Trappies Kop on a fine day

Having grown up in Clovelly, it should have been no surprise to me that this quiet corner of the Fish Hoek valley was in deep shade when I arrived for the hike around Trappies Kop. Somehow the memory of the looming Clovelly Mountain blocking out the sun until late morning in winter had faded over time, and perhaps the fact that I lived on the western slope of Trappies Kop had helped, as the sun did reach us earlier as it peeped over the nek between Clovelly and Kalk Bay.
It was a good decision to do the clockwise route, as the path from the waterfall corner is well constructed with flat stones and makes for easy footholds, while the descent into Kalk Bay is undefined and steeper, with high bushes on either side.
The views over the Fish Hoek valley to Chapman's Peak and to the left, a glimpse of the Atlantic, are always enjoyable. The golf course, Silvermine River and remains of the sanddunes that made up the character of this valley before settlement began are a familiar scene, as this was my view from home as a child, but development has changed the landscape from trees and white sands to rooftops and school playing fields. The large grounds of the original handful of residents have long since been subdivided and crowded with new homes, and only the roads that we walked every day remain to remind us who lived where.
On the Kalk Bay side, the sun shines most of the day, as the sun rises on the other side of False Bay but goes behind the mountains in the early afternoon in winter, so you will gather that winter can be a chilly place for those that live on the slopes of Trappies Kop. This slight inconvenience is far outweighed by the views across the bay, where colourful fishing boats ply to and from the harbour as they go out of False Bay and into the waters beyond Cape Point, or the grey naval vessels from Simon's Town glide around the bay on exercises from time to time. Whales, sharks and orcas are seen by a lucky few, and large pods of dolphins are frequently seen close to shore.
Today was another windless early winter's day, ideal for this particular hike, and although there are a few scrambles along the way, it must rank quite high on the list of trails to be tackled!