Back on the beat

Well, here we are again, walking in the deliciously cool and misty Silvermine fynbos with our slightly jet-lagged humans, Harvey, Paul and Pauline AND John who is STILL waiting for his passport to come so that he can go home to Elke and Paula in Germany. But we were happy to see him!

Summer is in full swing, and the Red Crassulas (Crassula coccinea) are about to flower.

An Orange-breasted Sunbird was feeling a bit too chilly to fly away and let the FL and Paul get close enough for a quick snap.

The mist was quite thick, but the Food Lady could still see the flowers,

especially all the bright orange Table Mountain Watsonias (Watsonia tabularis).

We passed some young boys on the way back up to the Fat Lady Shelter, and Harvey decided that they were a far better bet for a good walk, and ran after them till the Alph called him back in a stern voice. You can see them standing on the rock on the left, shouting happily but rather alarmingly for us.

We found a place to stop for tea, just above the Fat Lady Shelter, and here is Harvey getting a pep talk from the Alph about running off with strangers. (Photo from John.)

We have now christened our new tea spot the Fat Scottie Tea Rock. (Thanks John for the photo!) Rock Scottie ...

Real Scottie.

Tea shot: John, me, Harvey, Laddie, the Alph, Pauline and Paul,

and one from John with the Food Lady and Lad and me sharing a joke.

A little ant ran off with some crumbs from John's delicious rusks.

The mist started to lift - and behind John you can just see Long Beach. If John's passport does arrive on Monday, we will miss him sadly. It has been so lovely having him join in the walks.

Us with our fancy folding water bowl. (Photo from John).

Coming down the other side - and the mist blowing away. Starting to get hot.

We got back just as it started to get too hot for Scots - and our bestie bostie.