{go hiking} MIDLANDS HIKING CLUB · Cliff Pass"), Tianjin section of the Great Wall of China East...

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CONTENTS QUEST FOR ADVENTURE; CHAIRMAN’S CHIRP; GREAT WALL MARATHON; WE HIKED TO: BUSHMAN'S NEK HUT, "THE AMBERS", BUFFELSBOSCH, CARACAL CAVE, FORT NOTTINGHAM; YOUR OUTDOOR CARTOONS, LIBRARY & MOVIES. Page 1 {go hiking} MIDLANDS HIKING CLUB NEWS QUEST FOR ADVENTURE MIDLANDS HIKING CLUB COMMITTEE Chairman: Alistair Nixon ([email protected] Vice-Chairman: Peter Comrie ([email protected]) Treasurer: Sue Rowley ([email protected]) Secretary: Cathy Nixon ([email protected]) Webmaster: Rod Hart ([email protected]) Membership Manager: Peter Rippon ([email protected]) Newsletter Editor & Activities Manager: Brigitta Simpson ([email protected]) Volume 3 Number 17 22 March 2017 GO TO: www.gohiking.co.za www.gohiking.co.za Next Social 21 March 2017 By competing in the WORLD'S COOLEST MARATHON ®, the North Pole Marathon ®, you can become one of a truly select few to race at the top of the world - at the Geographic North Pole. And you will feel on top of the world when you manage to overcome the extreme sub-zero temperatures to finish 42.195km (26.2 miles) in one of the remotest parts of the planet. But first you must ask yourself if you have got the nerve and drive to travel to the North Pole and run on Arctic ice floes, with 6 to 12 feet separating you from 12,000 feet of Arctic Ocean? Can you handle the extreme cold? Are you fit enough? Do you want to push yourself to the edge? If the answer is yes, then you are ready for the North Pole Marathon. Join race director Rich- ard Donovan, the first marathoner at both the North and South Poles, in a trip of a lifetime. Re- member, this marathon is not run on land - it is run 'on' water, frozen water, in the high Arctic Ocean. You will never have a greater adventure marathon story. http://www.npmarathon.com/ L Life was meant for good friends and great adventures”

Transcript of {go hiking} MIDLANDS HIKING CLUB · Cliff Pass"), Tianjin section of the Great Wall of China East...

Page 1: {go hiking} MIDLANDS HIKING CLUB · Cliff Pass"), Tianjin section of the Great Wall of China East of Bei-jing. Since it first start in 1999, the race has grown to several hun-dred

CONTENTS

QUEST FOR ADVENTURE; CHAIRMAN’S CHIRP; GREAT WALL MARATHON; WE

HIKED TO: BUSHMAN'S NEK HUT, "THE AMBERS", BUFFELSBOSCH, CARACAL

CAVE, FORT NOTTINGHAM; YOUR OUTDOOR CARTOONS, LIBRARY & MOVIES.

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{go hiking} MIDLANDS

HIKING CLUB

NEWS

QUEST FOR ADVENTURE

MIDLANDS HIKING CLUB COMMITTEE

Chairman: Alistair Nixon ([email protected] Vice-Chairman: Peter Comrie ([email protected])

Treasurer: Sue Rowley ([email protected]) Secretary: Cathy Nixon ([email protected])

Webmaster: Rod Hart ([email protected])

Membership Manager: Peter Rippon ([email protected])

Newsletter Editor & Activities Manager: Brigitta Simpson ([email protected])

Volume 3 Number 17 22 March 2017

GO TO: www.gohiking.co.za

www.gohiking.co.za

Next Social

21 March 2017

By competing in the WORLD'S COOLEST

MARATHON ®, the North Pole Marathon ®,

you can become one of a truly select few to race

at the top of the world - at the Geographic North

Pole. And you will feel on top of the world when

you manage to overcome the extreme sub-zero

temperatures to finish 42.195km (26.2 miles) in

one of the remotest parts of the planet.

But first you must ask yourself if you have got

the nerve and drive to travel to the North Pole

and run on Arctic ice floes, with 6 to 12 feet

separating you from 12,000 feet of Arctic Ocean?

