October 2011

1st October. Arrived back in Cape Town on the 22nd September and was met at the airport by the lovely Lyn. Spent the next week cleaning the house, doing the laundry, sorting out the garden and planting the summer salads. Also got 7 jars of marmalade out of my little lemon tree that had been busy in my absence. By Wednesday I was ready to get back into the usual routine and had a good hike with the usual suspects up the mountain above Kalk Bay. Gill was leading so it was the ‘path less travelled’ and a bit of scrambling! It was a bit of a misty day so the views from the top were not great but we could see all the way to Cape Point.

While we were on the mountain we heard the Skark Siren going many times and saw not a soul on Fish Hoek beach. However the mid-day news reported that a man who had chosen to ignore the warnings and go swimming had been bitten and lost a leg.

On Thursday I joined the Re-Cyclers for a ride at the Nature Reserve surrounding the Nuclear Power Plant. I call it the ‘Miner’s Canary’ and recon that if the wild life starts to die they know they have a problem! We saw Pelecan (above) , Zebra, Eland and Springbok. It is a nice park with good tracks that run right down to the sea. After the ride we had lunch in the car park before heading back to town.

7th October On Tuesday we had a wet ride up in Tokai Forrest with too much cloud and rain to make photography worthwhile which is a pity as we rode through a troop of baboon feeding and grooming on the path. On Wednesday we had a lovely hike above Simon’s Town. The Spring flowers were a delight.

Old cottage at the beginning of the trail

Setting off

Flowers along the way.

The brilliant pink dwarf gladioli and the tactile papery everlasting flowers.

The pretty painted lady and the bright yellow minature iris.

Today my son Paul and his childhood friend share a birthday.

12th October two days ago I went with the Forresters Cycling group to Meerendaal Wine Farm for mountain biking on the estate. It was a nice change from Tokai Forrest.

Today the Wednesday group hiked to ‘The Numbers’ in Silvermine. It was a long hike and we looked down into False Bay from the peak. We continue to enjoy the many flowers along the way.