It has been a few months since the last update of adventures. This has been due to an adventure of a different sort. One that was not the most pleasant. The purpose of this post is to inform you all of what to look out for in the next few weeks covering adventures including the last part of the Switzerland trip as well some local adventures in South Africa – especially one for those with a keen interest in food.
So, without further ado, the long (unpleasant) adventure which has taken up considerable time this year, coupled with much frustration, actually started on Christmas Day at Ice Magic in Interlaken, Switzerland. Having played ice hockey in my younger days, I decided that it would be a great experience to do some ice skating in Switzerland. Especially since I was there in winter for a winter sports holiday. One fellow South African decided to be adventurous and joined me while the other three opted to remain on the less slippery surface off the rink. The rink was quite nice with some main areas connected by skating pathways. The off-rink spectators wanted to take a photo of all of us and gestured for the two of us on the ice to skate to them. We were skating slowly towards them where they were waiting near the one corner and had reached a point about 2m from the side. Some other skater comes on my right and turns directly across in front of me. In the process he clipped my right skate and took my leg out from under me causing me to fall back and to the left. I landed heavily on my left wrist. Despite the pain and swelling I continued through the holiday, including some very adventurous skiing which will be in the next Swiss Trip post. Two weeks later when I was back in South Africa I had my wrist x-rayed and examined. The diagnosis was a fractured scaphoid. This required surgery. After the surgery I had a bandage and split for a few weeks until the stitches were removed. Then my wrist was placed in a cast. The cast was on until 1 March 2016. Six weeks of physiotherapy and strengthening then occurred. By mid-April I was back to some sort of normality and could finally ride my bicycle again. Outdoors!
However, this improved state of affairs would unfortunately not last long. On Saturday 21 May 2016 I was cycling down a hill after a great training ride in the Cradle of Humankind. I was on the extreme left side (the side we travel on in South Africa) to allow cars to pass me safely on the right. A vehicle in the oncoming lane decided to just turn into an entrance on my side of the road even though he was obliged to stop and wait until it was clear. I reacted as soon as I saw him not stopping but the distance was simply too small and despite trying all I could to avoid the vehicle it was not possible. The collision left me laying in the road with two injured hands, a few cuts and grazes, a gaping wound on my chin and, most worryingly, an extremely painful upper right leg. Thankfully other cyclists and cars stopped to assist. The result was a trip to a nearby hospital for numerous internal and external stitches to my chin. Luckily there were no fractures according to the x-rays. Unfortunately my bike was not so lucky and both sides of the fork snapped as well as damage to the front wheel. Ten days later when I returned to the hospital for the stitches to be removed the new casualty Doctor rechecked my x-rays since my left hand was still in quite a bit of pain. It turns out that the fracture in my knuckle was not picked up and therefore not treated on the day of the accident. Yes, this was the same hand as the one I injured in Switzerland. This would keep me off the bike until the end of June.
So updates and adventures to look forward to soon include the last week of the Switzerland Trip a trip to Cape Town and some of South Africa’s best restaurants for amazing dining experiences, a local adventure to the Harties area, a weekend getaway which could be done as a great day trip and an awesome evening of Mumm. You certainly do not want to miss these!
Please do check in soon for these updates and remember to follow and like my Instagram – @andyrlapin – for some pictures of adventures. Sharing is caring so please feel free to share this blog so more adventurers can experience the adventures with us.
The Adventures of Andy 