The Old Wagon Road

Today we took the road less travelled - the Old Wagon Road, that winds up through the Silvermine Nature Reserve from Silvermine Road, on the western side. This track was made in the 1940s, and its reference to a long-ago track over the mountains to access the southern Peninsula is unfortunately only a romantic notion, but it is still nice to imagine early travellers taking this route between Cape Town and Simon's Town.
Perfect weather - blue skies, a gentle drift of cool air from the Atlantic - continues to provide us with something to soothe the soul in these senselessly restricted times, and I am always reminded that the Cape winter is a very short season of a few gales and heavy rain, relieved by marvellous sunshiny days, and the promise of spring is never far away. Bright yellow moraea (Cape tulip) dotted the verges as we made our way up the rough path from the road past Noordhoek Manor. A glimpse through the fence revealed tranquil scenes of sunlit conservatories and neat little patches of garden - a retirement village that appears to provide a gentle haven for the older folk - those that are fortunate to find such a place.
The clear night skies mean a heavy dew in the early morning, and where better to admire Nature's diamonds than on the delicate strands of a spider web, or the pristine petals of the prolific lobelia splashing pink and blue colours in the deep shade? Even the bearded sugarbush benefits from a scattering of dew on its soft 'beard', no doubt helping to attract the sugarbirds that get food and drink at the same time.
The track is a relentless uphill, but today I felt fit and raring to go, hardly needing to stop to admire the view and barely feeling a raised heartbeat, although the fitbit recorded Peak Cardio heart rate of 162. I think that must have been an error! Nonetheless, it was a good bit of exercise and our coffee break on an outcrop of unusually flat rocks was very welcome. The view down the valley was helped by Dassenberg obscuring the greater part of Fish Hoek, thus giving an illusion of a fairly wild space still, with the lush fairways of Clovelly Golf Club in the distance. The bay was smooth, the surface unbroken by any breeze or wave breaking along the shore, looking like an ice rink and probably the same temperature.
When the air is still, the birds are out of the bushes and flitting from twig to twig, and the calls of Karoo prinias, Southern Double-collared sunbirds, sugarbirds and a Cape robin-chat echoed from the valleys. Of course, I didn't have the right camera, so you will have to just take my word for it.
A lovely walk, thoroughly recommended if you don't mind a long uphill. Once Silvermine reopens properly, you can of course start at the top and only do the downhill, but take a hiking stick to steady yourself - the track is slippery in places.