Can you handle the extreme cold? Are you fit

enough? Do you want to push yourself to the

edge? If the answer is yes, then you are ready for

the North Pole Marathon. Join race director Rich-

ard Donovan, the first marathoner at both the

North and South Poles, in a trip of a lifetime. Re-

member, this marathon is not run on land - it is

run 'on' water, frozen water, in the high Arctic

Ocean. You will never have a greater adventure

marathon story.

http://www.npmarathon.com/

”L Life was meant for good friends and

great adventures”

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EEEEditor’s Noteditor’s Noteditor’s Noteditor’s Note Hiking is always an adventure, es-

pecially if one incorporates running

into your hiking world. Participat-

ing in the Artic marathons is truly

inspiring, not to mention the Great

Wall of China.

For those of us who keep to our

steady hiking shedule locally, we

most certainly experience every

hike is a lovely adventure.

Keith Ashton would agree, yes?

AdventurousAdventurousAdventurousAdventurous hiking! hiking! hiking! hiking!

Brigitta Brigitta Brigitta Brigitta

GO TO: www.gohiking.co.za

Chairman’s Chirp by Alistair Nixon

Without grapes there would be no wine! Without hikes there would be no Midlands Hiking Club!

I’ve watched the hiking schedule for the next quarter being compiled. It is an anxious time as the deadline

looms and there are a few free hike days still available. What it has made me realise is there is a core of

leaders who, every quarter, give without reward (and sometimes praise) their leadership and experience for

our hiking pleasure.

I would like to encourage members who are interested in becoming hike leaders to feel free to chat to our

expereinced leaders to get them going. The more the merrier.

Next Social

16 MAY2017

Dave's Hiking Tip With the Easter holidays fast approaching, and all the schools in the

country on holiday at the same time, the berg camps and caves will

be very busy. Do your bookings early, and if you decided to hike

on the off chance that the cave or hut might be empty, go prepared

to tent, somebody may be there ahead of you, then where do you

sleep? Also carry your booking papers with you, if someone is

there on the off chance, they may leave without a fight if you can

prove you have booked, or you may have to leave if they have

booked.

ALWAYS GO PREPARED FOR THE UNEXPECTED

Welcome

Mala Kishuna

Dusty Shaw

Royanda Omar

Denise Maclachlan

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Great Wall Marathon

Steve and Eleanor Pienaar

Steve and Eleanor Pienaar are passionate about running

and travel. They have combined these two passions for

an adventure that has taken them across the globe. The

Pienaars recently completed their seventh marathons on

7 continents challenge and are the 1st South African

couple to accomplish this feat. They have run many

marathons in South Africa , including the Comrades ul-

tra marathon (Steve has his green number – 10 finishes

and Eleanor has her back to back medals – 2 finishes).

The Pienaars have also run the New York, London,

Great Wall of China, Sydney , Rio de Janeiro and Ant-

arctic Ice marathons. They have been married for

22 years and have run all the international marathons

together.

The Great Wall Marathon is an

annual marathon race held in May

along and on the Huangyaguan or

Huangya Pass (Chinese: 黄崖关;

Chinese: 黃崖關; Pinyin: Huán-

gyáguān; Literally: "Yellow

Cliff Pass"), Tianjin section of the

Great Wall of China East of Bei-

jing. Since it first start in 1999,

the race has grown to several hun-

dred participants. Aside from the

main marathon, a half marathon,

10 km and 5 km runs were also

held until 2012. 2013 marked the

debut of an 8.5 km "fun run", re-

placing the 5 and 10 km distances.

The course is much tougher than

traditional marathons with partici-

pants challenged by 5,164 stone

steps and many steep ascents and

descents. Wikipedia.

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Another beautiful but scorching

hot day as we left the hut, luckily with

several river crossings to cool our feet &

soak our hats etc. The first section of the

route follows the Ngwangwane River

up-stream reaching Cedric's Pool after

about 5 km and this is where the young

family etc joined us increasing our

group size to 22. It was then further on

alongside the river before crossing it and

climbing steeply up to "The Gap" for a

short break to take in the scenery all

around, with a good view of "Vast

Cave" across another valley. From here I

indicated where other bushmen paint-

ings can be found, but continued along

the narrow and partly overgrown scenic

and rugged route to Mystery cave for a

well-earned rest in the shade and to view

the very good bushmen paintings before

having lunch followed by several mem-

bers of our group having a swim in the

stream not far from the cave. We then

took the same way back, quickly build-

ing up a sweat in the scorching sun, but

the thoughts of a swim to cool-off in

Cedric's pool kept most of us in good

spirits but one or two were taking a bit

of strain. However what a joy at reach-

ing Cedri'cs pool to frolic in the cool

water under a lovely waterfall. Then we

still had another 5 km back to the hut,

crossing rivers en-route and making our

return hike of over 16 km in very hot

conditions. At the hut it was cold

shower time before supper and drinks,

and New Year's Eve celebrations aptly

recorded on the photos.

