CAPE TOWN (South Africa)
15 November - 20 November 2017
What have you been waiting for?
What have we been waiting for?
This city has made so many ‘Must See’ lists, has always charted
highly in terms of spectacular destinations, and yet with us, there was no
magnetic pull, nothing that inspired anything more than a cursory glance at a
map with an occasional thought of, ‘wonder
what it would be like down there?’.
It’s extraordinary. Cape Town is a supermodel. It’s levels of
beauty and attractions know no bounds.
The pre-colonial inhabitants of the area would refer to its most notable
landmark, Table Top mountain, as Hoerikwaggo – the mountains in
the sea. But stand any day facing the mountains and you’ll almost deem it as a
heavenly representation on earth. As the clouds roll off the mountain and
cascade down its sides you can be forgiven for thinking that Table Top mountain
has in fact pierced that invisible veil between earth and the great unknown.
In many ways the build and make-up
of Cape Town should be very familiar to Australians. It commands you to head
outdoors and enjoy everything it has to offer, from its abundance of hiking
trails, to its 150kms of beaches, to its harbour, to its wild life and
vineyards. It’s an outdoor lifestyle that is quite ably bolstered by a
reasonable culinary culture and some solid nightlife punctuated by Long Street,
Bree Street, Loop Street & the V&A Waterfront. What’s more, due to its
reasonably compact setting, the CBD is
readily accessible as are most all of the outdoor activities you’re like to
want to experience.
V&A Waterfront - Cape Town - South Africa
V&A Waterfront - Cape Town - South Africa
V&A Waterfront - Cape Town - South Africa
Tiger's Milk Bar on Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa
Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa
Inga & I occupied a place in
the City Bowl on Queen Victoria street. A nice apartment with quick access to
Long Street and views out to the eastern edge of Table Top mountain. And of
course, with each gorgeous day that came up on us, the sun and the environment
cajoled us to getting out and being active, in whatever manner we saw fit. Not
that being ‘active’ is any form of problem for either Inga or myself. Anytime
there’s a hike, a view to get to or a mountain to climb then Inga’s name will
be #1 on the list and my name will be #2.
Our cab off the rank was Lion’s Head, a 669 mtr high peak in the
Centre of Cape Town that assists in forming one of the most dramatic
backgrounds and exquisite urban landscapes of any city in the world. Second to
only Rio de Janeiro, the breathtaking and striking surrounds of the city,
framed by Table Mountain, Signal Hill and Lion’s Head (in between the two),
stand imperiously, surrounding the centre of Cape Town. Walking in the city
centre you are in the midst of these giants constantly, and all you can really
do it talk yourself into taking the challenge in order to get some of the best
views in the city.
Lion's Head - Cape Town - South Africa
Looking down to Camps Bay from Lions Head - Cape Town - South Africa
Looking down to Camps Bay from Lions Head - Cape Town - South Africa
The climb up Lion’s Head, for the most
part is straight forward. There’s a few exposed areas, a couple of ladders and
some ‘hand over feet action’ but the views it affords those that put in the
effort are more than worth it. With views down the coastline to the magnificent
beaches of Clifton, Camps Bay and further afield, the Atlantic seaboard is as
gorgeous a coastline as you could experience anywhere. Turning through 360
degrees you’re able to see Robben Island, a location that Nelson Mandela would
be all too familiar with, the coastline north of the city, east out to the Cape
Flats and then back around to the majestic Table Mountain and the accompanying
Devil’s Peak.
Looking down to Camps Bay from Lions Head - Cape Town - South Africa
Lions Head - Cape Town - South Africa
The climb up Lions Head - Cape Town - South Africa
Sea Point and Green Point on the left - Robben Island in the distance - Cape Town CBD on the right
Of course, with an afternoon on
the mountain behind you the only way to celebrate is getting down onto Long
Street for a few drinks, of which choice of establishment is certainly the
least of your concerns. Long Street has bars a plenty, and some good ones at
that, they also have a high degree of nuisance participants. What I mean by
that is that numbers of pandhandlers out on the streets ready to irritate you
to the point of screaming are exceptionally high. What’s more these guys are so
persistent, no in an aggressive way but in a completely annoying and
aggravating way. Quite a few times I had to be more than forceful in my words
when attempting to ‘move on’ someone
in our faces.
Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa
Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa
Our 'go to' nacho meal - just off Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa
Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa
Next on our agenda was the iconic
Table Top Mountain, and of course, even though the ‘easy way’ to the top via
skyway would have reduced our total time by about 2.5 hours, Inga and I took
one of the moderately difficult climbs to the top.
Standing on the road beneath the
mountains you can easily undervalue the time and the level of effort that will
be asked of you to walk up. Not that the walk is excessively long, from memory
it was probably just on an hour, but the further up the side of the mountain you
go, the steeper it becomes and the more that your thighs start screaming for
mercy with the relentless walk. I say relentless
because that’s the manner in which Inga & I usually walk. No stopping, just
attack the task head on, accept the pain and rest on completion.
