The invitation read as follows:
Have you ever hiked or run past a special spot on the mountain and thought, “I should come back one day and just sit and read here”? Only to forget about it. It’s the kind of activity that gets bullied down the priority list and out the window in a blink.
If you can relate, this meet may be the one for you: a shortish hike, paused for an hour of silent, uninterrupted reading. The route and reading spot will be revealed on the day.
Despite a nippy southeaster with long-term ambitions, six enthusiastic participants rocked up to try out this read & hike hybrid thing. We did our hike and we did our reading. The weather played along just beautifully. The unanimous verdict was that there should be more of these.
The following books showed up:
| Title | Author (unless otherwise indicated) |
| Dinaane | Maggie Davey (editor) |
| Dogs of Vivo | Sven Axelrad |
| How to Argue with a Cat | Jay Heinrichs |
| Me and My Sisters | Sinéad Moriarty |
| Mother Mary Comes to Me | Arundhati Roy |
| The Best Short Stories | Guy de Maupassant |
| The Overstory | Richard Powers |
| The Sun Sister | Lucinda Riley |
| Uncle Tungsten | Oliver Sacks |
The next read hike is scheduled for Monday, 30 November 2026. Keep an eye on the calendar for updates.
Picture credits: Alison Mönnig, Christo Steyn, and the delightful guy from the Sugarbird Project.
PS 1:
If there were a prize for the most appropriate book for this read hike, it would have gone to The Overstory by Richard Powers. Let’s just say, trees play a massive role in this book. The connection went deeper than that, though.
Our reading spot was on a slope under a canopy of pine trees. The participant who brought this book along settled in with her back against one of the trees, and started to read (first three pictures).
PS 2:
Most of us are painfully aware of the recent killing of nine women in the Ekurhuleni area and the various protest initiatives that have taken place as a result. In solidarity with the outcry against the ongoing gender-based violence in our country, we all wore something black or pink or both (last two pictures).