Third Day - 1 Jan 2017 - New Years

Day (To Painters Cave &

Langalibalele Cave) As it was very hot again we de-

cided on an early start at about 07h00,

however, several of our group having

already done 1 or 2 hikes the previous

days decided on a more leisurely time,

but obviously still enjoyed themselves

very much. So 9 of our "stronger hikers"

set off up from the hut to join the Giant's

Cup Trail, our route being in the reverse

direction with a continuous climbing

height of about 600 metres and about an

8 km distance to Painters Cave which

has very good bushmen paintings as the

name suggests. In the heat there was

much sweating and heavy breathing as

we climbed higher and higher ,but we

saw many Eland on our route, from a

couple of groups of 4 to a group of over

30. We deviated from the trail before

reaching Langalibalele cave to the "off

the beaten track" picking up some minor

tracks later as we climbed further, even-

tually reaching the small rock tarn for

"upside-down" photos, then on to

We hiked to ...

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NEW YEAR @ BUSHMAN'S

NEK HUT

30 DEC 16 TO 2 JAN 17

Report and photos by LEADER

KEITH ASHTON We always have a good turn-

out for celebrating New Year from

Bushman's Nek Hut and this year

was no exception with 16 partici-

pants. Most were staying 3-nights

(allowing for 4 day hikes from this

base) and the rest staying 2-nights

Our participants were Rose Dix,

Anna Kapp, Christa Gadd, Margret

Kirsten, Saurabh Padwal and two

other friends from India (all living in

Johannesburg at the moment and

working on contracts with a cell

phone company), Marie Gurr,

Neville Walmsley, Rob Krogh, Linda

de Beer, Inky Daly, Eric Essenwein,

Helge Mehrtens (from Germany but

working in S.A. at the moment),

Margaret & Keith Ashton. Besides

our group, Steve Stott had phoned

me before we left home to ask if he

and his young family + brother &

wife could join us on a cave hike as

they were staying near-by at Silver

Streams Caravan/Camping park over

the festive season, so on the day we

hiked to Mystery Cave we had 22

hikers.

First Day 30 Dec 2016 (Climbing &

traversing a long lost Jeep track) As we had to arrive at Bush-

man(s Nek, complete the formalities

and then backpack to the hut, sort

ourselves out and wait for some later

arrivals, we had lunch at the hut and

then we set off on a scorching hot

day to first cross the Bushmans

River, then follow it upstream before

crossing it again to climb up the

route of a very old Jeep track. This

track was originally hand-built many

years ago to zig-zag upwards to a

very high point to allow the building

of a look-out hut with sleeping quar-

ters and for the transport of look-out

personnel and re-supplies when the

area was under the control of the De-

partment of Forestry. It was aban-

doned many years ago as a jeep track

and later became part of the old Gi-

ants Cup Trail before Bushman's Hut

was built and the last section of the

route changed and shortened. This

route now makes a very scenic hiking

route but is very rarely used. The

photos illustrate this interesting

route. Second Day 31 Dec 2016 - New

Year's Eve (To Mystery Cave con-

taining spectacular bushman

paintings)

Twin Rocks" for a group photo and a

shady rest. Not too long afterwards

we reached Painters cave where we

enjoyed lunch and filled our water

bottles from the lovely stream below

the cave. After our lunch and a well-

earned rest, we made our way back,

but on reaching an escarpment I sug-

gested another "off the beaten track"

route down a rock strewn valley to

Langalibalele cave (all of our hardy

hikers agreed to this for a bit more

adventure). After a while we reached

Langalibalele cave and did some ex-

ploring and climbing on the upper

reaches of the cave. Then we explored

some of the beautiful areas towards

Garden Castle including gullies and

magnificent waterfalls. After this we

returned to the hut for supper, social-

ising and a rest - again the photos il-

lustrate our day.

Fourth Day - 2 Jan 2017 - To

"Halfway Cave" which is also

known as "Slab Cave" or

"Fisherman's Cave" & lovely pools. Some of our group had to

leave fairly early in the morning for

home, but the rest of us were to have

a relatively easy hike which included

swimming in "Overhang Cave Pool"

and the big lovely pool beyond

"Halfway Cave", the cave being

named because it is half-way to

"Bushman's Cave" . Once inside be-

hind the big "Slab" (hence this alter-

native name for the cave), I chal-

lenged anyone in our group to crawl

and squeeze into the dark recess of the

mini-cave within the main cave.

