After our fun-filled morning on Saturday (see below post), I thought Sunday would be a lazy day for us!! I couldn't have been more wrong!
Marius called early and invited us to join him and his boys for a little trip to Rhodes Memorial. He would get the picnic and he'd fetch us on the way through. A little walking would be required, so I needed walking shoes. Let me just say, his definition of a little walking and my definition of it are two very different things. We went on a hike!! Thanks Honey, my hips are still killing me.
For those of you who live in Cape Town, you'll know the steps that run up the foot of the mountain from Rhodes Memorial. They are big and many. At times it was hard to keep myself motivated, let alone these three guys...
Once you reach the top of the million stairs, you reach a contour path that runs all the way through to Tokai. The road levels off and you walk in the shade of the tall forest trees. The kids were thrilled to find a little stream and filled their water bottles up with fresh mountain water...
The contour path. They've built the path up, so that it doesn't fall apart in the rain and in some places, they've even made wooden walkways. It's really so beautiful...
Traces of a veld fire...
Looking up alongside us - Jake was keen to do some rock climbing...
Oh my heart... this picture makes me smile...
Another little stream, sent the boys scurrying up the rocks...
Three little explorers...
for Jake and Michael, it's always a competition to see who can be first. Cam's happy to plod along in his own time though...
Jake nearly came short running down the side of the mountain like this and Michael doesn't look to happy about being passed...
Cam took the safe way down...
Some of the scenery, looking down through the forest...
Jake was so excited to be able to drink the water off the ground...
We eventually reached a little picnic stop. We were all famished...
We actually walked quite far along the contour path - at a guess I'd say 3km, but I'm bad with distance and direction. Some of the views. If it wasn't so hazy, you'd be able to see False Bay in the distance...
Once we'd made our way back along the contour path, we decided to walk on further up to the old fort. Jake wanted a quick pic on the way - think he was trying to hold up the harbour...
Bunch of silly sausages...
The walk up to the fort is steep, but all on a gravel road. Jake and Michael were interested in the history...
Michael actually read the whole thing...
Cam was far more interested in the Canon...
The views from the fort are incredible and it's obvious why they chose that spot to build it. You can see the entire city...
Don't let the blue skies deceive you though - the wind was very chilly and we all hiked in long sleeves most of the time...
We did walk up to the actual fort and there is another one further up Devil's Peak, but we didn't have time or energy and we still had all those steps to go back down...
Jake was tired. He's not used to this much exercise with only me around for entertainment!! He loved it though, we all did, so hopefully we'll be doing more of the same in the future. It's an awesome way to get fresh air, exercise and spend time together...
Michael and Cameron were very keen to get inside the very securely gated fort...
And Jake wasn't about to be left out. Hey kids, thanks for colour co-ordinating yourselves so well...
Marius and I chillaxed on the lawns. The view was just perfect...
The boys couldn't wait to climb the fort, man the towers...
Looking back up to the top of Devil's Peak (which is to the left of Table Mountain if you're looking at the mountain). One day I'll be fit enough to get to the very top...
On the way down, the boys found a really cool tree to climb. The branches were low, so you couldn't really see it from the path. Perfect for nesting gorillas...
We had the most awesome weekend, it was really great to get out and to do something new. Jake and I never go on walks like this - it's sadly just not safe to go alone. We can't wait to go again and hopefully we'll be exploring many more routes in the not-too-distant future.
In other news, my second photography class (DSLR 2) has started up. I can't even begin to tell you how out of my depth I am; it's scary. For this week's first assignment, I need to take a series of at least 5 pictures of two different urban landscapes (city), taken from exactly the same vantage point (tripod), at different times of the day. The main point is to capture the changing light and the contrast between natural and artificial lights. While I'm looking forward to actually having it completed and I will learn a lot through doing this, it's so challenging because setting up my camera on a tripod in town on my own at night/early morning is not safe. I also can't sit in one spot for an entire day, twice, and ideally, I need to find one spot where I can take both sets of photos. Also, I can only really do it on the weekend, which doesn't leave me much time for a re-do, which will probably be required too. Jake and I are going this afternoon to try and source a couple of good spots, so fingers crossed that we find somewhere that's busy and colourful and not too overshadowed by big, boring, grey buildings. I am very nervous. So watch this spot, I'll be sharing all my boring assignment photos with you again soon.
Hope you're all having a great week!
Sending love,
Sue XXX
