Noordhoek salt pan

Rain, thank goodness but unfortunately, prevented us from hiking in the mountains today. Thank goodness because Cape Town is desperate for water, and unfortunately because I really hate to miss a walk, but we gathered at the home of one of our hiking group for a convivial lunch that stretched the length of a hike anyway. She lives at Lake Michelle in Noordhoek, on the shores of a now man-sculptured lake that once was a natural salt pan.
When I was a child and the area was wild and unspoiled by development, the salt pan lay just beyond the dairy farm that now is the suburb of Sun Valley, and the butchery at Louw's Corner is now the parking lot at the new Checkers Hyperama. It was only recently that the original tarred parking outside the butchery was replaced after being part of a field for some 50 years. The salt pan was once used for salt production, but it was found to be the perfect surface for motor racing in the dry summer months and international and local drivers took part in informal racing there from 1930 to 1939 and in the 60s it was used for motorbike time trials. In the 70s, the young men of the area used it for informal racing in their souped up Minis and Anglias - memories of my teenage years! Seems like yesterday.
A nearby church served the local coloured community at that time, and I remember my father taking his turn to conduct the service once a month, as it formed part of the Fish Hoek parish. It seemed as though he travelled a long way to do his duties, and it was during that decade that development started in earnest and the rural nature of this part of the South Peninsula was lost forever. Unfortunately I have been unable to locate any photos.
One can't help thinking that things were so much better then, and can only be grateful for having grown up in that era when a good time was speeding across a salt pan, followed by a beach party at sunset on one of the longest beaches on the Peninsula at the foot of arguably the most scenic drive in the world.