Wednesday(Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens)
It was a fantastic day I took a Rikki, a limited local bus service, for 16R to the foot of table mountain and then walked up Platten Gorge taking 1:10 to climb up, I had considered waiting for suitable people to walk up with but could see some people walking up ahead and so started going up on my own as thought I could always stay close behind them, however, as I was going a lot faster than them I decided to go up on my own and figured if I fell or something someone would probably see me. It was a gloriously hot summers day and passed a family and their kid was really struggling with the steps and almost looked as if he was climbing, and I felt at time I was really having to swing my leg up to more than 90degrees, I could felt the lactic acid burn at times, the barman at the hostel, James, had very kindly lent me his hat, I would have roasted even more without it. It was great turning around every so often and looking back over he route taken and also the view over Cape Town, especially now that I knew the place slightly, I took in the top for a while and then decided to go down to Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens-via the ominously named Skeletal Gorge.
It was in fact a lovely route as it was shaded at time going through wooded areas, having interesting rock formations and ladders to climb down.
The guide book says try walking down Table Mountain before trying climbing up, but I would disagree, climbing up is hotter but it is definitely safer as it’s much harder to fall up a mountain than down a mountain.
I was concerned every so often that I might be lost as I was scrambling down a river at one point. I found walking on the edges of steps at times made walking down more comfortable on the joints as you could get more of a bounce.
Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens was a really nice place to end up especially as I realised by coming over Table Mountain I’d managed to save 25R on the entrance fee, sure going on a 5 hour walk is probably a bit excessive if that had been the point. There was a super collection of succulents in one greenhouse, with lots of different species with a stuffed scaly mammal, also saw a thing which looked like ferrets running across the gardens.
The was a little bit of a mini adventure after leaving the park, I found a taxi back would cost 150R and I was told could really walk back as it was a motorway back, and also quite a long distance, so I decided to hitchhike, I figured people leaving from the park would be a good ‘safe’ bet – I got a lift with a very friendly lady who apologised for SA’s poor transport system, her old car and her classical music – all of which I found highly amusing as I was very grateful for a lift that she gave me to the train station, the train was okay. In the evening I ate with the Aussies, and sadly won’t be visiting them as there isn’t time to visit Tasmania on the trip to Australia, played pool, and talked about travel and later the Brazilian, Marco, turned up and I got to have a game of table football. I was glad that I hadn’t booked the connecting bus from Cape Town, as it was quite a late night.
It was in fact a lovely route as it was shaded at time going through wooded areas, having interesting rock formations and ladders to climb down.
The guide book says try walking down Table Mountain before trying climbing up, but I would disagree, climbing up is hotter but it is definitely safer as it’s much harder to fall up a mountain than down a mountain.
I was concerned every so often that I might be lost as I was scrambling down a river at one point. I found walking on the edges of steps at times made walking down more comfortable on the joints as you could get more of a bounce.
Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens was a really nice place to end up especially as I realised by coming over Table Mountain I’d managed to save 25R on the entrance fee, sure going on a 5 hour walk is probably a bit excessive if that had been the point. There was a super collection of succulents in one greenhouse, with lots of different species with a stuffed scaly mammal, also saw a thing which looked like ferrets running across the gardens.
The was a little bit of a mini adventure after leaving the park, I found a taxi back would cost 150R and I was told could really walk back as it was a motorway back, and also quite a long distance, so I decided to hitchhike, I figured people leaving from the park would be a good ‘safe’ bet – I got a lift with a very friendly lady who apologised for SA’s poor transport system, her old car and her classical music – all of which I found highly amusing as I was very grateful for a lift that she gave me to the train station, the train was okay. In the evening I ate with the Aussies, and sadly won’t be visiting them as there isn’t time to visit Tasmania on the trip to Australia, played pool, and talked about travel and later the Brazilian, Marco, turned up and I got to have a game of table football. I was glad that I hadn’t booked the connecting bus from Cape Town, as it was quite a late night.
posted by Peter at 2:07 pm
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