Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.
Drinking good cup of coffee in the morning
How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?
When my mind is working overtime.Good cup of coffee, listening to music and a hike!
Groenkloof 3.0
HELLO PEACE, HELLO JOY, HELLO MOUNTAINS!
It’s been a minute, I finally got to the mountains and my heart was full. It was a fabtastic catch and release that I needed after a hectic week of adulting. I returned to one of my favorite hiking spots, Groenkloof in Pretoria, the Capital City of South Africa. What I love about this place is how it’s well taken care of, well marked trails, and off course my favorite animal, Zebra. Easily accessible from all parts of the province. I love how these hiking spots do not break the bank, yet it feels like an expensive holiday when you are there.
Discipline and consistency in anything one does, play an integral part in getting the results you need or want. Life will be boring if we can just get the desired results without being disciplined and consistent. The reason I talk about discipline and consistency is to remind myself and my fabtastic readers that as much as I love hiking, it’s never easy. I consistently go to these mountains because of results, passion, and discipline. It really takes determination. Hiking requires early mornings and let me tell you; I am not a morning person at all, especially winter weekends. I like to slowly start my day, curl up under my blankets with good cup of coffee and do nothing. However, I give up my coffee some Saturdays because it’s all worth it. They say you win some and you lose some, that’s how life is. Okay enough about my two cents on life lessons. 😃
It was gorgeous Saturday morning, cool, with autumn breeze and I experienced gorgeous sunrise while driving to our place of peace and joy. When I go hiking, I always make a point that I am present from the moment I wake up. Groenkloof is not an easy hike, we did 10km as per usual, but can I tell you that it felt easy and quick this time. To my first-time visitors, go read my previous blogs about Groenkloof, you will understand what I mean. Myself and my amigos were surprised, I guess we are finally fit; mentally and physically 😁. Throughout the trail we experienced the greenery, surprisingly so considering that it’s autumn here in South Africa. I got to see my favorite animal, zebra, well fed and well looked after I also spotted horses and very old ostriches. It was great catching up with my amigos as usual, learnt a lot from our conversations, ohhh I even learnt that horses have an amazing ability to be able to sleep standing up, thanks Mel for the lesson☺. The best part is when we take a break to have a snack, in Groenkloof we have a spot under this huge tree that we claimed to be ours. We sit there for few minutes and take it all in. Outdoors and nature really does wonders to one’s mindset. I am glad I found passion in hiking.
The smallest, simplest things in life bring joy and peace!
Until next fabtastic adventure! Stay Fabtastic!
Moira
Iron Throne
#onehikeatatime
How time flies when you not having fun😄. I cannot believe this was my first hike in 2023 and it is almost end of February. It is insane how time just go by so quickly these days. Its fabtastic to be back on this platform, I missed sharing my experience and my shenanigans. I got my hiking groove back!
It was the hiker’s dream weather. I was going to hike in my favorite Province; always feels like Hartbeespoort is so far when I say North-West Province. Truth is, it is in another province, but it is not that far from where I live it does not feel like I leave my Province to another. The excitement is always more when I go hike at a new spot. My friend Pumza has told me about this hiking spot late last year and I have been wanting to go. My turn finally came this past Saturday, it was myself and my one Amigo, other Amigos were not available. The place is called Irone Throne Adventure Park. It is a beautiful place with lots of adventure. MTB, Enduro track, Parkrun, Downhill and off course hiking trail. The hiking trail is only 6.7 kilometers, but I can safely say it is not for the first timers. It is 3.4 kilometers going up and about the same going down. As you start hiking it is up the hill all the way, you don’t get to warm up and get into the groove of things. My calves were on fire from the moment we started until top of the mountain.
