We will all remember the huge, damaging storms that week. It meant road closures and floods, so our planned meet for Dragoon Buttress in Banhoek had to be sacrificed. Because Paula’s Smitswinkel Traverse was fully booked with a waiting list for the Saturday, offering Swartkop as consolation on Thursday seemed practical. The Peninsula had not had nearly as much rain as the inland areas and there were no rivers to cross on this route.
Our day dawned with perfect weather and our group of 8 set off enthusiastically on the lower zigzags. The sandy path had certainly been eroded by streamlets, so it was much more stony than usual. We arrived in good time at the hexagonal blockhouse in the Gap where we had tea. It is a view-pleasing route, offering further and new vistas as one ascends. Hopefully the photos will illustrate this.
We decided to just have a snack at the summit since it was too early for lunch. It felt a bit like at Everest where one slaves for weeks to get to the summit then have to turn back to descend almost immediately afterwards! As we descended to the Gap we saw baboons running down neighbouring Simonsberg, heading for the blockhouse on our return route where they possibly thought they could help themselves to our lunch?! Being forewarned, we stopped short of the Gap and had our lunch on rocks overlooking the Naval property and the twin blockhouse, before descending the zig-zags back to our cars.
Photos: Christo Steyn and Greta Graham
