Silvermine in sunshine

There can be few so privileged as to have the time and opportunity to wander in the mountains of the Peninsula on a windless, sunshiny winter's day - and that is what we were today. The Silvermine Nature Reserve provides many walking trails to suit all levels of fitness and enthusiasm, and today we were both fit and enthusiastic as we set off in the chilly shade of the Steenberg Peak with the promise of sunshine on the other side of the valley.
The Silvermine river is in spate after the good rains of this week, and I haven't seen it flowing so strongly in the two years I have been walking. We were unable to cross at the waterfall and had to retrace our steps to the jeep track, fortunately giving us the only bit of uphill to get the heart rate up on an otherwise very gentle downhill trail. It was just wonderful to be accompanied by the sound of tumbling waterfalls and rushing streams all the way, something that has been a long time coming.
The bright tips of the leucadendrons brought sunshine to even the shadiest slopes, with the white metalasia providing a dotty backdrop to the silvery grey foliage. The occasional protea lepidocarpodendron popped its bearded head out from the dense vegetation, and a pristine pale pink protea repens gave a splendid show despite the requisite sugarbird being nowhere in sight.
We stopped for coffee at the ruins of the old powder store used back in the day when silver was being sought in these hills - all that remains are a few walls, three huge and long dead pine trees (victims of numerous wildfires) and a dangerous network of tunnels and sinkholes on the other side of the river. But the name persists.