And still it rains ...

Ladies in red. Only Pauline and Sue turned up in the rather iffy weather for our hectic walk up Blackburn Ravine this morning. We met Sue at Silvermine Dam and left our car there, and drove to East Fort in Hout Bay where Pauline was waiting for us. These are the ruins of this old fort which was apparently originally built by the British in 1796.

A Bract Disa or Orgidekie (Disa bracteata). According to the smart new book that the Food Lady has on the Cape orchids, it does not need the services of insects as it is mostly self-pollinated. It is also a weed in Australia.

Lots of bright blue Short Aristeas (Aristea africana) growing along the rocky path.

Another pretty flower for the Food Lady - the Common Catchfly (Silene gallica) - an introduced weed from Europe.

Things started to get a bit steeper (and wetter!) and this is the Alph giving me a lift up the ladder.

 Up and up and up we wended; Hout Bay far below.

 Looking back towards Chapmans Peak.

 Still a long way to climb to the top of Blackburn Ravine!

A rather wet and drippy tea; almost at the top. Pauline, me and Dougal at her feet, the Alph, and Sue in her trusty tent.

Once at the top, we set off along the path back to the Silvermine Dam carpark. We met two Weimeranas who were really scared of us and this made Dougal rather excited as he doesn't often get treated like the Rottweiler he thinks he is.

Then I found a nice family with a snauzer and a pavement special that I decided to try out - and walked the rest of the way with them. It made a nice change. This is me (the black speck) with my adopted, if only temporarily, family.

We went back to fetch Sue and Pauline's cars at East Fort via Noordhoek and then along Chapmans Peak Drive. Sue was telling us that Noordhoek is beyond the lentil curtain, and the Food Lady thought this might be the lentil curtain, but it is a special rock-catching barrier.

 Water was just cascading off the side of Chappies.

Luckily no rocks fell on us.

This is the toll booth under construction (slightly delayed due to the falling hillside) - a cackle from the Food Lady - who took the opportunity to say some more horrible things about a buffoon called Robin Carlisle.
We paid our R33 and dropped Sue and Pauline at their cars and hurried home for hot showers, bacon and eggs and a nice long sleep.