Buried Treasure!

Three times a week (more or less; less if we can think of an excuse - too wet, too windy, too hot, too cold) a friend and I walk. Briskly I might add, not the usual meandering that occurs when Rob and I walk with Alfie, but an hour long, brisk, arm-swinging, cardio work-out walk that makes me feel really good when I get home and can stop! We usually stick to the same route, along roads that eventually lead to a small group of houses up a fairly steep hill. (Extra cardio workout!) From there the sea view is amazing and the sea breeze always cools us, before we turn and head home again. On the way there is a track that veers away from the road into the grass and disappears into the fynbos, and every time we passed it we'd say 'next time we walk we must follow that and see where it goes.' Well, this morning we did.

Where the track begins......

It is an old track, obviously made by cars, but not used at all now. We saw patches of white rain daisies just opening in the early morning sun, their flowers looking like small snow drifts; we were scolded by larks (unidentified at this stage!) and at one point a large buck leapt out of the bushes in front of us and zig-zagged away. I am not sure who was more surprised, the buck or us! It had obviously been asleep, tucked under a bietou bush and I felt sorry that we had disturbed him.

The track ended near a fence and looped back on itself. All this time I had been watching the path as I walked. I find it impossible to walk while I am looking around me. I end up veering off the path or stumbling over things, so if I want to look at the scenery, I have to stop. Bev says that it is because I am tall, but I think that it is because I am unbalanced! I was watching where I was going and out of the corner of my eye I saw something blue. It was a small piece of blue and white china! Now, I became very excited because being near the sea means shipwrecks, and shipwrecks mean cargo that may have been washed ashore! That made me think of the wreck of the Middelburg (I mentioned it in the Saldanha blog) a Dutch East India ship that was wrecked in 1781! She was carrying, among other things, porcelain, from Holland! Convinced that I had found rare porcelain, we scratched about and found some more! In all we found four more pieces and Bev found an old glass bottle. When I got home I tried to Google antique porcelain, blue and white china, but found nothing to compare the pattern on 'my' pieces. Sadly, none of the bits has any dates or makers marks on the back, but I am sure that it is old, so here are some photographs.


My 'rare' porcelain!



Small but valuable?

If anyone can give me any information, I might share the 'spoils'!

Meantime, if you need me, I am digging - just off the main road where the track winds into the fynbos!