Green machine prowls Gordon’s Bay
Last Sunday I took the new lime-green Skua out for its maiden paddle around Gordon's Bay. We ducked into the old harbour, sheltered from a cloud burst under the NSRI station for a while, cruised over to Harbour Island and weaved through the marina, and then powered...
La Motte to Franschhoek Pass traverse
In typical MCSA Stellenbosch style: a couple of koppies (little hills) on this uitstappie (outing). The numbers tell the story: 12.25 km maximum slope: 58.2% minimum elevation: 240 m; maximum elevation: 1405 m elevation gain: 1472 m; elevation loss: 1008 m moving...
Franschhoek to Jonkershoek via Assegaaiboschkloof
The mountain club's plan was to walk from Franschhoek to Jonkershoek along the watershed via Emerald Dome and Victoria Peak. We would ascend Fortsnek and cross Noordkloofpiek, the scene of last year's firefighting. It promised to be a long, hard, but spectacular, day....
Fighting the Kogelberg fire
The latest fire that swept through the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve last week was nothing short of disastrous. Young veld burnt again and all the eleven-year old veld has been destroyed, so that, in the words of a nature conservation official, "everything between...
Paddling up the Steenbras
There isn't actually much of the Steenbras River to paddle up, even on a kayak - only about 300 metres. Rather it's the 13 km round-trip paddle from Gordon's Bay harbour and the usually benign, but spectacular, rivermouth entrance that is most of the fun. On this last...
Slanghoek Peak via Witte River
The route to Slanghoek Peak curves south and east up the Witte River valley. A fairly level and scenic walk from the car park at Eerste Tol on Bainskloof Pass of 12.5 km to a saddle below Slanghoek on Mountain Club property, known as Springstygbeugel1, almost...
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...
Recent Comments