As we were hiking, we hiked alongside the cable cars. You can imagine the agony of watching these cable cars going up and down and we were somewhere down in the bush. It was a beautiful site, as tough as it was. The trail was overgrown with green lash and dense bushes – natural free aircon. My lungs and sinuses were very happy. I honestly felt so light throughout the hike. I kept on telling Mansoor how calm I felt, the hike was what the doctor ordered #Onehikeatatime. We came across this car wreckage! and we asked ourselves how it even got there. It was right in the middle of the mountain, weird. We finally got on top and found crossroads, either you turn left or right. We took a snack break. Mansoor even had laundry shenanigans going (do not ask). While we were seating, we watched “free” Eagles show. They were flying right on top of our heads, it was spectacular. There was a sign, but I think because of the wind the signed was pointing to the right. Off course we were supposed to turn left but we turned right. We got hiked for almost 3km before we realised that we are lost because I remember the gentleman at reception said immediately you don’t see cable cars, it means you are lost. We didn’t mind getting lost cause the views were stunning. Such things are expected sometimes on hiking trails, which is why is always important to have someone with you to avoid panic. Especially if you are bad at reading maps me. We turned and re-traced our steps back to the crossroad. Found the way to the top of the mountain. OMG the views from that top were breath taking. There is a pizza restaurant, with lots of outdoor seating with undistracted views of the full Hartbeespoort dam. This is where the cable cars also “lands”.
When we finally got to the restaurant, Mansoor decided that cable car will be a nice adventure to complete our adventurous day. It was an easy decision because we already had our 6km hike because we got lost😉. We took a ride down the mountain, what a thrill it was. I love my hiking life; it always feels like a mini holiday. We drove to the farmer’s market; I cannot go to Hartbeespoort and not go to this market. We went to eat waffles breakfast, nice way to end the adventurous day.
My anti-hiking friends always send me memes about hiking. My recent favorite one is ” I don’t know who needs to hear this but living your life to the fullest does not have to involve hiking” 🤣🤣🤣. Well friends I beg to differ, I am living my life to the fullest in the mountains.
One hike at a time.
In Arnold Schwarzenegger’s voice ” I’ll be back” 😀
Stay Fabtastic!
Moira
The Pipe Track
Cape Town
Mini bucket list moment, since the beginning of this year I have been talking about how I would love to end 2022 with the Coastal hike. I spoke about it a lot, but I was in doubt that it will happen, the Universe listened, and my wish came true.
I was so excited as the time drew close to my trip, yet I didn’t even know if I will find people to go hike with. I was determined that I wouldn’t return from Cape Town without hiking. I was ready to rock up at Table Mountain and join any group. This was going to happen either way. Well lucky for me, or shall I say when the Universe conspired with me, everything fell into place, just like dominos. The excitement started building up after my trip was confirmed, felt like a kid on Christmas Eve.
Well let me tell you how I got to find hiking buddies in Cape town, by chance I tell you. I was on the work call with colleague of mine(Patricia) who lives in Cape town. As we were chatting, I told her am looking for people to hike with as I am staying for the weekend in Cape Town. She said”, Oh, I have a group that I hike with every other weekend if we can”. I then asked if by any chance are hiking the weekend I am in Cape Town. The answer was Yes, and I was so excited. The next thing I know we were talking about how she is going to let everyone know in her group and include me in the communication for that Saturday. As they say the rest is history, I have made new friends. Shout out to everyone who was hiking with me that day. Thank you for welcoming me into your space. Great conversation, fun and laughter. Oh, by the way, I had to put out a disclaimer when we started hiking. I told the group that all they going to hear through the hike is uhhhh, ahhhh everytime I was looking around. I mean who can blame me, I was the only one in that group who was not from Cape Town. 😂. The beauty that surrounded us was too much to handle.
