Opting to stay away from Orange kloof and weather, we remembered Maori Bay and the Bos 400 trail.
Continue readingHike #23: The Steenbok Flower Trail
A few years ago, Alison was lucky enough to gatecrash a party of well-organised hikists who had booked permits for the Steenbok Trail in the West Coast National Park
Continue readingHike #22: India Venster, Table Mountain
All in all, it was an excellent way to celebrate National Get Off Your Butt And Actually Hike Up India Venster, Table Mountain.
Continue readingHike #21: Silvermine and Kalk Bay Peak
Coming down the other side of Kalk Bay Peak and discovering we’d come along the path from Echo Valley that we hadn’t taken last time.
Continue readingHike #20: St James’s Peak
St James Peak was one of our least eventful hikes. Nobody got lost, nobody got scared, and Alison didn’t even fall on her backside once. Also, we didn’t really find the peak of St James’s Peak.
Continue readingHike #19: Left Face-Mystery B and Platteklip Gorge
Tony Lourens calls Left Face-Mystery B ‘exciting and ingenious’, but I suspect that Cuzzie would call it other. Platteklip Gorge
Continue readingHike #18: Helderberg Nature Reserve and West Peak
One of the main goals of this hike was to convince Frank to come hiking again. Since his return from AfrikaBurn, he’d been using lame excuses to avoid us, like: ‘I have an ITB injury’. (Which, when we googled it, turned out to be nothing more than CrossFittish for a dicky knee.)
So, once again, we got up a little earlier and drove aaaall the way to Somerset West (which didn’t take very long, because Martin was driving). And, once again, the hike was Karl’s recommendation. This time, having a better idea of our hiking habits, Karl had told us to plan on around 6 hours so that we could do the full length circular route up to West Peak. Such a long hike, some of us fervently hoped, would keep Martin satisfied and nonlethal.
It seemed to work, because the only person who attempted a detour was Karl, who insisted that he knew the route like the back of his hand. He then proceeded to lead us along an obscure trail that vanished into head-high, dense, prickly undergrowth. While Karl fought his way doggedly through the tangle, the rest of us turned around and went further upstream to find a bridge leading to an unmistakable trail with a sign that read ‘West Peak.’
A little further up the hill, we met a somewhat dishevelled Karl as he emerged from the thicket looking like Dr Who after narrowly triumphing over a particularly tricky transdimensional tight-spot in the Tardis. Karl appeared surprised to learn about the bridge, the sign and the path. And, as Oom Schalk Lourens would say, somehow, after that, we did not have so much confidence in our veldkor, err, hike leader.
HIKE DETAILS
Duration: 5 hours 20 mins
Distance: 12.8km
Trail directions we used: The map on the Helderberg Nature Reserve website.
Parking: At the visitor centre inside the reserve.
Remember: It costs R20 per person and R10 per vehicle to get into the reserve (payable at the gate).
Post-hike eating place: This should have been Triggerfish Brewery, which we were all super excited about, but when we got there, it turned out to be closed on Sundays, so we went home and drank alone… #sadface
HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS HIKE
- The troupe of baboons on the saddle who took absolutely no interest in us.
- The sun coming out just as we arrived at the top of West Peak.
- The awesome views of absolutely everywhere, from Cape Point to Cape Town and from Strand and Somerset West to Stellenbosch.
- Probably our longest lunch break ever, because #thatview
- Looking everywhere for Table Mountain and then realising we were staring straight at it, because it looks so different from up there.
Alison Westwood is a travel writer and hikist. You can read more of her writing at alisonwestwood.com
Photographs of West Peak and Helderberg Nature Reserve
Hike #17: Agatha’s Gully and Constantia Corner
After we failed to locate some ‘vague cairns’, Martin decided that the obvious route out of Agatha’s Gully/Constantia Corner was to free-climb straight up the cliffs.
Continue readingHike #16: Blackburn Ravine and Chapman’s Peak
Blackburn Ravine was an easy one-way hike, with some nice views. And that’s about all anyone can reasonably be expected to say about it.
Continue readingHike #15: Tweede Waterval Trail, Jonkershoek
We decided to wake up early and drive to Stellenbosch to hike the Tweede Waterval Trail in Jonkershoek
Continue readingHike #14: Cecilia Ridge and Hole in the Wall
Hike number 14 was Cecilia Ridge and Hole in the Wall.
Continue readingHike #13: Sandy Bay and the Oudeschip Trail
The Sandy Bay Shipwreck Trail certainly is easy, provided you just go as far as the upside-down rust-bucket of a wreck of the Harvest Capella on the Oudeschip Peninsula
Continue reading