Grootvadersbosch and Boosmansbos
At Peter's suggestion, prior to his annual pilgrimage back to the Cape, we booked a couple of nights' camping in Grootvadersbosch with the idea of perhaps hiking to the Boosmansbos forest. We had undertaken the 2-day wilderness hike way back in 1999 in mist and rain....
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Botmaskop
Botmaskop is a 910 m peak near my home and is the first mountain I see when I leave for work each morning. Its form is unique in the Jonkershoek ranges, resembling the prow of a dreadnought. The hike up takes about 2 hours, following a spur through municipal tree...
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Western Panorama Trail
Up Swartboskloof and down Kurktrekker, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve The last time we ascended Swartboskloof I ended up under the knife to fix a ruptured disc. So this hike, once more with Santie - and Dorette - was something of a rite of passage, a reckoning with past...
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Panorama Trail in spring
It was fantastic to get back into the mountains again on a serious hike for the first time since the back op in February. And the Boland served up the perfect day: warm, windless, impossibly blue, water coursing out of the rock and seeps everywhere, and the veld...
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Coastal hikes in South Africa
Here is a guide to the South African coastal hikes I have had the privilege of experiencing. Hopefully it is useful to those who are planning to walk our beautiful and diverse coastline. The list starts at the north-eastern-most trail - the Wild Coast Trail from Port...
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Gentle adventures in the Canadian Rockies
This year the nature of our mid-winter break was more commensurate with our newly-minted status of grandparents. From the moment little Elena was born in Calgary, there was only going to be one destination. Fortunately Calgary is an hour's drive from the Rockies and...
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Groot-Gouritz MTB Tour 2018
By popular demand we arranged another private MTB tour aimed at occasional cyclists, and not racers. The format was the same: reasonable daily distances, emphasis on touring and taking in the scenery, backup vehicles trailing us, plenty of stops and camping all the...
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Skeletons, tables, castles and caves
As I lie here recovering from spinal surgery, I thought I would post about my last hike of any consequence before the double bout with operating theatres, one planned and the other not. Santie organised this classic route ascending Skeleton Gorge from Kirstenbosch...
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Beyond Gordon’s Bay’s anchor
Gordon's Bay was our family's beach during the '50s and '60s. We spent many playful hours in its warm waters, holidaying at Thelma's Guesthouse - now long gone - and watching the fishing boats in the old harbour. The black and white photo below shows the bay and town...
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Groothoekkloof descent
Traversing the Matroosberg from the Ceres side to the Hex River valley Paul Verhoeven proposed and led this 3-day kloofing trip as a more "sedate" version of the usual MCSA two-day dash down the kloof. Groothoekkloof descends rapidly from the ski slopes of the...
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