Walking the Cape: Lion's Head: Training Walk, Week 2

Date: 13 November 2010

Location: Lion's Head

Walkers: Michele & Helen

For all training walks see here.

This walk's part of my November get-fit-again programme; second time up Lion's Head.

Before: Michele and I had planned to walk first thing in the morning, but it was raining. The weather began to clear by mid-morning and we started to walk around midday. Neither of us were feeling 100%. Michele had a sore tummy and a slightly bruised knee, while my low blood pressure had me feeling a little dizzy and tired. We both wanted to get some exercise though, and keep to the programme, but we agreed to take it slow.

The walk: It was lovely to be out, as it almost always is. The sun was hot but the breeze was cool, although a little blustery. We walked slow and steady, straight up the familiar path. By the time we got to the bench we were ready for a little rest, so sat took a seat for a short while. I love this old bench, it has such beautifully weathered wood.

On we went, up the ladder and past the steep and narrow section with the hand-holds and chains. Usually I pass these points without paying much attention to these aids, but today I noticed how smooth and worn they are, from use by thousands of hands over the years. I'm grateful that they there to help my climb, especially on days when I don't feel so strong.

These bright colours made me smile. It seems that many of the mountain slopes in the Cape are covered in pink and yellow flowers at the moment.

There were lots of lizards out soaking up the hot sun. Isn't it amazing how well camouflaged these little guys are... his green head is exactly the same shade as the lichen growing on the rock.

We continued up to the plateau. Here the scent of the coleonema was particularly intense and I wondered it it gets stronger in the warm part of the day. It was pretty gusty up here and neither of us felt like the final climb to the very top, so we called it a day and walked down.

There were many para-gliders out making the most of the windy conditions. Back at the car we found a flyer from the outfit doing the jumps. It looks like such fun, maybe one day I'll save up and do a tandem jump.

After: I felt fine after this walk; glad we got out. I'd like to get all the way to the top next week. We'll try for an early start again, as it is not ideal walking in the hottest part of the day.

On the way down I paused to take pics of things that caught my eye. Spotty bugs on a chink.