The Weight of Wisdom: Prioritizing safety on the Vanrhyns Pass.

There is a profound clarity that emerges when common sense prevails over ambition. For several nights, I found myself restless, grappling with the logistics of our upcoming journey to Brandvlei. The plan involved hauling over 520kg of bagged concrete and sand, bringing our total trailer weight to approximately one ton.

The technical challenge was significant: our trailer is unbraked. Navigating two major mountain passes—most notably the notorious Vanrhyns Pass—with that much momentum behind the vehicle is a high-stakes endeavour. Vanrhyns is famous for its steep gradients and sharp bends; it is a stretch of road that has claimed many and frequently makes headlines for the wrong reasons. In the world of heavy hauling, the laws of physics are unforgiving. On a steep decline, an unbraked load can easily overwhelm a vehicle's braking system, leading to "jackknifing" or complete brake failure.

In the midst of my hesitation, I found myself leaning on the enduring wisdom of my late father. He often told me, “If your gut feeling says no, then no shall it be.” It is a simple mantra, but one that demands the ego be set aside in favour of intuition. Following that advice, I have made the final executive decision to remove 400kg of the premix concrete from the load. We will transport it to the house at a later date when the risks are lower.

While this decision inevitably delays one of our construction projects, the logic is sound: a project can always be rescheduled, but a life cannot.

With the weight literally and figuratively lifted, we are now ready to depart. We look forward to a peaceful Christmas and a vibrant New Year at our home, Rusticana, in the Northern Cape. The road ahead is long, but it will be travelled with a clear conscience and a safe margin for error.