“Thanks
again for a great time and brilliant experience"
- Aine McCabe
"Well done to Pat,
Luke and Gillian, I had a brilliant time and would highly
recommend it to anyone. Hoping I will join you sometime again
in the future" - Angela Greene
"Brilliant time, I really enjoyed it"
- Margaret Borwick
"Liked
walking at a nice pace and spread out evenly, great fun with
spectacular sights and wonderful atmosphere"
- Sarah Crofton
"Excellent and
very well planned and organised, a credit to Pat, Luke and
Gillian" Eileen Elliott
"The
craic & challenge in the Cape is complete but the friends
we made are forever"- Jennifer. O'Neill
After months of training and fundraising, our Cape Crusaders
finally started their trip of a lifetime on 10th March to
Cape Town. Flying out of Dublin, our Team of 32 participants,
travelled via Heathrow and landed in Cape Town Airport on
Thursday 11th of March (after a turbulent few minutes over
the Equator)
On arriving in Cape Town, the spectacular sight of Table Mountain
(rising 1,000 metres above the city) and accessed by Cable
Car, had us all refreshed!
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Cape Town is one of the most historical yet modern cities in the
world. The V&A Waterfront is full of shopping, bars and restaurants.
They're was also a number of local activities and attractions to
cater for everyone.
After a 6.00 am alarm call, we had breakfast and then began our
stretches – very important, thank you Sinead!
The walks were held as early as possible, to ensure no one had
problems with the heat or the sun.
Our first walk to the Waterfront was on flat ground with plenty
of water stops available along the way.
Our walk to the Cape of Good Hope was certainly one to remember.
With the wind blowing, we felt it was like one step forward and
two steps back! As we walked our guide Lawrence talked all about
the various species of flowers etc. We saw Springbok, Ostrich
and a family of baboons along the way.
Our Camps Bay walk took us along the sea front and onto the 'richer
side of town'. Lawrence informed us that some of the houses were
owned by various celebrities.
Our Walk to Hermanus was along the seafront and at one stage,
someone said they had seen 2 whales in the sea...very uncommon
for this time of year.
Most of the group travelled to Robben Island on one of the afternoons.
Robben Island is a national monument and steeped in history. Having
held political prisoners including former South African President
Nelson Mandela.
My most memorable moment was our trip to the Town ship. After
giving some of the children colouring books and markers, our guide
Abdul explained to them what they were. One of the men said we
were the first white people who visited, that had ever got off
the coach and spoke to them. Dorothy and others brought clothes
to share among the others in the community. With just one toilet
and tap, servicing this Township, this community had no government
funding. The children lined up for cake and biscuits and said
a prayer for us to thank us for coming....a very humbling experience.
First of all let me thank all the Cape Crusaders who took part
in this Challenge on behalf of Beaumont Hospital. Your commitment
and support to our charity is very much appreciated and we hope
that some, if not all of you can join us again on another challenge.
I'd like to thank Pat, Luke, Aileen, Ahmed, Jimmy, Lawrence, Lionel,
Abdul and everyone who helped to make our stay so memorable. I'd
also like to mention the staff at the hotel, I don't think they'll
forget us or St. Patrick's Day in a hurry. Especially the parade
down the main street!
Congratulations to everyone who assisted in raising over €60,000.
Our next overseas walk takes us to Cancun, Mexico.....we hope
many of you can join us again.
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