Now let’s talk about this beauty. OMG, where do I start. I was very excited about the whole day. Got up early in the morning and took an Uber to Table Mountain, I was going to meet up with everyone there. The weather was gorgeous, I was worried about the weather as Cape Town has 4 seasons in one day sometimes. I am happy to say, the weather played along that weekend. There’s lots of hiking trails around the Table Mountain, which I cannot wait to try one at the time. Patricia promised me a hike every time I am in Cape Town😊. We were hiking a trail called Pipe Track . We did just short of 10km, the trail is moderate, yet you can turn to different trails to climb up towards Table Mountain. Our path was gorgeous, hiked overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Camps Bay with its amazing white sandy beaches, and breathtaking Table Mountain on the other side. We kept on coming across clouds covering the mountain and clearing up, over and over again. Was the most beautiful thing to see, I was watching a movie. Experiencing Table Mountain from that trail was out of this world. These were my views throughout the hike. I mean what more could a girl ask for . My ohhhh, ahhhh’s didn’t take long to start coming out.😂. The pictures won’t not tell the real story, I get to experience South Africa in a different light through my hiking. I cannot wait to experience the world the same way. I have said it before, experiences stay with you wherever you go, even while writing up this blog, that Fabtastic day is playing in my mind like a movie . When we turned back towards going back to the base, we were in full view of Lions Head mountain, gorgeous.
When we done with our hike everyone went their separate ways and Patricia offered me a lift back to my hotel. As we were walking to the car, we decided to take some pictures and selfies. This young gentleman (Thando) came to us excited asking us to take pictures of him with my phone. He works there at Table Mountain. He said,” I know that phone takes good pictures” Please take a few pictures of me and you send them to me”. At first, we thought he was joking. He told us he posts a lot, and he is also a radio dj for his local community radio station in Khayelitjha. We finally gave in, took pictures of him and he insisted on giving me his number and send his pictures right there. LOL. He even photo bombed our selfie, it was all in the name of fun. He was such a vibe and I promised to give him shoutout on my blog. As we drove off, he was already sending me link to his radio station and his time slots and posting the pictures on Whatsapp story. We drove away, found a coffee spot near my hotel and we sat there for a long time, had great conversation, watching people pass by. I love my life, I get to make great memories, meet lovely people along the way.
It is safe to say, Cape Town was Fabtastic. To many more shenanigans in 2023.
Happy Fabtastic Holidays.
Moira
Rustig
Fabtastic Year
This is by far my most proud post to write. I cannot believe it is a little over a year since I started blogging. Never in a million years did think I will still be blogging about my hiking experiences one year later, let alone enjoying it. I procrastinated for many years, doubting that I can write. It’s true when they say you don’t know what you’re capable of until you try it. I always told myself that I cannot write until one day I tried it. I found myself struggling with my first few posts. I had no confidence in what I was putting out there. Shoutout to my friend Nthabi, she sat with me on Zoom call for two hours to help me edit my first post. 😊I was counting on the authentic story I was telling. As weeks went by, I started becoming confident in my writing and the rest is history. Like cheese I am grate-full for your support, always coming back to my page to read about my hiking experiences. Thank you for the honest feedback. I am looking forward to another blogging year.
Well back to my hiking shenanigans. 😂 I haven’t been on a hike for a month, and it felt like a year. I missed it so much, my catch and release, my happy place. Anyway, we went hiking at a place called Rustig in majestic Magaliesburg in the North West province. The place is situated 1hr and 15 minutes away from North of Johannesburg. It is a well- established family farm. It offers accommodation, and is ideal for functions as well. The place is tranquil, quiet, calm, peaceful and serene, exactly what the Dr ordered. I found out Rustig means exactly what I just described. I feel like every time I go hike in the Magalies I go on few hours holiday.
