Mountainwalk on The Singemonkey

August 06, 2023

Sun, 06 Aug 2023 11:59:32 +0000

It’s the first time I’ve done this walk since March. So much going on with the cat boi going missing and then getting injured. I decided to take my camera. I just can’t get good results with a phone although some people can. I’ve also changed laptops and still haven’t sorted out my photos again. So I edited these on my phone.

March 26, 2023

Sun, 26 Mar 2023 11:01:44 +0000

Winter is sweeping in early this year. It’s been a bit dreary since late February.

March 12, 2023

Sun, 12 Mar 2023 08:54:38 +0000

It’s been a few moons since my last windmill to blockhouse walk. And wouldn’t you know, the windmill is complete. Fully restored at last. Ok maybe they still have one sail to raise.

It was the Cape Argus cycle race - which I’d forgotten. It’s South Africa’s most prestigious race. I’m a what? A bicyclist rather than a cyclist. I have mixed feelings about the sports cycling community. They are arguably a hindrance weirdly to bicycles being prioritised as a mode of transport. But the distaste for them frequently goes dangerously too far.

November 14, 2022

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 09:25:09 +0000

The Magician. @kanesnaps larking at the back of The Elephant’s Eye - against the mossy retina. It’s a tall, temple-like opening in the mountainside in Silvermine Nature Reserve.

The last time I was there, maybe when I was ten or twelve it seemed a Herculean feat to get there. Kane and I found it such a quick and gentle saunter that we went on to the Hout Bay overlook - which seldom disappoints.

October 29, 2022

Sat, 29 Oct 2022 10:20:53 +0000

Well I’m sure you’ve all just been dying for another of my blockhouse walk photodocs… I had a cold and was waiting to come right before re-embarking on exercise. Hopefully the fact that I’m typing this rather than lying dead from a stroke means I waited long enough.

For the first time I decided to listen to music on my walk. Well… you add that mountain feeling to those music feelings and you can get pretty close to ecstasy, no lie. I had some thoughts:

October 10, 2022

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 20:44:57 +0000

@kanesnaps and I went heroically up the mountain by a new route (for me) and found that rock that looks like a camel from certain angles.

It was lovely up there, where the traffic noise suddenly disappears and you’re in this magic park in the sky filled with the astonishing diversity of plants in the fynbos botanical region.

Kane almost got bitten by a very unfortunate young puff adder that had been run over (almost certainly by accident since it was so well camouflaged on the road - such that Kane nearly didn’t see it too). Luckily some guys working up there arrived in a truck and ended it’s suffering with a sharp spade since it was way too injured to possibly survive.

September 16, 2022

Fri, 16 Sep 2022 08:50:29 +0000

Hail Eos, goddess of dawn (that feeling when you realise you’re the cultist 😂).

I got to see a pair of lovely Boubou shrikes right by the path and said, “Hey Boo.

September 11, 2022

Sun, 11 Sep 2022 11:24:28 +0000

The cultists apparently don’t come out if there’s a danger of rain. Instead of their shouting and wailing there was a choir of frogs. About as loud but less chaotic. I did encounter a pleasant old Zionist on the way down. But since that’s the biggest religious denomination in South Africa - if I recall correctly - he couldn’t be called a cultist.

September 03, 2022

Sat, 03 Sep 2022 09:58:37 +0000

A walk in the clouds. I had a cold for a couple of weeks so this is the first time I’ve been up in a good while. It’s spring in Cape Town and the evidence was everywhere. In the last pic you can see that work on the windmill is progressing nicely. I was pleased to hear the old familiar hollering and moaning of the cultists.

July 24, 2022

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 18:30:52 +0000

Second mountain expedition of the day. Kane (@kanesnaps) led Junko (@junko28a) and me up Kalk Bay at a blistering pace. I worked out it must be over twenty years since I last went up this route. And that’s a shame because it’s so lovely. The vegetation and landscape transforms so quickly - you’re rapidly surrounded by the most varied and beautiful fynbos - and the contrast between the white sand and the acquamarine of False Bay is a balm for the soul. And so lovely to share the mountain with much loved people. Second time in a week!

July 24, 2022

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 09:44:20 +0000

I’m heading out thaddaway this afternoon for a different bit of mountain. Pic 2: cork trees really demonstrating why that bark we find so useful evolved. The fire swept through them but all survived in their protective coats. These aren’t indigenous trees but I hope they preserve a couple of the big ones. Pic 3: to my delight, @withoutaleaf joined me on my mountain jaunt the other day. She pointed out the profusion of silver tree saplings that are coming up everywhere after the fire. I’d managed not to notice. Fire is, of course, part of the protea life cycle - hence the name. I can’t describe how beautiful silver trees are. And they’re hard to photograph for a number of reasons. But in real life they’re like something Tolkien and Doctor Seuss would come up with by the fireside after several glasses of wine.

July 16, 2022

Sat, 16 Jul 2022 13:29:52 +0000

A perfect winter’s day here in Africa.

Update on the cultists: I saw a few close up and they seem very nice. I’ve started to find them reassuring. I also encountered some coming down from above Rhodes Memorial (I inferred they weren’t hikers as one seldom hikes with a large black hardcover book in hand). If people are going to be religious, I think incorporating serious physical activity is a cracking idea in our sedentary society.

July 09, 2022

Sat, 09 Jul 2022 09:42:21 +0000

A bit of a gloomy morning. They’ve begun restoration of the windmill after last year’s fire.

Despite being a Saturday the cultists were out in fine form on the lower slopes, clapping erratically as if to banish devils. I find them rather comforting now.

July 04, 2022

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 08:53:10 +0000

Missed the mountain on the weekend thanks to weather. Got up long before dawn to get up there early. Was delayed by minibus taxis blocking the green light. Hurrah for private enterprise over public services! Got there though.

No cultists on a Monday. I found I somewhat missed them.

Thinking of my sibling who’s experiencing impaired vision due to COVID - a rare but not undocumented effect. Covid is real, it’s still here, and it’s still a serious disease. Holding thumbs.

June 26, 2022

Sun, 26 Jun 2022 09:28:59 +0000

I got to the mountain well early and got to see the first light hit Devil’s Peak. And yet I passed people coming down as I was going up. There’s a whole community of very fit people of all descriptions up there.

It’s nice being proper fit again. I think there’s a threshold of fitness beyond which most exercise becomes much more enjoyable - challenging rather than trying. But it’s not easy for most people to reach that in systems that relentlessly encourage sedentary living.

June 19, 2022

Sun, 19 Jun 2022 10:45:05 +0000

I tried ascending past the blockhouse after a comment from @suhairsolomon until the scramble gave way to an alarming verticality and I thought I should check the route and come back next time.

Notes: the lower slopes are dotted with cults - usually with one person shouting excitedly. But the one I passed closest to were spread out about 4m from each other all saying different stuff rapid fire. As Buffy The Vampire Slayer put it: “Note to self: Religion… freaky.”