A happy bunch of 10 hikers met up at Constantia Nek where the parking area seems to get busier and busier – and more and more pot-holed!
Sadly six hikers had previously canceled and that included three guests – a pity, as it’s a nice easy route for newcomers to experience the fun of hiking with MCSA.
Starting off at a leisurely 08h15, in the first half hour or so we encountered many enthusiastic runners, joggers, dog walkers and cyclists already returning from their earlier outings.
The weather was mild, the pace easy, and the route mostly in good order underfoot although we crossed a few little trickles left over from the earlier rains. At one point we were joined by a fairly large group of hikers who were going just slightly quicker than us and as a few of us found fellow hiking friends we became quite a considerable host of hikers until they slowly ambled on ahead.
Our plan was to reach Kirstenbosch around tea time and to take advantage of the Vynkos Restaurant’s pensioner special of tea, scone or muffin. The service was impressive indeed and we were soon enjoying the welcome teas, coffees and treats. I later discovered that we were indeed fortunate that the restaurant was open when we were there as the recent taxi strikes meant it had been closed on the previous day and again on the day after we were there!
Just as we left we encountered a very light drizzle that fortunately cleared quite quickly.
We followed the same route back until about two thirds of the way, where we opted for the lower path via the Cork trees, arriving back at the cars at 1pm.
Leader: Richard Ferguson
Photos: Colin Pritchard