Table Mountain and the Wine Region

Table Mountain and the Wine Region   ...   Wednesday 5^th - Thursday 6^th June 2013

On Wednesday we woke to grey skies and wet pavements.  The forecast seemed slightly off again—not the dry sunny morning that had been predicted.  Our plan was to climb Table Mountain.  Valerie, our host at the B&B, suggested that we should take the Platteklip route.  After so much rain, this north facing gorge would dry quickly in the sun.  She did point out that it was a steep route, mostly steps.  Why wasn’t I paying more attention to her inflection.

We set off with our trusty map and made our way to the Platteklip trailhead.  Within minutes of setting out we were climbing steps.  Imagine a 2-hour workout on a step machine with wildly uneven steps, add in a few stream crossings and you are starting to get the picture.  Staring upward, the whole top of the route was shrouded in cloud.  The views out from the mountain gave a panorama of downtown Cape Town, quite spectacular.  After an hour of stair stepping, just as the cloud was closing around us, we heard a huge booming sound.  Thunder, I thought.  Let’s start down, I said.  Mike insisted that we would be safe in the gorge and only at risk once we topped out onto the plateau.  A short time later, we met a helpful little chap on his way down.  Not thunder, he informed us, but the noon-day gun.  All right, stop laughing, I admit that I panic easily—who wants to be struck by lightning?

Clearly, living on a boat for eight months is not the best preparation for hiking.  I kept telling myself that we might never get back to Cape Town.  After so much sweat and effort it would be a shame to give up.  Finally we got to the plateau (not the highest point).  The cloud swirled all around.  To the west though we could see down into Camps Bay.  After hanging about for a while, the cloud lifted enough to get a view down to Cape Town. 

I thought we should take the cable car down, thereby avoiding any further damage to our knees.  At this point Mike started to act very oddly.  I may be afraid of lightning but Mike is afraid of cable cars.  In the end we split up, I took the 5-minute cable car ride and then walked along the road to the car.  Mike elected to walk back down.  To each his own, I guess.

On Friday we set off to the wine region.  We drove to Stellenbosch, quite a big town.  As I wasn’t going to be wine tasting, we wanted to find a place to walk.  Nothing was obvious so we drove on to Franschhoek. (It’s not everyday you type a word with a double h.) As we went the countryside became more hilly and more beautiful.  The town is set in a valley that reminded us of the Alps.  We found a wildflower garden behind the Huguenot Museum.  The garden seemed full of birds.  We passed a few happy hours there.  Then we had lunch at a café in town.  We returned to the gardens but the activity seemed to have died down. 

Our return route crossed a couple of spectacular passes, transited the Theewaterskloof Dam and passed through an area full of fruit orchards.  By the time we got back to the N2 it was apparently rush-hour.  Having made it back to the B&B, I feel that we saw another side of the Cape area.  Clearly there would be much more to see but we are out of time.  In the morning we fly to Johannesburg for part two of our South African adventure.

As we pack up we would just like to say what a great place the Carmichael Guest House has been. We’ve been really comfortable here and Yves and Valerie could not have been kinder or more attentive hosts. They even made us a real fire in our room one evening when the weather had been particularly miserable. We’d certainly recommend this place to anyone visiting Cape Town

Gloria 

Gloria approaching the top of the Platteklip Gorge

Camps Bay from Table Mountain

Cable Car - Table Mountain

Franschhoek

Flower Gardens - Huguenot museum, Franschhoek

Swee Waxbill collecting nesting material

Swee Waxbill in flight

Baboon portrait - the road out of Franschhoek