All along the watershed – Saaltjie to Botmaskop
Last Sunday I hosted some of the Patagons and other hiking buddies at Jonkershoek for a day hike - "not too long, too high and too hard" was the request. So I thought it would be nice to follow the eastern watershed from north of Twin Peaks to Botmaskop - not too high...
Hiking Oorlogskloof’s Rock Pigeon Trail
Also known as "Wessel Reloaded" 5 days, 52.2 km (55.1 km according to my GPS recording), 18 hrs 27 min moving time at a moving average speed of 3 km/h We all agreed afterwards that Oorlogskloof is probably the best hike in South Africa - mainly because of the care and...
Simonstown to Smitswinkel on foot
We took the Old Mule Trail up to Blockhouse Gap where two old blockhouses slowly weather away. Apparently the blockhouses were built at the beginning of World War I to guard the eastern approach through the nek to the naval ammunitions magazines that scar the high...
Victoria Peak with the Patagons
At the beginning of the week that I finally became a member of the Mountain Club of SA, some of the Patagonian trekkers and I headed for Victoria Peak, the highest peak in the Jonkershoek mountains. It was a warm day with high cloud and haze and no wind. Pretty...
Photos and thoughts from the 2010 World Cup
Aka De Kaap is weer Hollands... I am a football fanatic - always have been. That South Africa would one-day host the World Cup seemed completely inconceivable when I was growing up in the apartheid era. When SA won the right to host it the sceptics - especially some...
Kayak Rooiels-Pringle Bay, Kogelberg Coast
On this crisp morning, Deon and I launched at Rooiels and paddled out to look for the first Southern Right whales of the season, but it seems it's still too early. So we settled for a paddle down the coast to Pringle Bay and brunch. A fairly heavy swell was running...
More Patagonian trek stories
Long-time hiking buddy, Peter Groves, has produced a monumental work that documents our [intlink id="998" type="post"]three weeks in Buenos Aires and Patagonia recently[/intlink]. It is liberally illustrated with his magnificent photos. I highly recommend a visit....
Climbing Haelkop, Jonkershoek
Another mountain club uitstappie to Haelkop peak (1390 m), one of the loftier peaks that rim the Jonkershoek valley. The route upwards to the watershed north of Haelkop is a fairly easy, yet relentlessly uphill, hike. Near the top the gradients steepen markedly. From...
Climbing Twin Peaks, Jonkershoek
Climbing Jonkershoek's Twin Peaks ("Die Pieke") is one of the outdoor experiences in the Jonkershoek mountains. On this occasion I went with the mountain club (MCSA) on the "uitstappie". An uitstappie is one of those wonderfully euphemistic, Afrikaans terms that could...
Patagonia Treks in Google Earth
“The Earth never forgets that trees were its first thought” This intriguing idea was carved in Spanish on a wooden sign as we left Puelo on our first multi-day trek on the Los Hitos trail to Chile. And when you enter the ancient forests of northern Patagonia you...
Patagonia trekking photos
As you may know I have just returned from 3 weeks' trekking in Patagonian Argentina and Chile. Words don't do it justice, so here are some photos while I figure out the words and prep the GPS tracks.... [HTML1] or view the album
VWS Jonkershoek firefighters in the Franschhoek mountains
Unfortunately - and unsurprisingly - my words were prescient: it has indeed become an "interesting" summer in the Boland mountains. Since December Volunteer Wildfire Services Jonkershoek (VWS-JNK) has been called out at least 6 times to fires in the local mountains...
Photos of Table Mountain walks
The Cape-based members of the Patagonia group are training for the trek through the Andes by taking regular walks in the Cape Peninsula's Table Mountain National Park. Here are some photos from those walks along with some older ones... [HTML1] If the slideshow does...
Downwind Dash is the biggest?
The press release announcing the 25th edition of the Downwind Dash from Langebaan to Saldanha, scheduled for 23-24 January, hails it as "the world's biggest kitesurfing and windsurfing race". The organisers are expecting 400 entrants! It may even be the world's...
Witels
I've long heard of it and I've always wanted to go there. Much of the area is owned by the UCT Mountain and Ski Club and the Mountain Club (MCSA) is able to obtain permits. I went with the Stellenbosch section of the MCSA. But be warned: be fit or be young... From...
Volunteer Wildfire Services Jonkershoek
As I was contemplating a short post about the Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS), and specifically its rookie branch in the Jonkershoek valley, we were called out to mop up a plantation fire above Rozendal yesterday at around 6 pm. It was our first op since 27...
Klein River by kayak
The Klein River and Vlei near Hermanus can apparently claim that: at 80 km in length, the Klein River is the river with the shortest distance between its origin and its mouth in the world - 5 km as the crow flies (according to the Stanford Tourism Bureau) the bird...
Jonkershoek colour explosion
Photos of the Watsonias in Jonkershoek after the big summer fire and the winter rains. Deon and I took a cycle up the valley to capture them before the summer winds take their toll.
Climbing Victoria Peak
At 1589m Victoria Peak is the highest summit in the Jonkershoek area. It is visible beyond the valley from Stellenbosch and is often - as it is today - covered in a white blanket of snow. The route as shown in this Google Earth track winds up the eastern edge of the...
Baboons matter
On the Cape Peninsula there are few people who are neutral towards the local Chacma baboons: you either love them or hate them. The remnant troops of the Table Mountain National Park which now protects a large portion of the peninsula, range from the southern table of...
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