Twa black dogs forgather'd on a hot mountain

Great! For once I am not left at home with a smelly bone but am part of this mountain walk. We left really early to try and beat the heat and met up with Sue and Honey and Pauline. The silly SANParks peeps hadn't opened the gate to the parking area by 7 am and there was a huge queue of cars causing a bit of havoc on the road so we parked at the other (still closed) entrance on the other side of the busy road and risked life and limb to cross the road and make our way back to the path. It was quite warm already, and the fiery Table Mountain watsonias (Watsonia tabularis) were out, matchng the Food Lady's temper when she thinks of SANParks.

There were some flickering flame flowers too - a little Struthiola ciliata,

and orange bursts of creeping pincushion flowers with the absolutely silly name of Leucospermum hypophyllocarpodendron subsp. hypophyllocarpodendron.

It was already hot, even though there was a tantalising cool mist below us,

and the walk up through gorgeous pink Watsonia borbonica flowers was in the shade for some of the way.

Cool flowers for the Food Lady. These are silenes of sorts - maybe Silene pilosellifolia.

Drinks break for hot dogs.

The Food Lady is a bit fixated on orchids at the moment as so many are coming up after the fire (some never to be seen again until the next fire). We found lots of Disa cornuta plants,

and a few Eulopia aculeata plants were still in flower.

Well, we all made it up to the Fat Lady Shelter for tea: Sue, Honey, Laddie, Pauline, the Alph and me.

We were too hot to chase lizards so we left them to chase the miggies that were all around.

My friend and fellow black dog Honey actually ate a piece of dog biltong!

We decided it was too hot for the twa black dogs so the Alph and the Lad carried on - you can just see them disappearing down the path - and we took a shorter route home.

On the way we saw frilly Ink Flowers (Harveya purpurea),

and lots of Disa cylindrica plants,

and some other hot dogs - and hot peeps.  

We stopped frequently for water (with cool blue Aristea bakeri plants) 

and shady breaks in cool caves.

Then the mist arrived with some walkers from below, and we were enveloped in some deliciously cool air,

which sustained us until we came to our waterhole at the end for a muddy dip and drink.

We said goodbye to Sue, Honey and Pauline, and the Food Lady frootled around finding some bright yellow Pterygodium acutifolium flowers, while I sat in the stream and tried to keep my cool. Luckily the Alph and the Lad joined us within minutes, and we staggered back to the car.

On the way home we saw a rainbow Scottie sticker on the back of a car which we rather liked.

Bubbles in the mizzle

Kate and Richard joined us on Sunday from Canada and Cornwall - as did Sue and Honey and Paul from Rondebosch and Pauline from beyond the warzone of Masipumelele. We were very happy to see everyone.

We were expecting heat but it was a cool day with a light misty drizzle instead - perfect for me. There were lots and lots of flowers emerging from the burned veld - this glowing Rafnia angulata for example,

and these tall silenes with the strange name of Silene pilosellifolia.

The Food Lady was on a quest to find rare and interesting orchids that like to flower after fires. There were quite a lot - like this not-so-rare, but lovely Disa bracteata.

We climbed up towards Steenberg Peak, looking back towards a misty Table Mountain to catch our breath/admire the view/photograph flowers every so often.

There were several bulbs flowering too - like these Geissorhiza bonaspei,

and beautiful grasses - like this Wire Grass (Geochloa rufa)

and pretty shrubs like this Podalyria - possibly P. argentea.

The Fire Heaths (Erica cerinthoides) were out - some with unusual white tips,

and we found some more orchids like this scented White Satyr (Satyrium candidum)

with a large dollop of sticky yellow pollen at the tip waiting for some unsuspecting moth to come and collect it.

The humans decided to cut across the top towards the Fat Lady as no-one felt like a long walk in the mizzle as some of us are unfit and others are recovering from colds and other illnesses. But where is the path?

We tried to help but couldn't reach a decision. I had the strangest feeling that something was watching me - and not just the Food Lady and the Alph who were keeping "an eagle eye" on me after my exploits last time.

