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!

Fish Hoek, over Elsie's Peak to Welcome Glen

Today marks the 2 week count down to our epic adventure... on the 4th of Feb we fly to Tanzania and make our way to Kilimanjaro - the climb starts on the 6th (Friday)

So of course I had a mild panic attack - one of those "What the hell are we doing???" moments. "Are we ready???" Marco seems to think so - but my internal monologue voice is screaming: WE NEED MORE TIME!!

With that in mind (literally!) when Marco decided to do the Fish Hoek (the bottom of 2nd Avenue) up the mountain, over Elsie's Peak and to Welcome Glen, I thought: Uh-oh! This one looked pretty tough when we did the reverse the other day - but what the hell, we need to get fit!

We pushed it pretty hard and managed to do the entire trip in 1h30 (which is a whole 20 mins quicker than just 3 days ago!) And this was supposed to be the more difficult one. I think we're just so damn tired of hiking now that the pace has picked up considerably. You know the logic: push harder, but walk for less time!

I have to say, even though my back pack weighs quite a lot, hauling it around with me all over the place I've become so used to it, I barely notice it's there anymore. I must be getting fit!

PS: The photo is taken on Elsie's Peak overlooking Simon's Town. The yachts you can see in the Bay are there for the weekly  Wednesday keel boat regattas held by the False Bay Yacht Club

Olifantsbos in Cape Point

Happy New Year!!

And while almost everyone else is carefully nursing a hangover, we're already out and about training in all seriousness.

The next few posts will cover some of the hikes we're going to do in preparation for Kilimanjaro.

This trek was along Olifantsbos in the Cape Point Nature Reserve. 

We spent the first 2/3 of the hike walking along the beach in our hiking boots. In the mid-summer heat and on really soft beach sand; that was really hard work!

The beaches are stunning - hardly anyone there. We walked very far down, but you don't have to go far before coming across a number of shipwrecks right on the beach. 

There is even a whale bone that has long ago washed up on the beach.

The circular route eventually takes you up along the cliff tops and then back to the car park. In total it took us around 3 hours to walk and we estimated this to be a 6km route.

Walking on the soft sand in big boots is very challenging, but really good exercise!

The great thing about hiking in and around the Western Cape is that we are spoilt for choice and the views are just unbelievable!