Hi Everyone,
My apologies for neglecting the blog for a while. I'm back on the horse again (at least for this one more post :-))
I remember very vividly how I walked up #TableMountain in #CapeTown many years ago without so much as having raised my breathing. That was indeed many years and kilograms less ago, as I realised a few months ago. Funny how memories can fool one.
Our #Belgian visitor was still with us and my daughter came home from Mpumalanga for a short Easter visit. Now the youngsters put psychological pressure on me to walk up the mountain using phrases like: "You're not getting old are you?". Always thought the young lady would have been a better psychologist than a civil engineer but there you are!
So on the morning of the attempt, we set off from our temporary base in Gordon's Bay. We stopped at a truck stop along the N2 to stock up on energy providers. I got myself some real coffee and others stocked up on energy drinks. It is normal to buy gelatine-based sweets and I got a packet. Then the four of us hit the black strip. We got to Table Mountain before the sun reached sufficient Africaness to shine with burning intensity but were to late to beat the throngs. After weaving our way through wild crowds at the lower cable car station, we proceeded slowly to parking near #PlatteklipGorge, the start of our epic journey.
The walk up Platteklip Gorge is the easiest, safest and most direct walkway up the the mountain. It is shorter by far than starting at Constantia nek or from Kirstenbosch or even from the Lower Cable car station.The pathway has been gentrified over the years by mountain lovers and #CapeNature but still offers a stiff challenge. A few years ago the most outstanding moment was when we encountered a gentleman running down the gorge with an about two-year old in a basket contraption on his back. Apparently he ran up earlier that same morning - I thought the guy had lost his marbles!!
If you're fit enough to walk constantly at a stiff pace, you can conquer Platteklip Gorge in one-and-one-half hours. You will raise quite a sweat though and should take sufficient water, even when you stutter along like I was recently. Or maybe I should say, especially if you struggle along like I did that that time.
I must say I started off aiming for a two hours of 'enhanced bodily interrogation' but only made the summit half an hour later - this after my son had started to mourn the fact that he did not bring his shaving kit with. With his beard having grown to what he considered unmanageable proportion due to waiting, I eventually dragged my well-interrogated body over the summit.
On the way up there were several irritations:
1) a group of kids and their parents/minders caught up with me and they kept chattering away about finding easter eggs and some were even hoping to bump into the easter bunny! Imagine! When your every breath is torture, you are surrounded by the chattering class.
Apparently they found some easter eggs hidden along the path by well-meaning Cape Nature staff because it was the Easter weekend. I found out these philantropists were the basic cause of my discomfort - which, of course, had nothing to do with my lack of aerobic fitness, perish the thought.
The Belgian visitor and my son clearly inherited genes from Alpine mountain goats. Not so, I was happy to note, my daughter. A few years on the #Mpumalanga highveld and constant bad air had taken its toll on the young lady. Even she admitted that she felt a significant difference between 20 (the last time she undertook the walk up the mountain) and 25 years of age :-).
2) A lady who clearly had nothing to do, I presumed, than run up and down the mountain on daily basis, ran up and down past me a couple of times. I was taken aback that people would entertain such activities but it is better than sinking into a state of depression (which I was considering - too much time to think when you moved as slowly as I did).
3) The only other thing that i could not overcome was my constant scouting for escalators - couldn't these Cape Nature people do a proper job? I mean, it is all well and good to lay out a safe path but not to include escalators was criminally negligent, in my opinion at the time.
Having eventually crested the summit and noticing that everyone on top were in contagiously joyful mood, I got into the swing of things i.e. collecting evidence of my odyssey by imprinting it on the #CCD of my clever little cellphone camera. Although I took a pic or two on the way up, I admit these occasions were rest breaks rather than pure photo-ops. My heart wasn't in it at the time :-)
The other reason was being in a carnival mode at the top, was the decision to go down with the #cablecar. It could not have come at a better time. So after the obligatory choosing of the best scenery for photo-ops, we bought tickets for the trip down and joined the queue.
At this time I thought about my daughter in law who, on a previous occasion, was caught in midair by a recalcitrant cable car. Amid the discomfort all around her, she said loudly to my son: "This could be it, baby. Final destination!" Not waiting to notice the impact of her ill-chosen statement, she merrily carried on taking pics. Obviously, my son (her 'baby') was less than comfortable with the unfortunate turn of event.
Nothing like this happened to us though and our cable car was very well-behaved and offered the expected smooth ride down.
