Solo short walk up to Kanonkop

It was one of those wild and woolly days; who would of thought the southeaster would come up at not-quite-the-end of July! There was a stiff breeze blowing when I started, and when I got to the cannon, at the top, it had turned into a full gale. In fact, the wind very nearly blew me off the rock on which the cannon is mounted, I could not even stabilise myself to take pictures, I had to get down low and dirty and brace the camera against various rocks in the vicinity. I did not get the wind speed, but it was definitely more than 35 knots. After I wrote that previous sentence, I got an sms update from Cape Point Lighthouse, it read: 48-N-33-60, which means the wind had turned north and was blowing at an average speed of 48 knots with a low of 33 and a high of 60 knots at the time of writing. 60 knots - good grief! This was 5 hours later.

It was a really enjoyable hike; wind and rain make me feel really alive.

Made me think of a Joan Baez song:

(Words & music by Richard Fariña)

'Come wander quietly and listen to the wind,
Come here and listen to the sky,
Come walking high above the rolling of the waves,
And watch the swallows as they fly....'

Except that there are no swallows now because it's winter here and the swallows have gone for their annual vacation in Europe, or the Steppes in Russia. Joan performs the song in a beautiful duet with her late sister, Mimi Fariña, on the CD 'Ring Them Bells', recorded in 1995.

Remember this flower, Hyobanche Sanguinea? Excellent, I remembered the scientific name without having to look it up. I took two photographs at different exposures to try and capture the texture, which is somewhat like those fine down feathers on a young chick. I took lots of pictures of flowers - there were a variety in bloom - but, as you can well imagine, the gale force wind made things slightly tricky. The Hyobanche was right down on the ground, sheltered from the wind, and I managed to stabilise my camera hand against a flat rock at ground level. I used my other hand to pull some restio leaves out of the way while I took the pictures.

Contour Path from Constantia Nek to Newlands Forest on 16 July 2011

Yes, its Monday and the body still has little aches and pains. Gosh I am even discovering muscles that I never knew I had :-).

At Melanie, the next time (which I seriously doubt) please KEEP IT REAL!!!! Don't tell us it's an easy flat walk just for us to discover we have to climb hundreds of steps all the way to the *@^# top!!..(sommer getting tears in my eyes just thinking of it)...The only view I got of the entire hike was at home, looking at the pictures taken.

Yes, it was lekker being out in the fresh air surrounded by nature, but even though the walking was good, the climbing over the rocks was even better, downhill was the bomb BUT climbing those steps up and up and up and uuuuppppp, nearly killed me!!!. The PPAAAIINNN, hearing my own heavy breathing, feeling my heart pounding in my throat....

Thanks Heidi for your support. At one stage I promise you all I wanted to just lie down and cry myself to sleep. I even asked Heidi how the @#&(#&@) they rescue people up in the mountains but you know what??? There was no turning back so either way I was scr#&$ed!! (excuse the language but this is how it was for me). So up and up I went with a heavy heart!

Eventually after hours on the friggin mountains, we got to Newlands Forest where we braaied and chilled for the rest of the day. The time spent with family and friends were awesome.

Don't know so lekker about the next one though!!

Posted on behalf of Liz, Liz, Liz

Constantia Neck to Newlands Forest with Iron Pigs Motorcycle Club