Return to Bothmaskop and Beyond

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.

RIDING YOUR SCRUNCHIE OFF: IMPROMPTU RACE

With the beautiful weather hitting our coast last weekend and the half of PE streaming onto the roads for the annual Herald Cycle Tour we decided to head down to the beach front Primi Piatti.  A lazy afternoon of coffee sipping and big burgers was on order while watching the people enjoying the surf and sand.  We also saw some cycle legends refueling with some pasta.
    It was a round trip of 16km.  But disaster struck 400m from home.  OK, I'm exaggerating.  Lida was pedaling gently across the road when a stray chain link got jammed in the rear derailer. The hanger and derailer ended up being bent.  I had to replace the hanger.  It turns out this is not covered on the warranty.  This was very disheartening on a bike that is 2 months old and hasn't even seen the best part of 100km!

Thats not right!

 
I got the bike back yesterday and we decided to go for an gentle ride. An 4k ride and then return via the valley back home.  Nothing serious, just getting back into things.  Arriving at the parking lot where we enter the valley we were confronted with loads of MTBers.  Some of them asking us if we are here for the race. Not sure if they thought we looked like competition for them.  On closer inspection it turned out to be a weekly thing called "The 1 hour madness". It's hosted by one of the local cycle shops, Cyclo Pro.  You get 1 hour to ride a 3k course as much as possible.  Lida was super excited to do this! Even some slight persuasion from my side to reconsider wasn't enough to break her spirit.  We entered and decided that completing two loops will be an achievable target.

We started off quickly and enjoyed the fast sweeping turning single track. By far the most technical we have done. We were leading the slow pack! There was one major climb and Lida owned it on both loops!  We finished our two loops in 35 minutes and decided to call it quits, seeing that we still had to get home.  What a good way for Lida to finish her 25th year on earth.  I would have done another one trying to keep up with the fast guys, but my crank bolt was coming loose.  Another not so good advertisement for the Scott Aspect 40.  I had to free wheel most of 4.5k's back home, with Lida pushing me here and there. Quite a sight for some I'm sure.

Our total distance for the day was 15km. The same as the race I'm training Lida for.  That race will be much less technical than this one and flat as well. So Lida is well on her way!

BOTHMASKOP

The idea was to hike the +-6km and 700m vertical gain to the top of Bothmaskop.  Strange how Google Earth can make gradients look much flatter than it really is.

We started out at about 10am, which was late as the temperature pushed above the 30's already.  We had limited time and not 100% sure of the route to take.  After some extra turns and bumps through the plantation we finally got onto the spine of this "little" koppie. The last section before getting to the open veld on the foothills were luckily shaded and offered some degree of stoney steps.

Stepping onto the foothill the gradient noticeably goes up quite a few degrees.  There is no real rig-zagging up the contours like Lions Head offering a straight ascent to the mountain ridge.  The heat was exhausting sitting at 37 degrees and time running out.  I made it to an elevation of 700m, still a good 200m below the summit.

We took a more direct route back to the car dropping 500m in 3.65km.

Whats goes up...

I'll be back in Cape Town 18 February and if all goes to plan will be able to report back on a successful ascent.  If time allows it we will push on and follow the ridge to Saaltjie returning via Jonkershoek.

Never trust a plantation road to go in a straight line

Making my way up with some walking sticks

Self portrait with Bothmaskop in background