We hiked 13km, the trail was hard and challenging here and there, it requires certain level of fitness. I found out that the original plan was to hike 18km, but that plan didn’t work out. Anyway, while we were hiking, Pumza pointed us to the ladder that was in the middle of nowhere, hanging on the cliff and said we would have had to use that ladder if we were hiking 18km. Mind you she tells us this while we are up, I mean up the mountain also on the cliff, one mistake you are gone. We looked at this ladder and Henry said, “Oh hell no”, glad we were not hiking 18km, I was not going to climb that, “he said”. So Pumza continued telling us that there is no other way but through that scary ladder. Henry was so funny, he said Pumza is bringing the team into disrepute, and he is not going to allow that. I laughed so much, at some point I even forgot that I was hiking. I found myself leading the pack and a few minutes in they realized I am off the track. Lol. This happens all the time by the way, I just lose focus and walk. I am known for this therefore I never go in front. Henry said I must admit to this mishap on this platform so that they have receipts. Well Henry here we are, I have admitted to it in writing. 😂😂
Pumza was the only person who hiked at this place few times and she has done the 18km. She was trying to convince us to come back for 18km which myself and the other guy Peter agreed to. Henry was not having it. This place had ladders everywhere, I even lost count of how many we had to go through, but they are not as scary as the 18km ones. We came across the green lash of trees, some sort of forest, as we walked through them, I felt the most amazing breeze, perfect temperature. I have never experienced such fresh crispy air. It felt like I am in a luxury hotel with a perfect air-con. The ground was soft as if I am walking on a fluffy carpet. It was the most amazing feeling ever. I thought to myself, how lucky I am to experience such. The air was so clean and crisp I could feel my lungs opening. No amount of explanation will make you understand what I felt . We kept on climbing and climbing and the terrain was not easy at all, loose rocks, we had to use our hands. At some point it felt like we were rock climbing. We came across a huge cave, beautiful rock formation, we were spoiled with amazing rock Art.
Before I go, let me tell you a story about a burger. According to Pumza the farm’s restaurant sells awesome burgers. She started talking about this burger while we were about six kilometres into our hiking and we started salivating. We couldn’t wait to finish the hike and get to eat this burger. It is safe to say we finished hiking and got to the restaurant, no burger. We were in disbelief , apparently, they did not receive fresh minced meat to make the burgers. We were so disappointed as we were looking forward to dig in. We were ready to cry and kill someone, I won’t mention names. lol
“Dreams don’t have deadlines”-LL Cool J
I want to conquer mountains one adventure at a time.
On to the next adventure fabtastic people.
Moira
Hiking for fun
Through the lens✌
How I get to have such divine fun through hiking, it’s Fabtastic. It was another fun day in the wilderness, weather was amazing, cloudy, and cool, hikers dream weather. I needed a quick 10km hike, so I chose the closest to home, Cradle moon. I have been to this place few times but have not shared my experiences gained from the hikes here. I guess it has always been that place where I just go for quick hike or take my family for lunch, they sell the best burger (in my opinion). I decided that this post must be about the Fabtastic pictures that I’ve taken the few times I have hiked at this place. Let the pictures tell the story of this magnificent place.
What I love about this place besides their yummy burgers; the fact that anyone can visit, young and old, and have fun and enjoy the exquisite views, take Instagram pictures, and it has spots for Instagram pictures.😊. Most of all it has amazing waterfall, the sound of water gushing down is so peaceful, I always stand there for few minutes and listen and enjoy the water spraying, it’s an awesome feeling. They offer lots of activities like Game drives, boat cruises, accommodation, and wedding venues on and more. It is situated in the West of Johannesburg in a place called Muldersdrift.
I was meant to go hike with my Amigos however, life happened they cancelled, I ended up going with colleague friend (Refiloe) and her friend (Yoli). We hit it off immediately when we met, it was like we’ve been doing this forever. We laughed a lot, so many stories, it was uplifting, felt light afterwards. It always amazes me when I meet like-minded people at my adventures. I did not feel the hike at all, it was one of the quickest hikes I’ve done.
