We nearly lost out on a walk as it was raining when we woke up, but Sue sms-ed with a bright and cheerful message to get out of bed and join her at Newlands Forest because it was clearing up. (Sue was full of the joys of life - or should I say
joie de vivre - having been to the France
vs USA World Cup soccer match at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday night which was a really exciting event by all accounts.)
When we arrived we realized it was one of our best places - the Dogwoods. They are quite strict here and have a special poo bin, so once we had the poos done, bundled in plastic bags and popped in the bin, we set off:
Paul and Pauline, Sue, the Foodlady, the Alpha Male (feeling better after his bacterial invasion), Dougal and me. Here is Paul with his
red shoes on a carpet of red pine needles, with the AM looking on.
It was quite wet from the storm last night, and the streams were in full spate. Some were easy to cross, but others were not and we had to be carried across. (You can see the white water in the photo below.) At one raging stream, the Alpha Male threw Dougal across the white swirling water onto the rocks on the other side, and made the Food Lady rather cross but then she and I will never understand the male psyche. Dougal said he preferred being chucked across and risking a broken leg or two to being carried, so everyone was happy in the end.
Deep in the Dogwoods, we saw some lovely red berries that belong to the Cape Holly (
Ilex mitis),
and along Alice's path we saw some white berries that belong to the Dogwood, (
Curtisia dentata).
Because it was so wet, the spoil-sport Food Lady didn't bring any tea, which was a pity because it was actually a lovely day as you can see, and all too soon we were back on the road to the carpark. (Dougal and I were ahead chasing enticing smells.)
Later on we heard some rather sad news that made us all feel blue. A 14-year old American boy from Texas fell down one of the ladders on the Skeleton Gorge path and died. In this rather appropriately gloomy photo taken on our walk, you can see Skeleton Gorge on the left hand side. Such a sad thing to have happened. We are all feeling so sorry for the boy's family and friends.
Noordhoek Beach was the start of today's walk up Chapmans Peak. Sue, Paul and Pauline, the Alpha Male, the Food Lady, Dougal and me - all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
We were a bit puzzled by this sign at the start and thought we might have to walk on a separate path which was a bit alarming but luckily there were no SANPArks officials there yet and we struck out across the beach together and got to the start of the walk safely.
The boardwalk is the clue that you are on the right track!
Then it was across the road and up and up and up...
There was a helicopter hovering far below us and we wondered why.
Lots of pretty flowers for the Food Lady to photograph - although we kept her on her toes helping us up and over the rocks. This is Ruschia macowanii.
A well-earned tea at the top of Chapmans Peak - with me standing guard - and being waited on with bits of beano, Melissa's muesli rusks and water! The others had dates (Paul will send us his Internet link so we can all learn about dates) and Sue's crunchies, and Pauline had some date slices. Yum.
Me playing Sentinel during tea. (Paul took this photo.)
After tea Paul went exploring and stopped for a quick, quiet contemplative moment to ponder the real Sentinel.
We couldn't quite figure out how to get down there too.
And the Food Lady found this little Euphorbia tuberosa.
The mountainside was very biodiverse this morning. (See I've been listening to the Food Lady reading out Veld & Flora!) This was a very friendly male Orange-Breasted Sunbird sitting on a pincushion bush.
And we also found this tiny little lizard - that, according to Ernst van Jaarsveld - is a young Southern Rock Agama (Agama atra atra). We weren't allowed to eat it!
A Babiana villosula growing in the middle of the path. Could spring be in the air already!
There was definitely a spring in our steps! Coming down to Chapmans Peak Drive - tails still up despite it being quite warm. We were invigorated by the delicious water in all the little streams tumbling down the mountainside.
On our way back to fetch the cars at Noordhoek Beach we saw lots of ambulances and Metro Rescue vehicles on Chapmans Peak Drive - so whatever it is, this must have been the reason for the helicopter we saw earlier. (Found out later it was a missing person.)
Looking back at the civil engineering feats on Chapmans Peak Drive. 
As a special treat on Father's Day, 
This 
Paul was excited by the beautiful light in the forest and took lots of photos in the deep, dark, dwarf forest of 
And even the purple 
Paul was carried away with the waterfall and used up his last film on it.
This is Fort Vlaggenberg - the name that the FL calls this hideous fortress at the start of the walk with the two equally hideous Alsations. Today it was, appropriately, flying the English flag along with all its high tech equipment. (Vlakkenberg, aka the Swear Word Mountain, also used to be called Vlaggenberg - flag mountain.)
It was very windy up there and Alice was getting ear-ache, so we turned straight round and came back down where it was perfectly calm and sheltered.
We found a view site for tea - rusks, dates, dried fruit and nougat for the humans, and rusks and beanos for us. 
Dougal and me (with leads on because of our nervous FL!) looking down on Groot Constantia estate - hoping to spot the baboons we could smell. After tea took another little side path called "ii" that went enticingly down into the baboon-scented forest, and came out again near the cars. 
Alf Morris's silver trees (