My apologies for neglecting the blog for a while. I'm back on the horse again (at least for this one more post :-))
I remember very vividly how I walked up #TableMountain in #CapeTown many years ago without so much as having raised my breathing. That was indeed many years and kilograms less ago, as I realised a few months ago. Funny how memories can fool one.
Our #Belgian visitor was still with us and my daughter came home from Mpumalanga for a short Easter visit. Now the youngsters put psychological pressure on me to walk up the mountain using phrases like: "You're not getting old are you?". Always thought the young lady would have been a better psychologist than a civil engineer but there you are!
So on the morning of the attempt, we set off from our temporary base in Gordon's Bay. We stopped at a truck stop along the N2 to stock up on energy providers. I got myself some real coffee and others stocked up on energy drinks. It is normal to buy gelatine-based sweets and I got a packet. Then the four of us hit the black strip. We got to Table Mountain before the sun reached sufficient Africaness to shine with burning intensity but were to late to beat the throngs. After weaving our way through wild crowds at the lower cable car station, we proceeded slowly to parking near #PlatteklipGorge, the start of our epic journey.
The walk up Platteklip Gorge is the easiest, safest and most direct walkway up the the mountain. It is shorter by far than starting at Constantia nek or from Kirstenbosch or even from the Lower Cable car station.The pathway has been gentrified over the years by mountain lovers and #CapeNature but still offers a stiff challenge. A few years ago the most outstanding moment was when we encountered a gentleman running down the gorge with an about two-year old in a basket contraption on his back. Apparently he ran up earlier that same morning - I thought the guy had lost his marbles!!
If you're fit enough to walk constantly at a stiff pace, you can conquer Platteklip Gorge in one-and-one-half hours. You will raise quite a sweat though and should take sufficient water, even when you stutter along like I was recently. Or maybe I should say, especially if you struggle along like I did that that time.
I must say I started off aiming for a two hours of 'enhanced bodily interrogation' but only made the summit half an hour later - this after my son had started to mourn the fact that he did not bring his shaving kit with. With his beard having grown to what he considered unmanageable proportion due to waiting, I eventually dragged my well-interrogated body over the summit.
On the way up there were several irritations:
1) a group of kids and their parents/minders caught up with me and they kept chattering away about finding easter eggs and some were even hoping to bump into the easter bunny! Imagine! When your every breath is torture, you are surrounded by the chattering class.
Apparently they found some easter eggs hidden along the path by well-meaning Cape Nature staff because it was the Easter weekend. I found out these philantropists were the basic cause of my discomfort - which, of course, had nothing to do with my lack of aerobic fitness, perish the thought.
The Belgian visitor and my son clearly inherited genes from Alpine mountain goats. Not so, I was happy to note, my daughter. A few years on the #Mpumalanga highveld and constant bad air had taken its toll on the young lady. Even she admitted that she felt a significant difference between 20 (the last time she undertook the walk up the mountain) and 25 years of age :-).
2) A lady who clearly had nothing to do, I presumed, than run up and down the mountain on daily basis, ran up and down past me a couple of times. I was taken aback that people would entertain such activities but it is better than sinking into a state of depression (which I was considering - too much time to think when you moved as slowly as I did).
3) The only other thing that i could not overcome was my constant scouting for escalators - couldn't these Cape Nature people do a proper job? I mean, it is all well and good to lay out a safe path but not to include escalators was criminally negligent, in my opinion at the time.
Having eventually crested the summit and noticing that everyone on top were in contagiously joyful mood, I got into the swing of things i.e. collecting evidence of my odyssey by imprinting it on the #CCD of my clever little cellphone camera. Although I took a pic or two on the way up, I admit these occasions were rest breaks rather than pure photo-ops. My heart wasn't in it at the time :-)
The other reason was being in a carnival mode at the top, was the decision to go down with the #cablecar. It could not have come at a better time. So after the obligatory choosing of the best scenery for photo-ops, we bought tickets for the trip down and joined the queue.
At this time I thought about my daughter in law who, on a previous occasion, was caught in midair by a recalcitrant cable car. Amid the discomfort all around her, she said loudly to my son: "This could be it, baby. Final destination!" Not waiting to notice the impact of her ill-chosen statement, she merrily carried on taking pics. Obviously, my son (her 'baby') was less than comfortable with the unfortunate turn of event.
Nothing like this happened to us though and our cable car was very well-behaved and offered the expected smooth ride down.