“Not all classrooms have four walls”.-Routinely Nomadic
Until next time Fabtastic People
Moira
Sable Ranch
Catch and Release
Sometimes life gets in the way, and one forgets to breathe. This was the case for me these past few weeks. I knew the only way to bring myself towards myself was to go hiking. This is the place where nothing matters and I just marvel at nature and what it has to offer. My intention was very clear when I woke up that morning; to go be silly and laugh and I did exactly that. It has been a minute since my amigos and I Amigos hiked together.
We finally found time to go and be together in the mountains. It was scorching hot, dry, and spring day in Magaliesburg (North-West Province). We went to a place called Sable Ranch; it was our first-time hiking at the spot. We were excited for new adventure and new experiences. It is always nice to discover new hiking spots. The place is stunning and offers lots of different activities like 4×4 trails, mountain bike cycling, wedding venue, spa, restaurant and what they call Noble adventures. I like how they preserved its originality. There is a lot to do, they even have picnic spots. My favorite picnic spot is the one by the dam, they set it up nicely on the bank of the dam, with furniture and nice shade, including braai place. I can see myself being seated there for hours and the dam is safe to swim in. It will be nice one day soon to go back for picnic and unplug.
It must have been over 6 km into our hiking when we saw a lovely spot, picture-perfect place. This spot was just before we can get around the corner. They have a big rock written “yes you can”. We joked about it with one of our friends, Patricia who has been wanting to kill us for dragging her to this hike. To her defense though, she did say she was tired, she came because we haven’t hiked together in a long time. We said to her; see you can do it, with the hope that from there on it would just be an easy hike. At this point the heat was just getting worse. To our dismay, when we turned the corner; we came across the” Devil’s” peak, I kid you not. This hill was so steep with big loose rocks, and we realized right there that “yes you can” means hell is waiting for you around the corner. I can tell you we all mumbled vulgar remarks under our breathes. At this point Patricia was not impressed at all. She said she wants to know who decided to be so cruel and create that hill. We had to use our hands at some point, the rocks we’re so loose. We had a good laugh though while we were at it.
Every time we chose a new hiking spot, Patricia goes into the website to see reviews about the place (about if the trail moderate or hard). In this case she did the same, she even posted on our WhatsApp group, circled “moderate” part. She was happy and ready for the hike until she discovered the “devil’s peak”. I guess she now know she cannot trust the reviews because it depends on who writes it.
We have not seen each other for a long time, it was nice catching up and enjoying nature while we at it. We hiked just over 11km, and it was a nice, surprising trail. It starts flat and then for about 2km it’s a climb, so I will say its moderate (Patricia will disagree). About two kilometers into our hike, we were joined by a dog that lives at the Ranch. He hiked with us all the way and when we stopped for snacks and water, he stopped with us. He wanted our snacks, we knew we can feed him biltong, I mean which dog does not eat dry meat. LOL, I don’t own a dog, but I always see some of their treats looking like biltong. I gave him a piece of biltong and he enjoyed it, you could tell he still wanted more so I suggested we also give him boiled egg. Quickly someone said it will be best we google if it is safe to do so, of course we did and google said YES. He was our hiking partner for the rest of the hike, so I suggested we give him a nickname, I named him Buddy. He was really our buddy because we were even sharing our water with him, he was so cute and sweet. Along our hike we came across a herd of Sables, they were gorgeous, never seen them up-close, I was amazed by their long horns.
We had a good laugh and Fabtastic time. It was great catching up through adventure with my Amigos. After the hike we sat at the restaurant to have drinks. A glass of Soda with lots of ice never tasted so good. Great company, good conversations did my soul good.
“I don’t get it. The trail looked flat on the map”-Unknown.
Until next time Fabtastic people
Moira
Van Gaalen- Vulture trail
It was beautiful Saturday morning, the sun was out, it was nice and warm I even forgot that we are still in winter season. I found out a day before the hike that we are doing 22km hike, I started psyching myself up and preparing my mind to 22km hike. I was told we are doing it for team spirit as a send off to our fellow Comrade runner, who is few weeks away to the race, 28th August to be exact. All the best to him, we will be rooting for him in the comfort of our homes. If you’ve been following my blogs, you will remember I spoke about this gentleman in our hiking group that runs marathons, and he is running his 18th Comrade Marathon if I am not mistaken.
