Caught in a Storm

2-04pm

What were we thinking? This morning as we saw the sun shining, Mike said, “Do you think we could walk to Pringle Bay today?” “Yes!” I replied. So at 11am we set off. There in the distance was our destination….according to Google earth, only 4km…

By the time I had taken that photo, we had already walked some distance and storm clouds were gathering. This is looking back….

We enjoyed the beautiful fynbos….

We walked and talked and laughed and soon realised ‘the rain is coming.’ Soon it began to pour down! I’m not afraid of getting a little wet, but I didn’t think it was all that fun when lightening flashes began and thunder rolled overhead. We scrambled through fynbos, with driving rain drenching us, heading towards a rock for shelter. Mike found the perfect one….this was the view from the rock…

After about 5 or 10 minutes the deluge calmed, the thunder passed and we set off again. A short distance up the road, it began to rain again. We came to an isolated hut and took shelter…

We were drenched, but happy to have shelter…

The rain again stopped and it actually looked very clear, so with great gusto we headed towards our destination which was growing closer with every step….

Little did we know we had a few challenges to face before we would arrive. We took a turn onto a beach…so we could simply walk along the beach to Pringle Bay…

…. or so we thought… to get to the main Pringle Bay beach we had to cross the Buffels River lagoon first. With all the rain, it is deep in places and at times was flowing quite steadily. We gingerly picked our way between the bushes at the river’s edge until we had to take our socks and shoes off and roll up our pants. Mike is wise. He knows that the best place to cross a lagoon is at its broadest point where the flow of the river is at its least. He went ahead and picked a path for me to follow…

It didn’t get deeper than up to my knees and after about 10 or 15 metres became ankle deep….The picture below is looking back from the beach after we had crossed it….we had walked along the far side by all those bushes approaching the crossing point from the left side of the photo!

Yeah! Once on the beach, it was just a matter of finding the coffee shop so we could try and hitch a ride home!

We soon did…

If ever you are in Pringle Bay, go to Simply Coffee – the local coffee shop. It’s fabulous and the main guy that runs it is friendliness personified. He organised us a lift home! 🙂

We got home just before 2pm and both had a hot bath. The wind has picked up. The rain is coming and we are snug inside and grateful!

Next time we will choose a sunny day to tackle such a ramble!

Relaxed and happy, and grateful! Thank you Jesus for  protection & provision!

Psalm 91:1 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

In His Grip, Sheltered by Him,

Helga xx 🙂