Hiking for Fun

I find it fitting to call this piece “hiking for fun” my blog name. This hike most definitely reminded me of why I started hiking in the first place. It’s always special when I hike in a different provinces , I love it. I try to incorporate hikes when I visit different places, being either work or holiday. This one was no different. One would argue why I hike while on holiday, like our Uber driver did. She could not comprehend who wants to go climb mountains while on holiday. I understood where she was coming from. She doesn’t get how being out there makes me feel. The peace, tranquil, serenity of it all while am out there, surpasses the physical part of it. I don’t mind it because I get more than I bargain for when am in the mountains. By the way the reason our Uber driver heard about our hiking was because she became our driver the whole time, we were in Cape town, shout out to Flo, she was a trooper. And yes Flo, myself and D have humans that breathe. 🤣

We struggled to wake up on Saturday as we had a late night on Friday. We managed to drag ourselves out of our cosy beds and off we went to Trish’s house for a lift to the hiking spot. During the drive we already forgotten our beds, the weather was AMAZING, blue skies, bit chilli but no crazy Cape town winds. I think we brought Johannesburg weather with us, cause wow, the weather played along. Trish invited her friend, Sue, she came with her two four legged babies.

Before I left Joburg I already organized the hike with my always ever ready/willing friends to hike with me when am in Cape town. 😊Appreciate you Trish and Dr Renee. I dragged D to this hike against her will. She complained about this hiking even before we left for Cape town, guess what, she was the one who enjoyed herself more than us. She even got over her fear of dogs , well a little bit. We were all proud of her, I have receipts for this, she cannot argue with me.🤣 the dogs were Sue’s, Trish’s friend. We all had fun, laughed a lot and had fabtastic conversations.

We hiked at a place called Silvermine Dam by Table Mountain National Park. What a gorgeous place, we hiked only hiked 5km as we had a packed day afterwards. Let me tell you, it felt like we hiked 10km. We saw a lot of amazing views all round, the ocean, mountains, lovely fynbos landscape. Th high up we hiked, the more we saw the full view of the damn. The history of this place stems way back , 1680 type back. I understand this trail has few different hikes, cant wait to explore more next time. Trish and Doc, that’s me inviting myself back to Cape town in the new year.😊

As I always say, it costs minimum R50.00 to have a holiday, a short left, now this was a R50.00 holiday for sure. It was worth waking up even with the hangover. Taking a dip in the dam was an amazing experience, the water was freezing, but it was all worth it. Afterwards we dressed up and off we went for lunch in Kalk bay. This place is magnificent, chilled. We had FRESH fish, as expected, well the best part was eating this fish overlooking the ocean 😀. What more can a girl ask for☺️. Doc was ready to show us around KalK bay, after lunch we walked to a cocktail bar, and the cocktails were awesome, yes even my virgin ones were Good. It was truly an awesome day, thanks to Renee and Trish for agreeing to be part of our shenanigans for the day.

I can go on and on about this day, all I know is the day was Fabtastic and it was one of my greatest experience.

Until next year Fabtastic people!

Thank you for always coming back to read my blog.

Happy holidays

Moira(Airforce 1)

Wild Dog & Rustig

The weekend that was, felt rejuvenated, I had no energy for adulting and life-ing—a much-needed appointment with nature. Technology detox and lots of laughter were exactly what I needed.  A few weeks prior, Pumza told me about the back-to-back hiking she and her group want to do in Haarties. I said she must count me in, it sounded like it was very far, so I committed. That’s just me, when my friends and family invite me to anything fun, I agree instantly. For some reason, the dates always sound far when I agree, and then I get a reminder from nowhere. LOL. The same thing happened here, I committed to this back-to-back hiking thinking oh well, it is still far. Next thing I know I get a reminder message on Wednesday from Pumza with excitement that Saturday is the day. Yoh! Did I get a shock, I was in all the way, excited about spending the weekend away from the city buzz. Off we went early Saturday morning for our first 8.5 km hike at the Cheetah Lodge (Wild Dog). The energy was great, and we were geared for back-to-back hikes. I was excited cause I had never been to this trail before, that’s one of my favorite parts about hiking, new spots.

It was scorching in the North West. This trail did not have shade at all, I would not recommend doing it during spring or summer, it is best to do it in winter.  It is not an easy trail; it has rocks and loose stones throughout, making it tough to maneuver.  I think it is moderate to difficult. I broke a sweat which is something that never happens to me. I’m glad we were ready for it; we had enough water and snacks. The property was breathtaking, with amazing views surrounded by mountains. All we could hear were birds chipping. On challenging hikes like this one, I always reflect on how I can endure and yet finish strong. It reminds me of my resilience and can-do attitude that I have.

