Have pack, will hike

This morning we arrived at the designated parking spot under the gims - ten minutes late much to the Alph's consternation - and met Pauline, Honey and Sue with her new fancy day pack. Very smart and guaranteed for life!  

It was rather misty, and Oppelskop was in thick cloud so we decided to stay on the contour path and walk across the face towards Kloof Corner as it looked much brighter that way. We zigzagged up to the higher contour,

and set off through the jolly Red Heaths (Erica abietina subsp. abietina).

We led the way - and eventually it started to clear and we could see all the way up Plattedklip Gorge.

We flushed out some Red-wing Starlings, and chased some Dassie smells,

while the Food Lady photographed these Erica distorta bushes growing on the wet and drippy rock ledges,

and Honey bravely walked across the steep bits with her usual air of silent panic! Come on Honey - you really need to chill a bit. We all love you and no-one is going to bite you or abandon you. Promise.

This is me and the Alph exploring caves and

pools inside caves.

A buchu flower - probably Bergboegoe (Agathosma cilliaris) - with an aniseed fragrance.

Pauline, Sue and Honey emerging from the Silverstream Waterfall gorge.

Looking into the mist.

The Alph lending a helping hand to yours truly on a particularly precipitous bit!

Under another waterfall we trudged,

past lots of Wabooms (Protea nitida) just starting to flower.

Looking back at Oppelskop and Devils Peak completely shrouded in cloud.

We chose a nice, if rather damp, tea spot and had some classy bubbly with pomegranate pips to celebrate Pauline's birthday - thanks Pauline - on behalf of my humans who really enjoyed it. We also had Red Velvet Cake, Sue biscuits and some fancy Venetian cake left over from the Food Lady's Mothers Day gift from Phil and Kerryn, and some Beano dog biscuits for me and the Lad. Honey never eats hers.

Sue, Pauline and the Alph. Where are the dogs? Honey is hiding behind Sue,

the Lad is looking for other dogs coming up the path,

and I am hunting for Dassies in the boulders.

We then set off for Kloof Corner, where Lad and I made friends with an Airedale called Paddington,

and Honey stuck with Sue at the Kloof Corner beacon overlooking Lions Head.

The mist cleared in patches and we were able to look down on Cape Town and across the bay to Blouberg,

and Robben Island.

Soon we were back at the cars under the gims.

A last social huddle with a jogging Irish Terrier

then we had to get Honey out of the car as she leapt into the wrong car.

To Laddie's great joy, we drove to Phil and Kerryn and Harvey's house for a pre-Fathers Day lunch, and met Frankie, Kerryn's dad's dog. At first there was a bit of how's-your-fathering before the two of them settled down to some friendly (!) playing.

The Alph got a rather special Fathers Day present,

and they had a slap up lunch while I sampled all of Harvey's chew toys, and the youngsters scrapped and wrestled and had to be chucked outside when noise levels rose too high.

Two happy fathers. (Phil and Kerryn won't be here next Sunday so they treated the dads to a special day today.)

and three happy dogs having a three-way tug of war. All in all, a pretty good day!