The Spaanschemat River Trail

We took a new route for our hike today (my first in nearly a month after gallivanting around various sections of the Kalahari) and it turned out to be quite delightful. Setting out from Pedlars on the bend, we crossed the road to take the river trail that parallels the M3 - very closely at times, but well fenced off and hidden from the traffic. It was such a pleasure to walk under the greenery of the trees, with lush grass on either side of the smooth sand trail and well-tended gardens visible through high fences leading up to some remarkably large houses in this upmarket suburb.
The trail wound back up from the highway towards Spaanschemat Road, quite a distance away, and on the way we stopped off at the Kramat - a most peaceful and beautiful place that few of us knew existed - and spent a pleasant half-hour in the shady rose garden with tinkling fountains, taking care to adhere to the rules of the shrine's access. These rules are what we would consider socially acceptable behaviour in every way, and it is very sad that it needs to be spelled out to visitors that they should be respectful, not litter, not leave the toilets in a filthy state (yes! the mind boggles).  It truly is worth a visit, no matter how brief.
We continued up the valley towards the local wine farms, Groot Constantia in particular, and walked through a meadow of tall grass reminiscent of the plains of Africa - one could imagine Livingstone cutting a swathe through it, or lions lurking! (I have obviously been too long in a game park.) Along the way are signposts detailing the birds, wildlife and flora to be seen along the way, and reed overgrowth was being cleared by municipal workers where it was clogging the stream, so it is clear that this trail is one of the more important, and amazing that we have taken so long to discover it. Perhaps it is its very residential nature that causes most to overlook the signposts along the roads, and perhaps it is best to be a well-kept secret!
We came to the lower vineyards of Groot Constantia after about 6km of trail, and after negotiating a rather interesting revolving gate (slimness an advantage), we strolled into the heart of this historic farm before taking the road down to the Sillery trail and back to the cars. A fairly slow but particularly pretty walk that must be done again.