in your inbox only scratches the surface. No website, Tale post, mural, café interior, photo, art, writing, coffee, product, mountain top, trail, run or podcast can capture true adventure, true Life. Its impossible, simply because we cannot live each other’s lives. Yet, in one way we can. This Tale provides a bit...
Trail Running requires adaptation to the terrain one runs on. This terrain usually varies quite substantially within a short space of time. This is true of life too. Yet, sometimes no matter how one tries to adapt, one can feel out of control. GR20 long distance hiking trail, Corsica, France. Needing to back track and retrieve my one glove, I ran t...
Like water having carved the deep Fish River Canyon in the arid Namibian landscape – the second largest of its kind in the world, so have the memories in my mind of running its length on 22 June 2013. This website did not exist then, and now not being able to run due to injury these past few months has enabled some deep reflection and a reminder to...
Like a colourful blanket, countless flowers display their collective grandeur spread over hectors of the north-western peninsula of the Postberg section of the West Coast National Park. Made up of brilliant individual variations of its kinds, these flowers make way to an incredible witness of another side to Creation. In contrast to the myria...
“What do you do?” is a common question one asks when one meets someone for the first time. My answer to these types of questions usually depends on one’s knowledge or appreciation of what it means to be a tradesman. Printing and brewing coffee are extremely similar – two trades I have been privileged to learn and glean from in my journey. This Tale...
The photographs we post are untouched and unedited. Yet they are still limited. Limited because even edited photographs are unable to tell the true Tales behind them. Every one of us has Tales behind us to be told, yet how edited are they? This Tale is posted during a particular low-down for Joseph. Unable to run due to an injury, Lisa enjoys the s...