Finally we located the path and I discovered this creepy rock dinosaur monster looking sideways at me. Yikes.

We managed to chase some peeps out of our tea spot and shelter from the mizzle in the Fat Lady Shelter: Honey, the Alph, Richard, Kate, Laddie, Pauline, Sue me and Paul.

Kate had brought some bubbles to celebrate her and Greg's wedding a few weeks ago,

as well as some wedding cake which was apparently very yummy even though Kate said half her guests weren't too sure what it was. This lot knew very well, and ate it all up very quickly without offering me a crumb!

Laddie soon found a friend or two. Or three or four.

We were soon on our way down again, and while the Food Lady was busy with photographing the Fireworks Flowers (Dilatris)

I tried to hide behind some grass and disappear again, but I was discovered: 

my cover blown by a noisy Malachite Sunbird shouting at me from a rock.

A last photo for the Food Lady - a rather unusual little Wax Twiner flower (Microloma tenuifolium) in a burned protea bush -

then it was back to the cars and goodbye.

When we got home it was still nice and early, so the Food Lady planted some seeds which Laddie and I re-arranged later. "What were you thinking of?!" she shouted at us. Well, Laddie was chasing a gecko that went under the box and I was thinking that there just might be some tasty egg left over in those eggshells. What is all the fuss about?

The return of the three black dogs

Today we hit the Fat Lady Trail in the blazing sunshine. With us are Paul and Pauline, Sue and Honey and 

Alice and Maddie.

The Leucadendron bushes were bright yellow all over the mountains. This is a male Sickle-leaved Conebush (Leucadendron xanthoconus). 

We were on our way up to find the Fat Lady Shelter at the top of Steenberg Peak. The Alph thinks I am a fat Scottie so maybe its my special shelter from the sun, which is already a bit warm for my taste.

Here is the Fat Lady Shelter, but no-one is stopping! Not even for a water break. 

Maybe they are scared of the Rock Dinosaur that guards the Fat Lady.

We just carried on and on, past these purple ericas that are out in force all over the mountain. These are Erica glabella, commonly (very common!) known as the Nude Heath. We think they deserve a more exciting name. 

We started to scale Muizenberg Peak, discovering this pink version of the Hot Chocolate Protea  (Protea lepidocarpodendron) on the way.

And lots of the normal cream coloured ones.

And this rare and unusual little pea - also a 'range restricted' Peninsula endemic, Indigofera candolleana.

Tea time! Me 'n Maddie and Alice. Devil's Peak in the background. No mist today.

Paul fired up his stove ...

I did a quick check for baboons, dassies and Sambar deer. 

And a good tea time was had by all. Sue, Honey, Paul, Pauline, the Alph, Maddie, Alice and me. And where was the idiot Lad? Nowhere to be seen. 

Time to move on. Just checking these drumsticks - but sadly, they were not the edible kind but Zaluzianskaya capensis. This weird name honours a Bohemian botanist called Adam Zaluziansky von Zaluzian (1558-1613) who lectured at Charles University in Prague.

More Rock Monsters - this one a giant Newfoundland. Or a Bouvier?

Up and up through the Nude Heaths. (Somehow it does not trip on or off the tongue that name!)

Then down again into the Steenberg valley. 

This is a good breeding place for frogs and toads. A fenced off part of the road proved to be full of frogs eggs. 

Just look at them! 

There were lots of tadpoles too. 

We could hear lots of frogs, but couldn't see any.  

Maybe having three black dogs invade your pool space was too much for them.

There was certainly lots of scope for black dogs to cool off up here. Lovely fynbos water everywhere!

The Peninsula-endemic Tree Pagodas (Mimetes fimbriifolius) bushes were coming into flower ...

Exquisite!

But all good things come to an end ...

and we had to say goodbye to our sunny happy mountain and head for home.

The idiot Lad tried to save the Alf from the lawn mower, but I was happy to have a kip and leave him to it. 

And that night we all stayed up to watch the Super Moon rise. 

It was quite illuminating.