Surprisingly, to us, not to
Capetonians, but the area at the top of the mountain is quite expansive and
runs quite a distance down the coastline, highlighted by their very own 12
apostles. The Twele Apostles mountain range actually forms the back of Table
Mountain and runs basically from Kloof Neck, the saddle between Table Mountain
and Lions Head), all the way down to Hout Bay.
Lions Head from the starting point of our climb up Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Climbing up Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Climbing up Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
By far the most impressive
feature/site on Table Mountain is that during the Summer months its quite often
covered by a ‘tablecloth’, this being a blanket of clouds on the actual mountain
that seem to role off the edge and cascade down before disappearing. This ‘Magic’
trick of the mountains does in fact have an explanation, of which I need to
make direct reference to a website in order to get it right:
‘One of the most common ways that clouds form is when air
with high water vapor content is lifted upward to higher levels above sea
level,” he says. “In this case, it looks like the wind is blowing moist air
from the Atlantic Ocean upward to the top of Table Mountain. As the air moves
upward toward the peak, it cools, and water vapor in the air condenses into the
thick clouds you can see in the video.”
The disappearance of the clouds, however, has to do
with the “stability” of the atmosphere — that is,
whether there’s vertical movement due to warming and cooling air.
The site of slowing rolling clouds both on the mountain and then
down wards from the peak is unforgettable. Indeed, standing at the observation
point high above the city, and for that matter, above the clouds, puts you in
an ‘other worldly’ environment. A truly sublime experience.
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Changing tack the following day, but still sticking to our ‘active
sightseeing’ regime, we hired some simple bikes in central Cape Town with the
aim of taking somewhat of a leisurely
ride. Now let me say, these escapades with Inga always seem to bother
me. The reason for this is simple – in my
head I always have a predetermined time duration or km distance that I think
will be suitable for us to enjoy and still get the requisite exercise we
desire. On this occasion I had visions of a ride down the coast, that I know
now would have been around 25kms return. A decent effort…but as per usual, the
way Inga pushes, it always takes us into far flung fields of exertion.
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa
Our day, on no gear, pedal brake bikes started out pleasantly
enough. Cruising down by Camps Bay beach, checking out the Hard Rock Café and
then heading down the coastline. Bounded by the glorious 12 Apostles on the one
side and the deep blue of the Atlantic on the other. The November day was
perfect, beautiful blue skies, easy sunshine, comfortable weather. Totally a
pleasurable ride.
Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa
Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa
Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa
Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa
Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa
Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa
Hard Rock Cafe - Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa
Hard Rock Cafe - Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa
When we reached an area known as Oudekraal beach I suggested to
Inga a turn around, to which she said, of course, ‘Why? Lets keep going’. To me
a response like this is always like a red flag to a bull…’Oh, you want to keep going do you? Okay, okay…now I’m going to run you
into the ground’. So we rode on.
…And thus we encountered our first steady incline on the road.
With each kilometre that passed the gradient increased and our one-speed bikes
forced us to work overtime. We climbed all the way from Ouderkrall to Llandudno
before we were given an absolute free run down into Mount Rhodes and then Hout
Bay. This however was not even the half
of it.
The climb up through Hout Bay to one of our newly planned stops,
Beau Constantia winery, was absolutely brutal. Slow turning wheels, heavy laden
vehicles, endlessly rising gradients. The push up was nasty and was only
alleviated by a wine stop at this fantastically located winery which had epic
views out over Constantia, all the way out to False Bay and beyond. Hell, even
the bathrooms in this place had such striking views that you were more than
happy to occupy that seat just ‘a little while’ longer than necessary.
View down the Atlantic Seaboard - with the 12 Apostles as the backdrop
The scenery here is just wonderful
View from the bathroom and Beau Constantia Winery - Constantia - Cape Town - South Africa
Considering we were not in the Constantia region we decided to
cruise on down to Groot Constantia. A wonderful estate, featuring as a winery
since 1685 and occupying pride place in this suburb of Cape Town. The highlight
for us here, other than the rest we’d given to our weary legs, was the
wine/chocolate pairings that the winery had constructed. Well balanced and
matched on every occasion, a true highlight of any winery that we’ve ever been
down.
But sadly, all good things must come to an end. We knew, we a high
degree of despondence, that the ride back into Cape Town had the potential to
be nasty. And whilst arriving back in the city would effectively complete our
unscheduled circuit of Table Top mountain, the 50+km ride on some very average
bikes was going to decimate us. And so we rode, back through Constantia, Wynberg,
Newlands, Rosebank and Observatory. It really wasn’t until we’d climbed up to
University Estate that we were given a free
pass for the rest of the ride. The run down back into town was a free
wheeling run that was presented to us like an honorary gift, something provided
to us in respect for completing a circuit that
was totally unnecessary on the bikes we had.
