Due to the ongoing monitoring of the Lion's Head fire from a few days ago, our walk along the pipe track above Camps Bay was cancelled in favour of the jeep track from Constantia Nek to Kirstenbosch and back - a generally flattish, easy walk along the contours of the Newlands mountains with sweeping views and ample shade. Of course, no hike would be complete without a detour from the main path and today was no exception.
We took the right-hand fork by way of a change and descended a little way into the forest before taking a sudden left turn - we were going to have a little heart-rate increasing exercise by rejoining the upper contour via a straight uphill under the pine trees! Years of leaf-shedding meant that the thick carpet of pine needles gave no grip as we grappled our way upwards, looping arms around treetrunks for support and occasionally leaning against them to catch our breath. The slope rose ever steeply before us, the horizon blue sky, but we soldiered on and eventually reached the jeep track again, to find we had barely reached the turnoff to Eagles' Nest - a detour of a few hundred metres that burned off many calories!
The rest of our hike passed uneventfully and extremely pleasantly, with mothers and children taking time off to walk in nature, and dogs and bikes in abundance.
We passed towering silver trees fighting for dominance over remnants from the pine plantation - signs of a healthy fynbos population - and two strongly flowing streams coming down from the mountain ravines, clear and unpolluted and fed by the life-giving reserves held in these natural sponges.
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