Two weekends ago my wife and I visited Bronkies for a day of climbing and upon stopping to fill in the book and pay, were offered a pencil to complete our details with. I requested a pen, but was informed that there was not one, despite the entries above mine on the same day completed in ink. Last Sunday we returned (after a four day 'Boven trip fell through due to work <grrrrr>), and being a cynical chap, paged back to the previous weekend's entries to find that my pencil entry had been … surprise …. erased. With a lick of the lips, and a glint in the eye, I was again offered a pencil by the nimble fingered attendant who was obviously glad to see my Rands again. I had to unfortunately disappoint the aforesaid 'entrepreneur' by producing a pen of my own, which I recommend all visitors to Bronkies carry at hand to assist these fellows in the difficult task of keeping to the straight and narrow. As an aside, I would also encourage visitors to Bronkies to keep aside your R20 entry fee before arriving at Bronkies; pulling out a big, money filled wallet in front of poorer folks is in my mind not polite and may encourage a line of thinking that all climbers are loaded with money. This hit home a while back when the children were still collecting the entry fee at Bronkies and they did not have any change. The little girl looked down at my wallet and impertinently informed me that I had lots of money and did not need any change ....

Neil Grimmer

Neil,

thanks for the warning. I will phone the owners and alert them to this as they are sometimes mislead by the fee collectors about "missing money". I am only back in Gauteng next week and will then replace the current access register.

Dean
083 274 1116

I had a chat to one of the owners who said she'll look into it as the regular collector(s?) are on holiday. In the mean time I'd appreciate it if everyone can fill in the register with pen. If someone can report whether the pencil trick is still being played please report it here or phone me.

FYI: The Bronkies access register has been implemented some years ago in an attempt to try and keep the transactions visible to the owners and maintain some formality on the process. From time to time things seem to go pear shaped but most of the time the access register helps to sort out any problems quickly and keep the relationship with the owners on a good level.

Dean