Woodys Adventure Hike – Cape Point to Table Mountain Cable Station

This post is part of The Art of Living series from Bacon and the Art of Living.  Chapter 99, where this is posted, is an addendum to the book.  In the “Art of Living section, I write about family and the many great experiences we had as part of “the art of living.”  Most of these experiences make it into the main body of the work.

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The Woodys Team has been looking for a challenge to pin its name to.

We were looking for something challenging, done in nature and preferably in one of the beautiful settings in the Cape. Something in line with a healthy and fit lifestyle.

The vague general concept of an adventure started to distill in the idea of an adventure hike.  Hiking, but its very nature is more accessible and would appeal to a large base of people.

The idea was born to hike from Cape Point to the top of Table Mountain by the Cable station.  The idea that came from the Peninsula Ultra Fun Run, known for short as PUFfeR, an 80km run from Cape Point to the V&A Waterfront. The plan was to create a challenging hike that can be covered in either two or three days.

The 80km from Cape Point to the Cable Station on Table Mountain would be perfect.

On the spur of the moment, Minette and myself decided to scout out the route over three days. I wanted badly to get into shape again and both Minette and I love hiking!  The key was not to think the plan through to much, which is just how we like doing things in any event!  🙂

Day 1

The first leg of the hike was done on my birthday, 13 April 2014, from Cape Point, along the Atlantic side, to the main gate of the Cape Of Good Hope Nature reserve.

We started at Cape Point and hiked the Atlantic side of the reserve.

The pace was good, the scenery breathtaking and we arrived at the gate of the Cape of Good Hope Nature reserve 6 hours later.

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The last few kilometers were tough, but we made it and had lots of fun!

Day 2

Minette and I set out at 7:21 from the Cape of Good Hope nature reserve main gate on a 40km hike to the foot of Chapmans Peak. At 19:45 we called the hotel to arrange a taxi to pick us up from 12 Protea Street.

By FAR the toughest day.  We lost 2 hours above Scarborough, following the wrong track.  Turned around.  Met the delightful Roger, a land owner through who’s land we hikes – who would become a friend for life!

He directed us to the dam we had to go around, but the trekking continued through the bush (not on a footpath) till we made it to the dam.

The hike into Kommetie was very tough.  The last push was to get to Chapmans Peak in Noordhoek.

When we finally made it to the end of the Noordhoek beach it was pitch dark and we could not find the way off the beach.

We continued to run into farms, among horses and locked gates.  Finally, almost 19:45 that evening, we suddenly felt tare road beneath our feat.

We sat down and called the local hotel to send a taxi to collect us.

Both Minette and I were in a bad shape.  It was a very hard day and we were in agony!

The next morning, when the wake up call came, the front desk had to phone twice before I could make it to the telephone.

 

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Day 3

From Chapmans Peak, across Constantia Neck, to the Cable Station on Table Mountain.

Day three was also very hard.  Our feet have not fully recovered from the past day’s grueling hike.

On the pics below of the Noordhoek beach, one can see how difficult it is to navigate off the beach.

The hike up Chappies and down towards Constatia Neck was pure pain from blisters and sore feet.

Up Constantia neck to the reserves was easier and through Echo Valley up to the Cable Station where we ended an epic hike!

 

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So, we’ve done it!!! Total: 80km in 29 hours mountain hiking.  The scenery was breathtaking! The experience exhilarating!  We had something concrete we could offer the Woodys Team as the adventure-event they are looking for.

Here are our times again:  Cape Point to Platteklip:

-> Day 1: 6 hours The point to the reserve gate
-> Day 2: 13 hours Reserve gate to Noordhoek
-> Day 3: 10 hours Chappies to Cable Station on Table Mountain via Constantia Neck

 

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Minette and I then re reviewed the experience.

Day two was to long.

The suggested three day hike is:

Day 1:
Cape Point, along the False Bay side, through the gate of The Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve to Scarborough and up to the top of the mountains above Scarborough where we hope to spend the night on Rogers farm.

Day 2:
From Rogers house and our camp site, past the dam, down onto the Slangkop Beach area, through Kommetie and Noordhoek Beach to Chapmans Peak.

Spend the night in the Noordhoek Hotel, 2km from Chappies.

Day 3:
Up with Chappies, over Constatia Neck, through Echo Valley and to the Cable Station.

The two day option can be:

Day 1:
Cape Point to Slangkop Camp.

Day 2:
Slangkop Camp to the Cable Station.

The next few months we will do each leg again to verify the viability.  What an amazing experience!

The hope is that in the first place friends will take up the challenge to on us on this epic and challenging hike.

 

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