What? Walkies you say? With Maddie and Honey? Do I want to come? Are you kidding?
We parked in Kalk Bay - as the Alf doesn't trust the skollies up on Boyes Drive where the Land Rover AND Robbie's car were broken into not so long ago. Then we walked up with Sue and Honey, Alice and Maddie, and Thea, through the cobbled streets of Kalk Bay (could that be a skolly shadow I see on the right?),
and didn't really have time to ponder the absence of Dougal as the Alf urged us on ...
and up Echo Valley - turning left at the second path till we came to the Rock Arch. Here are Maddie and me waiting for everyone to catch up.
Going through the Rock Arch cave - with Fish Hoek in the distance.
Sue and Honey in the cave.
And this is the Food Lady's restio. She thinks its Elegia juncea.
Teatime in the fynbos overlooking Fish Hoek valley with delicious prosciutto, or was it Serrano? ham sandwiches from Thea, divine crunchies from Sue and a great big bar of Toblerone from Alice. (Not that we black dogs had anything but dog biscuits.) Thea, Honey, Sue, the Alph, Maddie's backside and Alice.
Another hill to conquer: Trappieskop.
On the way the Foodlady saw: Metalasia divergens,
Thesium viridifolium,
a really pretty little Common Babiana (Babiana ambigua),
and the tiny flowers of the Confetti Bush (Coleoenema album) that was just starting to blossom. Spring is most definitely in the air.
The view from the top of Trappieskop looking over Fish Hoek where our human cousins were having fun on their Malibu boards.
Three Black Dogs on top! Admiring the view from the beacon on the top of Trappieskop.
And lets look over the other way too. (Actually, we were checking for dassies and baboons.)
When we got all the way down again, we went for beers and tapas in Kalk Bay at La Parada, and on the way we encountered a dog that was really really wired,
as well as some literary offerings on the pavement.
La Parada is my kind of shop - just check at what is hanging from the ceiling! Legs of ham. (This is not the FL's photo - its from a cool blog that you can read by clicking here. The Phood Lady's was too blurred to use.)
Cheers. Me and Honey were under the table - and judging by the blurry photo, maybe the Phood Lady was too! Maddie had gone for a swim with Alice. Just as well as Alice is a vegetarian, but apparently these hams are all ethically sourced from Karoo free-range pigs.
and funny dumpy trees called Tylecodon grandiflorus,
and turtle-like rock monster heads looming over us.
Tea on Trappieskop: Alice, Maddie, the Alph (who was a bit cross with us because he got left behind and lost us for a few minutes, but unlike when I lag behind and get lost, no-one was cross with him!), Pauline and Paul, and us Scots in front.
The Sickleleaf Brightfig (Lampranthus falciformis), 
and more of the endemic Golden Spiderheads(Serruria villosa) to ooh and aah over.
Pretty soon it was time to head back down. We were disappointed not to see any baboon or dassies. In fact there was not much around,
apart from some spider's webs,
a lacy-winged fly on a Pseudoselago serrata flower,
Here are Sue and the Alpha Male - and us two Scots - and the Food Lady hiding behind the camera - waiting to meet Thea and, we thought, her entire extended family at Clovelly, but it turned out to be just Katrin ... and BORIS! What a welcome he gave me - I thought he was going to swallow me whole it was such a bouncy, vociferous hello. But it was just a Boris hello. He and Dougal ignored each other the whole way up and down which is amazing for Dougal - he must have been terrified that Boris would try such a demonstrative hello on him too. Dougal isn't into demonstrations of affection! Paul and Pauline were there too but Alice wasn't feeling well so she stayed behind. 
Here is Pauline with Boris,
and Paul and the Alpha Male with me on his heels, setting off up the hill with Clovelly in the background. 
Stopping for a drink of water in this cave. Dougal keeping a leery eye out for Boris! 
Signs of spring with the Painted Lady (Gladiolus debilis). 
Manic Dougal, and no prize for guessing whose shoes those are!
We looked for Alice's new house in Fishhoek, far below - marked with an arrow. 
Waiting for stragglers with my Alpha Male.
Our tea spot on top - rusks and lots of other delicious things. 
Boris got a bit cross with me at tea for trying to schmooze some food out of his humans and soon told me where to go in very plain language. (But I don't think he was really cross because I think he quite likes me in his Boris way.) 
Boris with his humans, Katrin and Thea. (I am not sure if the Food Lady has the spelling correct, and spelling is certainly not my strong point. In fact, I don't know what my strong point is. Maybe my nose.)
Some fynbos ants were also having tea - there were lots of them scurrying around, all carrying little seeds to bury for a rainy day. They were as manic as Dougal hunting rodents.
Sue, with the Hottentots Hollands looking all misty and Hoerikwaggo-ish in the distance. 
After tea we explored the rocks and caves a bit, and there was some ooh and aahing over this rare, endemic aloe, the Peninsula Rambling Aloe (
The Alpha Male had his camera too and snapped the Food Lady, very artistically, through this cave. 
Boris forgave me for invading his space, but Dougal and I kept a respectful distance. Here he is guarding Katrin and making sure she doesn't tumble down into Kalk Bay below.
We also saw lots of these False Slugwort (Dischisma ciliatum) flowers - a rather ugly name for a pretty snapdragon flower. We have never seen any snapdragons either. But Boris snapping at me at tea was pretty exciting! I don't think I would like a snapdragon but a snapBoris was ok. I hope he comes again soon.
