Tag Archives: Cape Town

Hike @ Silvermine Nature Reserve – 14 May 2016

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On Saturday, 14 May 2016, myself and another 17 members of the Gantouw Hiking Club did a 9.2km hike in the Silvermine Nature Reserve.  The reserve was closed for a long time after a devastating fire in 2015 but opened again earlier this year.  The hike is a fairly easy hike (about a 2a or 2b maybe) and below is the map of the route we did. The only part us the piece on the left which include a bit of scrambling up rocks and little bit on the edge of the cliff but nothing dangerous.

The morning started out very misty but since rhe reserve is high up on the mountaing range, we were way above the misty clouds below.  However this made for some great photographs.

With the sun above us and to out backs and the clouds and mist in front below us, I had the rare experience of seeing a Brocken Specktre … yes I had no idea what it was either but had a person in the group who explained it.  It is basically your body that throw a shadow against the cloud below and form a rainbow around your shadow.  Tried to photograph it but did not come out very clear but you should get the idea.

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We had lunch at  Noordhoek Peak bench, on the map above, the point top left.  Here we had a view of the sea below.
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Gallery of photos taken during the hike, enjoy and comments welcome.
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Walk: Majik Forest and back

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I was off sick for the past week so weekend and Saturday hiking had to take a back seat.  Having sort of recovered I took a short 5km walk from my home down to Majik Forest and back.  If you stay in the area and have not visited Majik Forest then do yourself the favour and spend some time there.  It is Majik 🙂

I also started to use Wikiloc to track and record the route that I walk/hike. It is an ideal tool if and when you want to share a route with somebody else or finding a new route to walk/hike.  Here is the route for my walk:
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The link to the route in Wikiloc:  http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=12034718

Hike: Newlands Forrest and Rhodes Memorial – 9 Jan 2016

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On the morning of 9 January 2016, a group of 16 of us from the Gantouw Hiking Club hiked from the Newlands Fire Station in the Newlands Forrest on a circular route past Rhodes Memorial that brought us back to the Fire Station.

As can be seen from the route board there is various routes one can take:
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After some deliberation, a route was picked and we set off.
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The route was about 10km which took us about 3 hours to walk.  The start was at 96m and the highest point that we reached was 470m.  The hike is mostly in the shade under the forrest trees.  It is a very gentle hike.  Here is the route from Runkeeper that we completed.
Newlands Forrest Station

After the hike we went to the Rhodes Memorial Restaurant for some well deserved drinks.  Photagraphs taken with my Canon Powershot SX20 IS.

Sea Point Promenade walk

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After the strenuous walk up Skeleton Gorge over the weekend, I had the give my legs a light exercise and what better walk than on the Sea Point Promenade.

Started at the famous Mouille Point lighthouse.

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Walked all the way to the other side of Sea Point and back with great views of the ocean.

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And do not forget to have a look at Lions Head. When in Cape Town then go and have a picnic right on top, best views in then whole world.

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Castle of Good Hope not on the list …

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WebUrbanist ran an article today called Starry Knights: 14 Stellar Star-Shaped Fortresses which did not include our beloved castle in Cape Town.  Here is a picture I grabbed from Google Maps.

From Wikipedia:

Built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679, the Castle is the oldest building in South Africa. It replaced an older fort called the Fort de Goede Hoop, which was made out of clay and timber and built in 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck upon his arrival at the Cape.
The purpose of both were to act as a replenishment station for ships
passing the treacherous coast around the Cape on long voyages between
the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies.

Ice cream on flight in winter

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I flew back from Johannesburg to Cape Town on a BA flight yesterday afternoon after spending a week in Johannesburg.  How do people stand that cold .. I will rather take the wet in Cape Town than that cold in Jhb .. I almost froze to death.

On to the ice cream.  Instead of peanuts and whatnot, we got dished out icecream.  You know those Magnum ice cream on a stick,  only small versions of it.  These ice creams were frozen rock solid and it was a laugh watching the people trying to eat these.  Trying to bite pieces of was just impossible except for the chocolate coating on the outside.  This was the first time that I was given ice cream on a flight and it was actually very nice.  Just a pity it was such a small one.  What I find interesting is that they serve ice cream in the midst of a cold winter and come summer these ice creams are nowhere to be seen.  Will never understand that thinking.

Overall the flight was a very pleasant and fun flight .. very friendly lady between myself and Andre on the flight and was not offended by the jokes we cracked about the woman pilot.  Yes, we had a woman pilot and obviously all the woman pilot jokes and comments came out.  Must say that she, the woman pilot, was actually good.  The landing was not to bumpy and she missed most of the air tirbulance.

I am just happy to be back home in good ol Cape Town .. Jhb really sucks.

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