The last Last Sunday of the Month Hike of the Year: Bailey’s Kloof – from the Shark Spotters’ Hut above Muizenberg and then up – and up.
(and then back down again.)
Not far, but a LOT of ascent, so thank goodness for the lovely cloud cover for most of the way up – which also gave us some wonderful crepuscular rays over False Bay.
The cloud was very welcome on the way up, but it brightened and brightened as the morning wore on – pretty much perfect conditions for a nice gentle(ish) walk.
Plenty of flowers around including (I think) Watsonia spp., Aristea glauca, Erica cerinthoides and a single Mountain Dahlia (Liparia splendens) doing its thing on the back of St James Peak:
But aside from the plants, not a lot on the wildlife front, including the birds.
Then back for a cold beer or two and a quick dip in the pool, and I’m now heading rapidly towards the TV for United’s last game of a – rather mixed – 2024.
Really nothing too strenuous. My Garmin watch wasn’t even sure I had been out and about. But 4.5km along the front of Table Mountain was a lovely way to start the day today.
It still always amazes me that we popped out for a wander along somewhere just up the road that millions of people travel thousands of miles to visit. Quite a few of them were there as well, blindly walking across the road at the Cableway Station, and foolishly tackling India Venster.
The weather was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold (all you need is a light jacket) (IYKYK), with the sun occasionally revealing itself from behind the dramatic orthographic clouds swirling around Devils Peak:
And the odd glimpse down into the City Bowl:
We finished so soon that we were only able to do a morning coffee, rather than a morning beer (the irritating licensing laws having comprehensively failed to force us into church anyway) and we were home before lunchtime and ready to enjoy the rest of our day.
Nap, football and braai being the order of events.
An interesting hike up to the Constantiaberg Mast yesterday morning with friends. 8.8km in distance and 510m of ascent. Sometimes hot and sunny, sometimes cold and windy. Such is the chaotic nature of the weather in the Table Mountain National Park. But on the backside of the mountain on the way up, we were mainly surviving a “bracing” gale force southwesterly, straight off the Atlantic.
Not much animal life around, but a fair selection of birds and plenty (or more) of South Africa’s National Flower, the King Protea (Protea cynaroides):
Interestingly, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of reproducible information about the actual mast that we walked up to. Sitting on a mountain of 902m, it’s either 146m or 154m high, which I guess won’t really bother anyone who’s not flying nearby between 1048m and 1056m amsl. But it does really seem like something that really should be a known value.
It’s about half the height of the Eiffel Tower, which looks BIG whenever you see it. But even when you’re right underneath this structure, it really doesn’t seem that tall. Maybe that’s because there’s nothing around to compare it to. The guy wires holding it up in the mighty Cape wind – the two of which make an eerie and almost ominous sound as they meet – are seriously hefty though, as are their attachment points to the mountain. It doesn’t seem to wobble much. And although there’s still radio and TV being broadcast from here, the majority of the infrastructure now seems to be microwave-based – I counted over 70 transceivers. And one big satellite dish.
One thing that is a little lax is the security. A waist-high, rusting barbed wire fence (and some healthy self-preservation and vertigo) was all that was stopping us from being able to access and climb the tower. (B)eagle-eyed readers will be able to see the wide open gate to the right of the road: that’ll certainly assist in keeping people from getting very, very close to this strategically important bit of national infrastructure.
We just sat there and had a coffee and some hot cross buns though, before a much less hectic descent back to the car.
They’re coming to start some building work on the bar here tomorrow, so rather than tidy up the place and get it ready for them, we went on a 16½km hike up Table Mountain.
Chilly on top in the wind, but otherwise a lovely morning out with plenty of exercise and plenty of fresh air.
And then (after a well-deserved glass of red at a local wine farm), it was back home to prep the place for a week of dust and dirt.
Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to do a hike around the mountain yesterday with an ankle that doesn’t really want to play at the moment. It’s even more reluctant to be anything but grumpy today, but a couple of myprodol will surely calm it down a bit.
Still, the hike was fun and the views were amazing. Some nice plant life, too. I would add a photo here, but I haven’t downloaded one yet. EDIT: Look – Cape Gorse!
We’re taking Granddad to meet the horses this afternoon, at the place where I regularly pen my Wednesday missives. To be honest, I’m probably not going to add anything more to this 24 hours late, but again, I never say never. And your chances of a photo being inserted above are pretty good.
