A three o'clock wake up will always be early. Especially a couple of days in Knysna partying hard and looking for wedding venues. But I was excited never the less. The prospect of standing on a peak beckoned. Something I haven't done for a while and definitely not this year yet.
We had to hit the road to get to Stellenbosch by 8:00. My father and I would have another attempt at summiting Bothmaskop. And if time allows continue to Saaltjie via the watershed.
 |
| Father and son on Bothmaskop |
It took us 2 hours to summit Bothmaskop at 925m above sea level. The weather was perfect and we thoroughly enjoyed the views while having some biscuits and Melrose Cheeses. We looked towards Saaltjie and it didn't look that far. So we decided to be brave and push on and then descend through Jonkershoek.
 |
| Saaltjie...in the distance before the sharp incline |
The road to Saaltjie is tough. There is no road. You basically follow the ridgeline rock hopping some of the way and bundu bashing the rest through burnt protea bushes. And there is some small koppies thrown into the mix topping out at just below 1000m. The day dragged on and got really hot. And so the going got rather slow.
 |
| The view back to Bothmaskop from the last beacon |
We took regular breaks enjoying the views over Pniel and the Drakenstein mountains. After much longer than anticipated we summited the last koppie and started our descent. The descent felt forever winding through the pine plantation and on mountain bike routes. At least we got out of the sun.
 |
| The Cathedral...Still on the bucket list |
It was a great day out on my favourite mountain with awesome views. Six and a half hours, 800 vertical meters and 12.5km later we collapsed on the lush green lawn of Jonkershoek tea garden with a couple of beers to celebrate the achievement.
No comments:
Post a Comment