Despite heavy clouds draping the mountain, we seemed to be in sunshine for much of our slog up to the Cecilia Waterfall on Tuesday. I say slog because at times it felt like putting one foot in front of the other was the only way to make progress, and many pauses for breath were required. It's been a while since we've done this quite arduous yet extremely rewarding upward climb, as winter has been unkind to us by raining on our hiking days, and many of us professed to not remembering how steep it actually was!
The river is running strongly and a couple of the waterfalls made for interesting negotiation. The croaking of frogs along the riverbank was a new and most welcome sound, and there was much chirping going on overhead as the birds enjoyed being in the lee of the wind coming in from the north west. Very few flowers were to be seen until we reached the slopes above Kirstenbosch, where the hairyflower heath grows in abundance, turning the slopes a dusky pink to relieve the general greenery. We passed the protea bushes with the dried out flowers that we had admired earlier in the year and noticed that the patch of liparia (mountain dahlia) that occurs round a rocky outcrop is looking particularly healthy, promising a wonderful display of flowers to come.
The waterfall is doing what all good waterfalls should do, and hopefully the plentiful water supply will encourage the beautiful disa uniflora to thrive on its ledges. Summer will reveal all.
The mountains continue to ooze water, with evidence of streams along the paths and jeep track, and more trees have fallen victim to the vicious gales for which the Cape is famous, with new falls seen on both sides of the ravine, and freshly cut logs littering the slopes where obstructions have been cleared.
We finished on the downward trail above Kirstenbosch, where the height of the steps has been measured to suit a giant, and many a knee groaned on the way down, but this remains one of the trails not to be missed.
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