Klein Hangklip
As the name suggests, Klein Hangklip is a smaller replica of Hangklip peak located further south at Cape Hangklip. Hangklip is the sentinel east of False Bay's entrance. In the age of sail, many a navigator mistook Hangklip for the Cape of Good Hope and ended up being...
Five days in Groot Winterhoek
I was privileged to be invited, with five others, by Santie to share her birthday hike in the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area - one day for each decade. Although we had wonderful weather - windless and sunny - and simply being out there with like-minded people was...
To the Rooiels source
I think we decided on the route for that day at breakfast. The only criterium was that we would walk from my house and not drive anywhere. Santie would be on a mission anyway: to log her 1200th species on iNaturalist. My previous hike up the Rooiels River valley had...
Rooiels River walk
This was my first hike from our new home in Rooiels, having moved to this coastal paradise in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve five weeks ago. We quickly came to realise that we have landed in the middle of a contest between the preservationists/conservationists who...
Pipe Track to Hout Bay Corner
Via Corridor and Llandudno ravines December in the Cape saw a lot of unseasonal rain allied to some nasty Black South-Easters. The latter means low cloud on the mountains and unpleasant conditions. But desperate for a walk of some sort, Santie and I decided on a Table...
A farewell to Stellenbosch Mountain
After 34 years of living and working in Stellenbosch, not to mention 4 years as students here, we are preparing to move to the Kogelberg coast for the next phase of our lives. Although I don't have any notion of deliberately taking leave of familiar peaks and trails,...
Recces and repeats
I haven't posted in a while, so those who believe that if an outdoor activity hasn't been posted on digital media somewhere then it didn't occur, might think that I have been idle. Although there have been other distractions - like grandkids arriving for a long visit,...
Simonsberg
Simonsberg has been a looming, brooding presence in my life for almost fifty years. It towered to starboard daily on the short walks to engineering classes, and later on the cycle commutes to work. In stressful times when I needed calm and to gaze at something...
Smitswinkel – Simon’s Town Traverse
As with most hikes on the Cape Peninsula, this traverse is visually spectacular. It can be walked in either direction, but on this occasion the MCSA trail leader thought it better to tackle the steep section in the morning because high northerly winds were expected...
The Kogelberg Trail
The Kogelberg Trail is a circular, 24 km hiking trail in the Kogelberg Nature Reserve. Last weekend's walk was fifth time that I have done it, as I remember. All the gradients are gradual, there is no exposure nor scrambles and the trail has few obstacles. It is...
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