Led by Liza Serfontein, seven brave souls showed up for the beautiful but strenuous Duiwelskloof Drakenstein meet on a perfect summer’s morning—not a breath of wind or a cloud in the sky. We kicked the day off with some elevation to the contour that got the blood pumping. By the time we got to the first pool, we were almost ready to take our first swim of the day.
Turning into the Duiwelskloof, we found some reprieve as we made our way past some amazing rock pools under a canopy of big, beautiful trees. The trees eventually gave way to a massive scree boulder field at the base of a towering cliff. We happily bounced and climbed our way across to the base of the waterfall, which was more a trickle than a fall. We scrambled out the easy B-grade to the top part of the kloof, bouncing our way past some more pools all chirpy, until we hit the restios and thistle slope, which had the winter to thank with an abundance of rain to fortify their ranks. The last 100 meters past the overhang tested the lungs and legs.
At the top, we were rewarded with spectacular views and a welcome, cool breeze. We replenished the energy reserves and started our ascent to the top of Drakenstein Peak. We walked through a beautiful erica field, scrambled over some rocks, and slid through a crack. Lunch went down very well with the 360 views.
The kloof was pretty hot coming down, and some knees were taking a bit of a beating. All was revived and forgotten when we finally took that swim, nice and fresh, but so good. We soaked down and marched down that beautiful but very long end-of-day contour in the westerly sun. All finished a tad weary but happy, ready for an evening of well-deserved R and R.