From sunrise to sunset...

This was the glorious site that greeted us as we started our hike above Simons Town a while back. Little did we know that that same sun would be on it's way down by the time we got back to the car! A long but wonderful hike. We parked vehicles at the start and finish, as we ended our walk almost at the entrance of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, quite a way from the start of our walk.

We enjoyed glorious views of False Bay and the surrounding mountains the entire day. The only surprise was the steep descent at the end of the route and to say that the sight of the vehicle was a welcome sight for sore eyes (and knees!), is an understatement!

Southern Right whales frolicking in the cold water in the bay, elusive little buck disappearing in the bushes around us and a canon shot announcing midday down in the naval base - just a few of the highlights of the day!

And as always - the customary hearts on our route...

A day in the du Toit's Kloof mountains...

True to form, the weatherman got it wrong again yesterday. Thank goodness! If the predicted rain materialised, we would have had a pretty miserable day on the mountain. Eight of us headed out to the du Toit's Kloof mountains at the crack of dawn. We hiked to the overnight hut at Kromriver where we stopped to boil water for coffee. After this customary 'breakfast' stop we continued on - the photographs below show the beauty that surrounded us the rest of the day.

We had a new hiker join the group on this walk and I have to hang my head in shame today as she was the only one who didn't moan and groan when the going got tough! Welcome Catherine!

I still have to post pics of the two previous hikes - will do that soon...

Finally, today it is exactly one year since we tackled Kilimanjaro. How I wish we could do it all over again!

We suspect that this is a 'Duiker' spoor. To read more about this little antelope, click here.

Even from the back, this little flower is just perfect...

As always - nature didn't disappoint! The customary heart shapes were scattered all along the path!

Nestled in the Winelands - a Pearl of a Mountain...

Last Thursday we headed out to the town of Paarl where we tackled the famous Paarl Mountain, also known as Paarl Rock. The mountain overlooks the sleepy little winelands town and consists of a huge granite rock, characterised by three distinct outcrops. Read more about the town and it's distinct mountain here.

As the photographs prove, we had lovely weather. It was quite windy at the top but as soon as we headed back down we were totally sheltered once again. The only shadow cast on this day was the fact that I lost one of my walking poles. We went back and retraced our steps but alas, my stick has been claimed by the mountain. It's a little sad for me as this is one of the set that helped me up Kilimanjaro, so needless to say, I was not impressed with myself. Anyway, my fellow hikers have told me that I can finally call myself a true hiker, as losing a walking pole for the first time is the true qualifier!

Lately I've noticed a heart shaped object on every walk that we've undertaken. Sometimes it's in the form of a leaf, sometimes it's in the form of a stone and sometimes it's even in the branch of a tree. I'm going to attempt to capture this on camera in future and will always post it as the last picture in every post.

This week the heart shape that really jumped out at me was perfectly formed in a tree that we passed. I definitely feel the presence of our creator out there in nature and I'd like to believe that these hearts that keep appearing is mere confirmation of what makes the world go round!

Enjoy the pics!

As is evident in this blog, hiking in Cape Town is a truly special experience and can be enjoyed almost year round!  If you ever visit our part of the world and would like to experience what hiking in the Cape is all about, contact hikingisfun@telkomsa.net.