Linda de Beer bravely took up the

challenge as I explained that I had

done it several times and she was not

to be outdone by an old pensioner.

Once at the big pool with the gushing

waterfall, we spent about an hour frol-

icking, cooling-off and getting mas-

sages from the tumbling waves. Here

we met Philip Grant with two Swiss

clients returning from "Tarn

cave" (first night) and "Bushman's

Cave" on their second night - the 3 of

them joined us for a long swim.

After another fantastic hike

with much enjoyment in the pools, we

returned to the hut, packed our back-

packs, said our goodbyes and returned

to the car park to drive home after an

excellent 4 days to celebrate New

Year.

Thanks to everyone in our

group for sharing the time, friendship,

good humour and camaraderie with

us.

Page 5: {go hiking} MIDLANDS HIKING CLUB · Cliff Pass"), Tianjin section of the Great Wall of China East of Bei-jing. Since it first start in 1999, the race has grown to several hun-dred

" THE AMBERS" DAY HIKE

SUN 29 JAN 017

Report and photos

by Keith Ashton

This hike and venue proved to be

popular with club members. I had

over 20 requests but unfortunately,

as per the fixtures, I had to limit the

numbers to 12 (actually stretched to

13 as the last two people able to

book were a couple).

It was a beautiful sunny day

as our participants arrived at our

house in Amber Valley at 08h00 and

after all had signed the hike register,

we were off into the grassland areas

away from all the houses. We were

soon spotting several of our many

zebra, blesbok, impala, warthog,

duiker and reedbuck. We continued

along the fenceline between Amber

Valley and Amber Lee, eventually

reaching the bottom corner of Am-

ber Valley, then it was a steep climb

upwards over rough and uneven

ground following the perimeter, still

between Amber Valley and Amber

Lee until we reached higher ground

for a brief rest to view the beautiful

scenery all around us and into the

distance beyond Umgeni Valley.

From here we continued climbing

further, but more gently along the

perimeter between Amber Valley

and Kwa Wula; spotting more ani-

mals in both estates. Eventually we

reached the highest corner point in

Amber Valley which is adjacent to

Amber Ridge and at this point we

had a rest near the bench which Mar-

garet and I donated for the benefit of

Amber Valley residents (those of

course who are able to walk up to

this highest point).

It was then a descent down a

grassy track and eventually along the

grassed wall of the lovely Falcon

Dam which is stocked with trout,

courtesy of the Amber Valley Fish-

ing Club. After a detour around

some other grass tracks, we walked

along the banks of Falcon Dam and

it was pleasing to see many Egyptian

geese on the water surface with oth-

ers checking out one of the round

platforms anchored in the dam to

provide nesting spots. From here we

climbed up to the top fence-line be-

tween Amber Valley and Amber

Ridge. Shortly afterwards we en-

tered Amber Ridge to circumnavi-

gate their lovely estate which in-

cluded more climbing and

We hiked to ...

Page 5

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descending. Part of this route was

along the fence-line between Amber

Ridge and Kwa Wula where we were

able to view a healthy herd of blue wil-

debeest.

After exiting Amber Ridge we

re-entered Amber Valley and took a

very scenic route along a secluded val-

ley (Margaret and I call this the "Serval

Track" as a serval took up residence

here for about 3-months and we were

able to see it and photograph it during

our regular very early morning walks).

Part way along this route we had a

short rest and snacks next to a little

stream and waterfall. We were soon off

again behind the two lovely indoor

heated swimming pools and made our

way to the fence-line along Karkloof

Road which we followed until we

reached the Amber Valley main gate.

From here we took the perimeter route

alongside the servitude road and Um-

geni Valley Nature Reserve and even-

tually reached the pedestrian gate be-

tween Amber Valley and the road to

Amber Lee.(security card entrance

needed here). Then it was up the grass

alongside the road until we reached the

main entrance into Amber Lee (again

having to use my security card to gain

entry). Once inside Amber Lee, we did

a complete circumnavigation of the

property, seeing a couple of Nyala on

our route which included some quite

steep and rocky ascents and descents

before we stopped for lunch in a beau-

tiful spot under the shade of trees on

the banks of a lovely dam. Then it was

onwards to complete our circumnavi-

gation of Amber Lee, stopping en-

route to look at the lovely outdoor pool

and club house. We eventually re-

entered Amber Valley and made our

way back along the grass to our house

where we all enjoyed ice cold water

followed by tea and coffee and Marga-

ret's home made scones with jam, and-

date cake. Our route distance was

14.25 km and we climbed a total of

427 meters (these figures being accu-

rately recorded on my Garmin GPS).

