The Fossil took over my blog yesterday (again), so today it’s my turn. Just ’cause he cancelled our Saturday walk along Clarence Drive doesn’t mean we’re cancelling my Walk 4 SOS Huskies journey. No way! This weekend I’m walking the hiking trails around the Hut where we’re staying in the Kleinmond Caravan Park.
The Fossil (aka Des) says we’re doing it ’cause we’re paying homage to Frank Robb who donated the Hut to the community so that others can share his love for the surrounding hiking trails in the fynbos environment. But I’m really doing it ’cause I’m a Husky, and we love walking!
So, this is going to be a really long blog post, ’cause it covers two days; Saturday & Sunday.
Saturday, 21 August
This afternoon, I walked the Fossil up the hiking trail path from the Kleinmond Golf Club parking lot. What an ugly sight that is! As the Fossil said; “It’s hectares of grass fairways that blight the natural fynbos terrain for the exclusive use of a few Fossil golfers who’ve posted ‘No Dogs Allowed’ signs all over their hallowed tuft!”.
Anyway, I walked my Fossil up the path and came to a sign, so I headed for ‘Hanneshoek’ path.
This route crossed over a boardwalk spanning a small stream…
… but that led to a flooded section. “There’s no way you’re going that way,” said the Fossil. “After all the effort that Nusca Michéla and Jenney Spykerman at The Dog Ladies put into grooming you on Friday, I’m not having you covered in mud again!”.
So, I turned back and took the Jean’s Hill path. There sure are a lot of flowers along these hiking trails…
… I even stopped to smell one of the big flower buds. “These are Protea, South Africa’s national flower. And this, I think, is Protea Susara, one is the King Protea species. Did you know, Jaxx, that there’s over 1400 different kinds of Protea in the world and about 330 species grow right here!”, said the Fossil. Well, for a flower, there’s not that much of a smell, I thought.
In fact, there’s not much of a taste either! People really are weird…
… they make a big deal about pretty plants and even dedicate 3000 hectares to protecting the fynbos biome. All I need is a couple of hectares for a Husky Haven to protect my species!
OK, the Protea are pretty – as are those pink flowers – now let’s move on …
… I thought we took the Jean’s Hill path but now the sign reads ‘Drie Susters’. No problem, as long we’re walking, I’m happy!
Even if it is uphill. With loose rocks. And a panting Fossil hanging onto my leash …
… and amazing views. Looks like the whole mountain is turning yellow! And finally, after much huffing and puffing behind me up the hill climb …
… we arrived at the top of the mountain. Talk about views – this really is awesome! You can see the whole of Kleinmond from up here.
Anyway, after some time gawking at the view, and after the Fossil had caught his breath (I’m amazed he has any left after all the smoking he does), we headed down the mountain pathway. I had to pause often to avoid the Fossil falling on top of me, but he made it OK. Then we followed another path heading back to where we started from …
… and I came across a strange creature wearing a rock. With legs and a head that disappeared inside the rock when I came close to smell it. And no, I didn’t get to taste it ’cause my leash kept pulling me away.
Finally, we came back to the parking lot where the Fossil had parked our Mahindra PIKUP and drove back to the Frank Robb Hut where we’re being hosted by the Kleinmond Municipality.
Sunday, 22 August
The fossil has a map of the hiking trails and the only places I’m allowed to walk are outside the Kogelberg Nature Reserve. As you can see, there’s not many of those! So, seeing as we’d walked the ‘Three Sisters’ route yesterday (that’s the tiny circular route in red on the map where we’d unknowingly trespassed into ‘No Doggy Land’), he decided to drive us to the ‘Highlands Trail’ (the red dotted line is where we drove) and walk from the Iona Farm starting point towards the ‘Perdeberg Trail’ (the solid red line is where we walked).
OK, so now you know where we are, here’s a bit about this section of the trail.
First off, the sign at the route start parking spot and the map don’t agree about No Dogs Allowed trails. So we ignored the sign and went with the map.
There’s a really nice dam at the parking spot, but that’s about as scenic as it gets…
… ’cause there’s no pretty pathways here – just a gravely dirt road …
… that becomes a beach-sand road winding through the hectares of alien Pine trees …
… and it’s only at the top of this beach-like road that there’s at least some fynbos to be seen – and a view over the sea! “I give up, Jaxx,” said the disgruntled Fossil. “We should have just driven the Mahindra 4×4 up here!”.
So, we turned around and walked back to the pretty dam where we’d started. The Fossil may have been disgruntled, but I wasn’t. There’s still interesting smells and sounds here, and as long as I’m walking, I’m happy!
Thanks for reading and sharing Husky loving folks!
Wanna talk to us? Wanna host us? WhatsApp the tall fossil hanging onto my leash. Here’s Des’s number: +27 (0)82 374 7260. We’d love to hear from you!
JAXX
Join Me For A Walk
Saturday 28 August 2021 – Muizenberg To Fish Hoek
Sunday 29 August 2021 – Hout Bay to Cape Town
