one walk, two ways

In anticipation of our tea house trek along part of the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal next year (woohoo!), we have put ourselves on a walking/hiking regimen to start training our bodies. We bought a book of the best walks in the Cape Peninsula, and two weekends ago we began with the Silvermine Trail/Elephant's Eye Cave walk. It was a beautiful morning, and we were feeling jittery and excited because the view from the top of this walk was said to be, quite possibly, the best vista in the Cape Peninsula.

But as we kept walking, the sky started looking like this:

As we approached the summit, we experienced this:

It was all very "Gorillas in the Mist", without the gorillas of course. It also started raining and was incredibly cold and windy.

When we got to the top we couldn't see a dadgum thing and decided that we might as well start walking back down. It was a bit of a let down and we vowed to repeat this walk, lest Mother Nature get the better of us. And we did repeat it...last weekend. What a difference. 

It was a bright, hot, sunny morning. 

We went with Lucy and Annabelle, two of Brendan's very best friends and former roommates. I am lucky enough to be working with Annabelle at the University of Cape Town. 

And this time at the top we saw this:

and this:

and this:

It was a glorious day. We were sweaty and happy after three hours in nature.

And certainly made happier by following this up with fish and chips at Kalky's in Kalk Bay and a visit to the Olympia Cafe bakery for a sweet treat.