Along the Liesbeeck in a black bag

The walk from Kirstenbosch along the Liesbeeck River, which meanders through the suburbs of Bishopscourt, Claremont and Newlands, past the Josephine Mill and onwards to the Black River would be delightful if it were not for the tarred streets, traffic and vagrants living under bridges and subways, with accompanying foul litter and by-products of human habitation. However, this blog is not the platform for such discourse, merely pointing out why it is no longer on my list of recommended hikes.
The upper reaches through the greenbelt and Upper Claremont are beautifully tended by employees of the residents, who have made carefully landscaped banks of clivias, tree ferns, acanthus and other shade-loving plants, with rustic wooden benches and tiny picnic areas in clearings next to the still pristine river. It remains a secret retreat, not a public recreation area, and it is hard to believe that just above the banks the world of traffic jams and rush hour frustrations exists.
Yesterday was another day of drizzle and then sunshine, rather like the winters of old, and we sheltered briefly in an arcade. I was without a jacket, having been determined that I would not get wet, and a woman from a nearby office insisted that I take a plastic rain cover like others were wearing. Of course, I could not refuse and had to put it on. The result was as per the photo. It's always good to make people laugh! Under the black bag I had a travel umbrella in a pocket in front and my backpack behind, and was informed that I looked like Quasimodo - couldn't resist a simulated sideways stumble which fortunately was not captured on camera!
The entire walk from Kirstenbosch to Josephine Mill and back is just shy of 9kms and there was no mistaking that we had walked the distance! A flat walk is so much harder than a mountain hike, I find.