The attached pictures illustrate parts of

our route. Thanks to all those who par-

ticipated and sorry to those members

who were too late to secure places.

BUSHMAN'S NEK HUT

30 DEC 16 TO 2 JAN 17

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Page 6

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BUFFELSBOSCH HIKE – SUN-

DAY, 19TH FEBRUARY 2017.

Report by Libby Deysel;

Photos by John Fourie

“Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in

the midday sun”, but mad Natalians

go hiking in the pouring rain!! Suita-

bly kitted out with ponchos, anoraks

and umbrellas, ten Midlands hikers

namely Stabhile, Heather, Anita,

Julie, Debbie, Keith, Margaret, Linda,

Eric and Libby met John, our leader,

at Piggly Wiggly at 8.15 am. We

managed to squeeze into two cars to

drive the short distance to the start of

the hike on a farm in the Dargle.

I had imagined some serious

bundu bashing through long, wet

grass. However, we were pleasantly

surprised after having walked along a

farm road for a while to be led onto a

well-maintained grassy path which

John said had been specially prepared

for us. He did, however, later own up

to the fact that the farmer keeps the

path mown for his wife to ride her

horse. John showed us a stone wall

running for some distance along the

boundary which Linda correctly iden-

tified as having been built by the Ital-

ian Prisoners of War.

The rain was persistent and

quite heavy at times, but being the

eternal optimists we hoped that by 11

am the sun might have appeared.

There was mist on the hill tops, but

luckily we did not get enveloped by it

and were able to see the views. We

walked through parts of the farm

where many different species of pro-

teas were growing. There were some

beautiful Watsonias, Redhot Pokers

and a very delicate, pretty blue flower

identified by Margaret as an Aristea.

We sheltered at snack time in a lapa

overlooking Midmar.

The second part of the hike

was through a beautiful indigenous

forest. There was a natural spring

which was the source of water for the

farm. We did hear the call of monkeys

in the forest, but they kept out of

sight. There was also a sighting of a

buck as we left the forest, unidentified

as I only had a glimpse of the white

under its tail as it ran off into the

bush. Having left the forest, we were

back on the muddy road where our

boots were getting heavier and heav-

ier with the collection of mud. We

passed a large herd of very inquisitive

Brahman cattle who actually all gath-

ered at the fence to watch us as we

prepared for our departure in the

cars.

Many thanks to John for the

pleasant company and interesting

hike. Apologies to Stabhile if I have

spelt her name incorrectly!

Caracal Cave Highmoor Nature Reserve Central Drakensberg

25 – 26 February 2017 Report and photos by Dave Sclanders.

Another weekend of rather unsavoury weather forecasts for the berg, which

again saw to it that a once fully booked hike suddenly had a few gaps. Never-

theless, 8 of us met at Highmoor at the appointed time. The weather was beau-

tiful, the Giants Range was clear, and only a touch away and a myriad of small

flowers waved frantically for attention amongst the tall veld grasses. As we

crossed the first foot bridge we could see that due to the rains during the week,

the streams were running and dancing in sparkling white and blue, fast cool

and clear.

(Unfortunately – I did not notice that my camera setting had changed

when I put it back into the bag , so pictures 3 – 8 are fuzzy). Nevertheless, the

scenery was magnificent as far as one could see. A little later as we explored

around the old cattle kraal, a huge build-up of menacing and warning bad

weather clouds appeared over the Giant. Who had been pointing? For those

who do not know, there is an old African legend that says, “If you point at the

Giant, expect bad weather”. As the lack of drinking water is a problem at Ca-

racal cave, we stopped on our way to take on extra water for the rest of the day

and for Sunday. The view of the valley below was right up to Centenary Hut –

if you knew where to look!!.

After lunch we went North along an old forgotten path to see where

the cave was that we were to reach the next morning. This cave was unknown,

I had seen 2 years ago and had planned to come back one day and investigate..

We soon saw it down the valley and across the river. It was decided to go

down the valley to the river and see if the cave could be accessed from our

side. However, on getting down towards the river, it was apparent that the

river valley was very deep and steep, and that some mountaineering with ropes

would be needed to get into the cave from the river bed, or from the top of the

ridge above the cave. So, that was that, Sunday was suddenly over.

