Tammy and lots of fun

The Robartes were here for the weekend with TAMMY who I love. We had a really good time and went for a walk along the Woodcutter's Trail in Newlands Forest. Helen - Tammy's big sister - joined us too which was lovely as we haven't seen her since she left Cape Town a year and a bit ago. Here we are setting out - Dougal, the Alpha Male, me, Wyndham, Tammy, Helen and Gilly.















Tea in the Forest. I was allowed off the lead most of the way! And I managed to be well behaved until just at the end of the walk...

...when, as we were getting back to the car park, I tried to join another group of walkers with lots of interesting dogs who were just setting out. The Alpha Male chased me back!

The Foodlady tried to take some photos of this Cape Autumn Widow butterfly. Luckily she didnt get chased by the Alpha Male for lingering behind!

Sunday morning's stroll down Avery Avenue with Tammy.

I was so depressed when Tammy left at lunch time on Sunday that I didn't feel like eating my supper. (But I did in the end.)

Especially for Tammy

Cool Pool and Doggy Heaven

There was some talk of leaving us behind because I might get too hot but luckily the Foodlady found a cool walk in the Walks with a Fat Dog book so we were allowed to come which is just as well becuase I had forgotten all about my misery last week in the heat. And anyway, it wasnt nearly as hot. With only Alice and our humans, we set off for Simon's Town without Simon but he didnt want to come to his town and stayed in bed.


With me allowed off the lead we shot up the steps to pay our respects to Just Nuisance and show Alice his grave. The humans had a look around the Old Signal School to see where the Hoerikwaggo Trail overnight hut was. Looks rather nice.

Then we headed down again with a view of Red Hill before us - lots of potential walks there!

There were a few of these white fluffy camphor bushes, Tarchonanthus littoralis in full fluff, looking a bit like giant Maltese poodles.

The humans think this is a parrot-beaked tortoise, Homopus areolatus but we think it is a ghost tortoise because we didn’t smell it. We went right past it! We were interested to hear that the famous wild mountain dog Tahr used to live here.

At the bottom of the steps we walked past some houses filled with invisible barking dogs. I think this must be close to Doggy Heaven – it is high up, there are lots of invisible dogs (even at the waterfall) and the smells are out of this world! Here is the Alpha Male checking his shoes for you-know-what!

Up in the kloof was the Cool Pool with the most heavenly doggy smells (I suppose the word Pool is partly composed of Poo) that were a bit overpowering for the humans who had to have tea a bit downstream.

Anticipating tea and rusks.
The path is very precipitous – hence even the Golden Boy being on the lead. (It looks a bit tatty because I periodically attack it!) Simon's town spread out below. They even had music laid on – although it was rather tinny and distorted for heavenly harps – wafting loudly up from the tatty naval buildings below.

Not quite Scotty walking weather

Feeling a bit down - humans been away, I am full of fleas, it is HOT and I know that Sue is going away for a month, as is Paul, and Lucy is working so hard that Sundays are now stay-at-home-and recover days and life is just a bit bleak. Then to cap it all, they BATHED us - horror. Still getting my dignity back into shape. The one bright thing on the horizon is ALICE. The above photo shows ALICE, Thea and Sue heading up Steenberg peak at the start of last Sunday's HOT walk. The Alpha Male (with me on the lead still!) and Paul were high up ahead, and the Foodlady and her camera at the back as usual. Dougal saw a rottweiler and said to it "I am a bigger rottweiler than you!" which they usually laugh at but this one didn't have much of a sense of humour and laid into Dougal, but luckily the owner had him on a lead and pulled him off. The funny thing is that Dougal was all perky after that and didn't seem to notice the heat.

Named after the great and wonderful Edmund I wonder? This is Edmondia sesamoides with just the white bracts left.

We managed to get up to the Fat Lady's Shelter for tea, but the Foodlady forgot to take a photo of us as I think her mind is still in the Eastern Cape where they went without us.

Then we headed down and doubled back again, past some lovely cool rocky passageways and overhangs, to where we had slogged up an hour or so earlier. I just gave up and the Alpha Male had to carry me down. It was only half past nine and already about 40 degrees.

Lets hope next Sunday is better. I envy Sue who is heading off to cold and windy England.

Cape fellwort Saltera sarcostemma. What the Foodlady calls the scoobeedoo plant. Also called the vlieebos in Afrikaans which means "fly bush" but I think it actually means FLEA bush which is appropriate to our sorry, flea-ridden state at the moment.

Argiope australis a lovely orb web spider at the bottom of the mountain. Waiting to get Dougal on his mad sorties into the bush!

Cool ravine

They tried to slip out of the house without letting on where they were going but we knew. We are experts at mind-reading! But as it was already stiflingly hot at 6 am I was not too upset - I only got upset when Alice came and then I thought maybe even a hot walk with her was better than none, but they just rudely drove away with me shouting at the gate. Dougal told me to shut up and so we just dug in under the tree and waited till they came back 5 hours later! And all they did in those 5 hours was walk up Myburgh's to the waterfall, and back again. But judging by these photos, a lot of time was spent on photography. Paul was back this week and I was sorry to have missed seeing him. Sue and Richard and Lucy were also there.




Scaling cliffs like this is not my idea of fun!

Tea in the rocky ravine. A bit scrambly for scotties.




This is one of the red disas Disa uniflora that they all went to see. Looks a bit pale!



Lucy and Sue

Alice, my best!






Paul in the deep dark recesses of the ravine.