St Pauls ...

Unlike the same named cathedral in London,the small church of St Paul's in Curry's Post has no claims to great architectural merit or grandeur. And yet built in 1876 by Sgt M Curry it has been a centre of Anglican Christian worship for over a century, continuing to hold regular monthly services for Midlands worshippers to this day. One of four churches under the wing of the central St Luke's church in Howick I have already featured St Andrew's in the Dargle Valley and St Mark's in the Karkloof/Shafton area. Like those two there is a graveyard alongside the church with many graves of the Curry family, and other notable dynasties of the Curry's Post area. There truly is much history recorded in the simple (and sometimes not so simple) tombstones. So, my recording of the Churches of Midlands county continues.

A simple image for the delightful simplicity of the red brick building was all that was needed.

iNhlosane ...

On a clear day there is a mountain that dominates the horizonal skyline from our lounge window. Not as tall or majestic as some of the peaks in the nearby Drakensberg range it still somehow makes its presence felt from almost any location within a fairly large radius of our home. A quick visit to the nearby Hilton College - and there it is. From the Karkloof hills - it is present again. From Curry's Post and of course throughout the drive to Dargle this peak is the dominant landform in the valley. It is iNhlosane, the Maiden's Breast, named for its resemblance, as it rises to its rock-clad nipple-like crest to just such a shape. For a somewhat more fanciful explanation of the name you can read the legend of iNhlosane here. Many scholars at the well known Michaelhouse College in the Midlands will be familiar with the mountain - for it is a right of passage for many new entrants to the school to take a day's hike the twenty five or so kilometers from the school precincts to iNhlosane's peak. 

I wanted to capture a clean and simple shot of the mountain, not over exaggerating it's height or scale, and yet still showing how it manages to make its presence felt. So here it is - the Maiden's Breast.

It's a Classic...

Once each year in mid to late autumn hundreds of mountain bikers make their way to the Midlands Karkloof area just 12 kilometers north of Howick to take part in three days of events known as the Karkloof Classic. Billed as SA's biggest MTB festival it starts tonight, with a 20 kilometre night-ride event, and continues through the next three days. Included are a serious downhill race, a 60 kilometre marathon and everything in between - even family oriented rides as short as 10 kilometers covering what the organisers claim to be moderate courses for the 'less experienced'. Ten kilometres with a saddle under my rear end still sounds quite daunting to me. And so I will be a spectator this year. Next? We'll, wait and see, but I have been enthused enough to start pricing kit. After all this countryside has some of the best MTB trails the country has to offer, and now I'm a country boy ............

I went down to the country club late this afternoon as registration was in progress. Early arrivals were checking in, the campsite for distant visitors was beginning to fill. And above, behind, inside and alongside most every vehicle in the parking area, a significant investment in metal and rubber was evident.

I liked the abstract composition of these tyres and their spokes (front, rear and front) their charges mounted atop a rugged 4X4 vehicle, displaying them almost in silhouetted profile against the misty grey of the sky. I see the tyres are the latest in 29 inchers - I'm told these have become 'de rigeur' for the serious rider today. Conditions are muddy and wet - which should create some good photo opportunities to show next week.

Come back and see!