15 January 2012

Tripping up Trappieskop

Today the weather forecast said it was going to be fiercely hot so we decided to do a short walk in easy distance of the sea for cooling off in afterwards - and Pauline suggested a trip up Trappieskop. Alice and Maddie joined Paul and Pauline and us and our humans and we set off up the hill behind Fish Hoek. This is me checking out the route we had just come up from Clovelly. It was not very hot as the wind was blowing,
as you can see by the way Paul is hanging on to his hat! Looking over Fish Hoek, we could see Alice and Maddie's house in the far distance.
It is quite an exciting place up here - with caves, and funny dumpy trees called Tylecodon grandiflorus,
and turtle-like rock monster heads looming over us.Tea on Trappieskop: Alice, Maddie, the Alph (who was a bit cross with us because he got left behind and lost us for a few minutes, but unlike when I lag behind and get lost, no-one was cross with him!), Pauline and Paul, and us Scots in front.
Aloe commixta is one of the few aloes that grow on the Cape Peninsula, and it is also endemic to the peninsula, in fact only occurring from Fish Hoek to Slangkop. Here it is trying to grow very tall by climbing up one of the tree ericas, Erica tristis. The Sickleleaf Brightfig (Lampranthus falciformis), and more of the endemic Golden Spiderheads(Serruria villosa) to ooh and aah over.
Pretty soon it was time to head back down. We were disappointed not to see any baboon or dassies. In fact there was not much around,
apart from some spider's webs,a lacy-winged fly on a Pseudoselago serrata flower,
and of course, lots and lots of flowers, some with odd names like the Rough Gousblom (Arctotis aspera). "Arctotis" means "bear's ear" - because of the outer involucral bracts - but I am not sure I know what a bear's ear looks like.
Another gogga - looks like the nymph of a bug of sorts - on the seeds of Maytenus oleoides. It does look kind of tasty - the beetle that is.
Back on the well-made stone path that goes from Kalk Bay to Clovelly between Trappieskop and Cave Peak. We wondered if Pete Dewey - Belle's human - had finished his golf on the Clovelly golfcourse that you can see in the distance.

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