I have hiked Van Gaalen few times, few 10kms, 18km and always discovered more and realized that I still haven’t discovered everything about Van Gaalen. This 22km hike was no different, I most certainly discovered a whole lot newer things.
I have many times talked about how gorgeous the place is, the pictures do not tell the whole story. The experience is always different from each hike, that always puzzles me. I am always amazed by this, and I try to make sense of it. Best part of it all, is meeting new people and Fabtastic, meaningful conversations. Everything just falls into place; all I know is all these amazing experiences wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for hiking. I learn something new all the time, like this time a learnt about Trig Beacon. I always wondered what are these white concrete poles that I always see high up the mountains. Thanks to Wandile, one of the gentlemen we hike with explained to me. He said they are used to triangulate geographic positions (coordinates and elevation) to determine the accurate location and height for most infrastructure projects. It was fascinating to learn about this, really was, now I know and now you Fabtastic people now know too, Thank you Wandile.
When we started hiking, I was confident that we will finish the hike within 5 hours, which will be record time. It turns out I was wrong; the hike became difficult after 9km. The first 10km were nice and flat, so we paced ourselves very well. When we were still hiking the flat, I kept on looking up the mountain trying to make sense of it all. We were doing well going up even though it was difficult, the air started getting thinner and the altitude was not so good. It was windy, at some point some of our team members struggled with breathing, they had to pace themselves according to how they feel. We all made it to the top, 1695metres high, I was beside myself, the views from up there were exquisite. There is a feeling I cannot put into words that takes over me every time I am at the highest peak of the mountain. There is no way I would get to see all these amazing picture-perfect moments if I wasn’t hiking.
I was looking forward to seeing Vultures as we kept on climbing higher and higher. We finally got to their “hanging spot”, Oh my goodness, they gave us a show. It was a front-line row show, I mean I knew am going to see them but not the show they put for us. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget. The video and pictures won’t even begin to explain it all, we were so up close with them I couldn’t believe it. This for me was the highlight of this hike. I forgot all about the thin air and how we still have 12km to go and how painful is it to go down from such steep climb. Like the saying goes; what goes up must come down.
While we were coming down, we got lost somewhere, we ended up doing 27km. I think we were left with 5km when we got lost. You must know that when you tired and hot, 5km feels like 10km. The only thing that kept us going was seeing those signs saying, ” back to VG”(Van Gaalen). We were always happy when we saw such signs along the way. By the way, just by the way, our Comrade Runner ditched us as usual. LOL. He was patiently hiking with us for the first half of the hike and then he disappeared into thin air, but we know he appreciated the team support.
“Out there, unplugged, beauty all around, we can see who we are….our strength, our humanity, our need for quiet calm. Hiking reminds us that life is best lived one foot in front of the other”-Unknown
Resilience was order of the day.
Until next time Fabtastic people.
Moira
De Wildt Adventure Trails
I ate my humble pie😊
I always look forward to hiking at the new spot, I get excited for new experiences but more so to experience different scenery.
Let me tell you; I was not prepared for what I experienced at this hike. Pumza told me that it’s a difficult terrain with lots of rocks to maneuver through and loose stones. Pumza is very passionate about hiking, so when she tells you a story about the spot, all you hear is how beautiful the place is, nothing else. She is a good storyteller, so all I heard was beautiful place with breathtaking views, not difficult trail.😁
De Wildt is situated in Magaliesberg Mountains near Hartbeespoort in the North West Province, 30 minutes from Johannesburg and about 40 minutes from Pretoria. The weather was spectacular, it was perfect for such a difficult hike. The place has majestic views and offer different trails up to 21kms, they even have a shooting range. The trails are very well marked you cannot get lost, you just need to pay attention to signages throughout. I wouldn’t recommend one to do this hike during summertime or when it’s raining. I cannot get over what I get to experience and learn on each hike, it doesn’t get old for me.