At some point we found this lovey rock that had shade and big enough to accommodate all of us. We sat under the shade and wished we could drag it with us, yes people it was that hot.  The last two kilometers were tough, it was all downhill from there, it felt like we were in a desert. We finished our 8.5km hike and at the finish line by the property, there was a lovely, manicured garden with the biggest trees that gave us the best shade. Shoes were off, some laid down, some stretched, and the snacks were out. We had so much fun under those trees, that we didn’t want to leave the spot.  Hunger spoke, and we decided to find a nice restaurant before we could go to our accommodation. There was a board that read” if you’re lucky you might spot the Cheetahs”. We decided to use the exit towards the Cheetahs. We spotted the Cheetahs and OMG!  It was a treat; it was my favorite moment of the day, but you could tell how they looked at us; all they could see was lunch.🤣.

Our accommodation was at another location, our next-day hike location.  Lunch was amazing, we had Portuguese food, and the aircon felt like heaven. After being in the sun for 4 hours, trust me aircon is a jackpot.

Anyway, after lunch we now had to think of dinner and snacks. Others went to check in, and myself, Pumza, and Jen went to a supermarket to shop for our home. LOL. Shopping was so funny; Jen was very full, and she could not fathom that we would still eat later. I get where she was coming from, I am like that when I am too full as well, I just cannot see beyond my full tummy. We kept on convincing her that we need to shop for later, it was the funniest thing. She ended up giving in and pushing trolly and letting us choose whatever we thought we would need. Off we went to our accommodation, by the time we got there it was early evening, we freshened up and chilled. There was no reception nor Wi-Fi at the property, I was so happy, detoxification mode from technology was activated. I loved every minute of it, we prepared a light dinner and morning breakfast that we were going to eat on top of the mountain the next day. We went to bed to rest for our next 9km hike. Peter was the only one doing 15km, I called him a show off, 15km is nothing to him, he runs comrades’ marathon, so, go figure. It’s all love Ntate Peter. 😊

The second day began at Rustig, we began early as we slept within the property, we didn’t have to wait for opening time. We started preparing and we were out by 6:30. As we were leaving to start our hike, we walked past a few monkeys hanging around the property. They had naughty faces written all over them.  We began our hike on the Rustig trail and off we disappeared into the wilderness. This trail had lots of shade, so it was a relief as it was still hot.  Rustig is an Afrikaans word which means restful. There was nothing Rustig about this trail, it was difficult. The trail just goes up and up and through that you must use ladders that are on the edge of the mountains. It tests your concentration cause one mistake you might find yourself rolling back to where you began. I was impressed with my level of fitness. I did not hike a lot this year, so I thought I was going to struggle hiking back-to-back.

I must admit after hiking 9km I wished I hiked 15km because 9km trail has a stretch that is so painful to hike, it’s painful on your knees and toes. It is infested with loose rocks. I think it is a 1km stretch, but it felt like ten. When you hike 15km you avoid that devil. 😢We separated by 6km point, and off Peter disappeared on his 15km trail. Some were left behind and others managed to pass through the devil faster than some of us, so the last 3km we separated. I was happy when I saw the sign with 1km to go. It took us 4 hours to finish 9km, we normally do 10km within three and half hours. This goes to show the level of difficulty of this trail.

By the time we got to the property the ones who were in front of us were already chilling and having drinks waiting for us. When we stepped on to the porch, they told us to stop right there, we were wondering what could be wrong. Remember I told you when we left for our hike, we saw monkeys chilling next to our house! We were told to step into the house and see the mess. These menaces ransacked our house, we left the windows open. I’m sure when we left in the morning, they were laughing at us thinking, there goes our victims. They had a party I tell you, opened packets of chips, sugar sachets, they opened everything and pooped everywhere. We were not impressed at all, especially me. Listen I understand that we were in the woods, but I still don’t do that much level of nature. There is nature and then there is NATURE, I don’t do the latter. LOL. It was quite gross, I didn’t want to touch anything afterwards. Pumza kept on saying we are in the woods, and I said poop is poop. Any way we packed our stuff and off we went our separate ways. It was an amazing weekend, amazing company and the property was beautiful. I would do it again, except this time I will remember to close the windows.

Until then fabtastic people

Moira

What a treat this past two weekends, after a long time not being in the mountains.