Some hikers decided to head back to the cave, and some decided to

carry on along the ridge for a while. On the way back, we saw that the Giant

and the whole escarpment was now under a threatening rain storm, and as it

started to drizzle, the wandering group arrived back at the cave, just in time .

Well, the rain came, the mist came, the temperature dropped, and very

soon we were all in our sleeping bags, listening to Margaret rendering

her version of that old story of “Albert and the Lion”. Next morning we woke to a very heavy misty and wet world. We en-

joyed a slow breakfast, and packed up slowly hoping that the mist might start

to clear. But nothing changed so it was decided to head for the cars and get an

early start home for lunch.

It is not much fun hiking in thick mist, the most important point is to

stay on the path, and not look for short cuts along the way and to keep your

group close together.

As we had hiked out to the cave on a slightly different route on Satur-

day morning, some of the first time hikers felt a bit lost once we joined the

path where we had not walk the day before. However, the old cairn on the way

put a few minds at rest.

The noise of the river that we had crossed on the old footbridge

was loud in the gloom of the mist, and once on the bridge, the view upstream that had been so pretty the day bveforer, was now a totally different

setting.

Back at the cars, wet clothes were swopped for dry, soggy boots and

hiking gear put into plastic bags, stuffed into the car trunks, and we

were on our way home.

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Fort Nottingham Common

KZN Midlands

5 February 2017

Report and photos by

Dave Sclanders.

A large group of day hikers booked

their spots for this new hike, so much

so that I had to put some “would be”

hikers onto a waiting list.

The weather on the day was not

good, the long range forecast was not

good and it was right. Anyway, we all

met at the appointed time and place and

discussed the weather. We decided if it

was ugly, or looked to be ugly, we

would abort the hike and call an early

end to the day, but would give it a go.

Then a convoy of vehicles set

off to Fort Nottingham to meet at Roy

and Val Tabernor’s restaurant, Els Am-

ics, Fort Nottingham.

With everyone kitted out, we

set off for the forest where a steep

climb up the hill using an old loggers

route through the forest towards the

summit started. Early going was diffi-

cult as the brambles had grown consid-

erably in the spring. However, steady

progress was made, and soon we were

out of the forest and finding our way up

a valley covered in tall veld grass,

brambles in patches and only the odd

antelope track to follow. Considering

the overcast weather, the views along

the way were great, and the cool air

kept the heavy breathing down. The

long stretched out line of hikers all en-

joyed the walk and chatted away, not

really taking into consideration where

they were going to or through—it was a

happy sight.

After crossing a second fence

we eased up towards the crest where a

tea stop was planned. On the flatter

more open, and heavily grazed veld,

patches of bright yellow veld flowers

made a very colourful statement.

We reached the “tea hill” , and

sat down for a break, and from here we

could see across a long wide valley the

clump of trees that I was hoping to get

to, to have lunch. However a change in

the wind sort of made me change my

mind and quickly set us off further up

the hill and along the fence-line, and

from there we could see into the next

valley, and down onto the Spring Grove

dam. While looking at the dam, we

could see the Kamberg Hill as well as

the high berg from Kamberg across

towards Lotheni, and the sight was not

good.

Huge black rain clouds were

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sea sheets of rain falling and heading in

our direction. So, after a quick delibera-

tion, it was decided to abandon the rest

of the walk and head down back to Els

Amics. Raincoats were put on, back

packs covered, and we set off. Unfortu-

nately, in rainy situations, cameras are

put away so no pictures of us “walking

in the rain” were taken, although I must

confess that I did not hear anyone

“singing the rain”. At a point on the

way down, the rain stopped, so it was

raincoats off, but a bit later they were

on again.

We arrived back at the cars

early, but wet and cold. Dry clothes had

been brought so hasty changes into

warm clothes was done, and it was

home for lunch. As we left Fort Not-

tingham, the rain really came down and

the area we were to have hiked in was

covered in a very heavy blanket of mist.

It would not have been much fun to be

out there at that time. Cold, rainy,

misty, but hopefully not “where are

we ?”

Caracal Cave Highmoor

25/26 February

Page 8: {go hiking} MIDLANDS HIKING CLUB · Cliff Pass"), Tianjin section of the Great Wall of China East of Bei-jing. Since it first start in 1999, the race has grown to several hun-dred

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Page 8

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What would induce hundreds of people from all over the world to spend thousands of

dollars each and two weeks of their lives just to run a marathon in Antarctica? Espe-

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