During the week I asked Pumza how many kilometers we are doing, she said let’s do 15km. I agreed with excitement because I haven’t done 15km in long time. She said to me; I am going to send you the link to De Wildt website you need to fill in the indemnity form otherwise they won’t let you hike. When I heard indemnity form, I knew that I am in for tough hike. When a place asks for indemnity form, just know that all hell is going to break loose. 😂.
We got to a place, and we gathered and did the usual “housekeeping”, and we started the hike. There was a sign that showed how many hours it will take to finish the hike. Ours said 5 hours, I didn’t believe it because normally we do 10kms in 2 hours, so I thought to myself, 3 hours tops will be done. Boy was I wrong, it took us 5 hours instead. Lol. Most hikes you control your pace, this one the trail controls your pace because it is tricky. We were at 1.5km when I saw a chicken run sign. Chicken run is an early exit that you can take if you feel like you cannot continue with the hike. When I saw chicken run sign at 1.5kms, I knew that this is going to be a difficult hike. The picture of a chicken on the sign was so funny, it’s literally the chicken running away and terrified. My imagination was working overtime when I saw the picture. LOL. You don’t want to know what I was thinking. Normally you find chicken run sign from 5km, you can imagine my shock when I saw it so early into the hike. All I can tell you is that 1.5km hike felt like 5km. This hike had no mercy, as soon as we started hiking it was a hectic, straight up climb, one had to already maneuver through big rocks and loose stones. From the beginning of the hike till the end it was just big rocks and loose stones.
The next chicken run signage was at 6kms, this was the last one, we kept on saying ” who ever want to bail out now is the time.” Well, we were all stubborn enough, so we continued with our hike. At this point it already felt like we’ve done 15km, I remember all we did was climbing up and up, hardly ever flat surface. The going down was so painful cause it was a serious slope. Going down was short, while you try to catch breathe next climb starts. There was one gentleman who is preparing for comrades’ marathon, decided to do 21kms by himself, this guy passed us all and finished way before us. When he passed us, he was even running, I have no idea how he managed that. I guess that’s why in August he is running his 17th Comrades Marathon.
The higher we climbed the more majestic it got, we got to see almost 360 views of the beautiful Hartbeespoort dam and the surrounding mountains. No words or pictures can describe the views I experienced; it was insane. The views really make up for the difficult terrain, as much as it was tough hike, I was in heaven, I was happy. At some point we were so high up, the air was thin, cold wind blowing, had to put on my jacket. One thing that De Wildt don’t have is the signage of how many kilometers you’ve hiked. I think they did that on purpose cause it’s a difficult hike. The only time you see that signage is when you have 3kms to go. No fitness app was working because there was no network coverage, you hike without knowing how much more you still need to hike. When we finally saw 3km to picnic spot, I couldn’t believe it, I was hoping to see 1km left. You must remember in this type of terrain, 3km takes you 1hr to finish, I was finished at this point. I was waddling like a penguin, I remember at some point I was concentrating at putting one foot after the other. It was the longest 1hour of my life. This hike really tested my mental strength, I am happy I did it, and I will go back again.
When I saw base camp, I was so happy I felt like a conqueror, it was fabtastic to see civilization. Finally, fitness apps were working, we couldn’t wait to see how far we hiked, we did just over 18km. I was so proud, we didn’t even stop to have a snack, we snacked as we hiked. When we got to the base camp, the gentleman who ran 21kms was long relaxed and still had energy. All we wanted was to get home and soak our feet in hot water. He still said he is going to wake up the following day and run 10km.
On to the next adventure. “After a day’s walk, everything has twice its usual value”-G.M. Trevelyan
Until next time Fabtastic People
Moira
Hiking for Fun 