Devil's Peak: Old Military Road

Date: 24 September 2009

Location: Devil's Peak, from Vredehoek

Walkers: Michele, Helen, Claudia and Richard, with Daisy & Roxy

**** Route plotted here ****

Yay, a public holiday! We'd hoped to go up the mountain, but the cloud was low and it was cold and blustery, so we decided to walk on the lower slopes of Devil's Peak instead. From the top of Vredehoek, we took the old military road path. This led below the quarry and out in an easterly direction.



This is a great place to walk dogs, and we had Daisy with us as well as little Roxy, Richard's new puppy, on her first walk on the mountain.



The road climbed gently. It is now six months since the big fire, and there is a lot of new growth beneath the charred proteas. Everything is slowly but surely recovering, coming back to life.



And the views of the east part of the city and the harbour are super, even on a grey day like this one.



Some of the landmarks we noted: Woodstock Cave and the Queen's blockhouse.



Spring flowers brought some colour to the slopes! There was quite a bit of this Moraea ochroleuca about. It only flowers after fire.




We also saw a lot of the paler yellow Moraea bellendenii.




There were many, many Baeometra uniflora and Ornithogalum thyrsoides (Chinkerinchee) buds, some just beginning to open. In a couple of weeks there will be quite a show.



Another one just staring its season is Watsonia tabularis.



And another after-fire special: the beautiful Aristea spirilis, in full bloom.





I saw just one of clump of this shrub. I think it is Indigofera psoraloides.



And this looks like a small white Scabiosa.



The Lachenalias were plentiful, especially on the lower sections.



Even the grasses were in flower!



And we saw more Gladiolus carneus, my current favourite. So pretty!



We were all smiles! Glad to be out, despite the chilly weather.



The dogs were having a great time.



After climbing steadily for a while, we took a sharp turn to the right and continued to follow the path up. We walked through a stand of cork oaks - although still blackened from the fire, they are showing signs of recovery. Our road joined up with Tafelberg Road, and we followed this for a way, then walked down to the cannons. From here we followed the path back straight down to the quarry.




(Photos by Helen)
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