The last time I did a difficult trail was over six months ago. I was worried I won’t be able to finish 10km easily, but I did with ease, I guess the girl still got it. The first three kilometers were hectic, we kept on hoping to get to the flat surface it was not happening.  I have been here before, but it has been a while. I forgot how long the steep was with huge rocks to maneuver. In my head I kept on thinking where is a chicken run route, 😀 knowing exactly that I won’t even take it. Mind over matter shenanigans.

If you have read my previous blogs, I have written about this place before, like I have done so many times with other places. It is amazing how different stories come out of the same place, love it. The hiking trail is a two part farm, you start hiking from the Noble Village side that’s where you find restaurants, obstacle courses where you can do team building activities or just groups of people who want to have fun. Also 4*4 trails along the hiking trail proceeding into another farm Sable Ranch. Sable Ranch has beautiful Sables of course and accommodation to stay over. This time we spotted Zebra and baboons. What we get to experience in these mountains is a treat. After we hiked I looked at the people we found at the restaurant who just came to eat and I was thinking to myself; ‘I know you are in this beautiful peaceful space but we saw way better.’Anyway different things for different people right!.✅

I was invited by Pumza, partner in shenanigans, to join her hiking group.  I love the dynamics of that group, you never know what you getting every time you are with them. Without fail I always meet new people. The rest I have not seen in over six months and they were happy to see me, so was I, nothing but love. I made Pumza late because I wanted us to pass by our favourite petrol station to get best fat cakes. I spoke to her during that week that this past winter I didn’t get to hike towards that part of town, therefore we have to go buy them one last time. Can I tell you by the time we finished talking about these fatcakes almost everyone wanted directions to the fatcake place. LOL. One thing about fat cakes, they taste better during winter, summer nahh.

There are two of my favorites spots on this property;  a lovely peaceful dam surrounded by green grass and there is outdoor furniture next to the dam and it’s quite inviting ☺️. It is so gorgeous I always picture myself seating there all by myself with a book and watching sunset. We chilled there and took pictures and fooled around a bit : another spot is a picnic spot, situated under these large and amazing huge , it has fireplace to use for braai also kitchenet of some sort. The shade and free aircon under those trees are great.

When we finished our hike, we literally took over the parking lot, opened car boots, camping chairs out and great conversations kept on going. After an hour I decided I wanted to go to our favourite spot, in haarties, it is a 35 to 40 minute drive from where we were. Everyone thought we were crazy, but yet again they know that the two of us together can drive around the whole day without care of time. We got to the farmers market, got some lunch and did some shopping and off we went. Lovely day well spent, my body, soul, mind were very happy. Mission accomplished.

Until next time Fabtastic People

Moira

Modderfontein

It was a cold icy Johannesburg morning, another Saturday morning spent with nature. It is always a daunting task for me to get out of bed during winter to go hike. However, as soon as I am up, I forget all about warm blankets. I think am not a morning person, I don’t know, still trying to figure that one out. Maybe I am disciplined in what I enjoy doing, I can sacrifice my warm bed for better. LOL.

This day was no different, got up early, still dark and way we went for another beautiful morning. As soon as we got to the farm, I was blown away by the beauty of sunrise through the fog. The experience of someone who get to these spots very early verses someone who arrive an hour or two later is different. I get to experience the sunrise, even better during winter, fog and mist. It’s picture perfect. It’s the small things for me, the rest is just a bonus. The tranquility of it all, fresh air, quietness. The best escape ever, cannot compare.

Modderfontien is surrounded by lovely dam, besides the hiking trail, people come through to fish and bird watch. There is also a market with different stalls including food stalls, it’s a nice touch to it.

I want to digress a bit and tell you why I named this piece “The Escape”, besides the obvious reason that hiking for me is my safe space to catch and release. The beauty of finding peace is that when life is lifing you, it lends easily because you are in a way ready for it. You know consciously or subconsciously but you just know. Writer’s block hit me for the past few months and no matter how hard I tried to finish this blog on my timeline, it was just not happening.  I allowed life to life me so that I get over it. Along with not blogging I was unable to hike for over two months which is unheard of ever since I started hiking.

This experience of the past few months made me realise how I was able to think positively even when the situation did not allow. I am proud of myself and continue to learn about myself.

I am mentally, physically, ready for the mountains again. Looking forward to my next adventure in the next week.

“The moment in front of you is not bothering you; you are bothering yourself about the moment that’s in front of you-Michael Singer

Until next time Fabtastic people

Moira