Chapman's Peak: quickly

We're nearing our leave date (almost a week to go!!) and we're a little tired from all the hard work put in already. Plus Marco has a split toe which is gross and also not healing so well with all the Mauy Thai and hiking we've been doing. 

So... we've decided to tone it down a little. We took a bit of a break over the weekend (mostly shopped for last minute Kili kit and also went to the Prime Circle concert at Kirstenbosch on Sunday - They are AWESOME live, if ever you get the opportunity to see them!)

Anyway, it basically means that today's walk (fully loaded back pack included) was along Chapman's Peak again. This time we stayed on the road and walked there and ran part-way back (against a gale force wind, mind you!). 

It was only 50 mins long - but enough for now to keep the legs in motion!

We only managed a short walk mostly due to the fact that Chapman's Peak is still closed! It's been closed since Jun '08 with no signs of re-opening yet... More information on that here. 

We saw a bakkie drive through there twice while we were walking and the roads seemed perfectly OK to us, the rock catching 'nets' all still in tact (and actually with little -> no rocks in them.) 

Annoying for motorists really - and a little for pedestrians as the route is much shorter now that they have closed it off completely! Argh!

Flukes Outdoor Restaurant

OK, so it's Friday afternoon - the sun is still warm in the sky - it's been a long day - hell; it's been a LONG week...

So when I said - hey guys... lets NOT walk (again - groan!) let's go for some tasty, tasty beer... who was going to say "No!"?

Precisely!! So we headed off to Flukes new outdoor restaurant - which is to say their fancy new braai area with gorgeous sea views; where you turn up, order drinks, order food - eat, be merry and go home - no mess, no fuss!!

And what a location! The service & food is worth raving about too! (Thanks Jess!)

We certainly keep going back and if you're in the area, I highly recommend this as something a little different and a lot of fun.

Elephants Eye

Day 2 sees us trekking up to Elephant's Eye cave from Tokai forest. This is a 7.6km round trip and is very vertical - straight up and straight down. This one took us 3 hours to complete.

Most of the hike is through the forest itself which at least gives some shade in the midday heat (yes, we hiked in the middle of the day -> mad dogs and Englishman, what now?)

As you reach the top of the forest, you get some stunning views across the South Peninsula the Southern Suburbs and the Cape Flats. It's here that you realise just how far you've come!

After that you haul your tired ass the rest of the way to the cave, which is nice and cool (a glorious relief!) 

It is also the perfect place to stopover for a bite to eat (remember to bring something!!) before heading all the way back down again!