Despite trying to sleep in we were both up relatively early on Saturday (saying the day since I don’t know when I’ll be posting this) & ready to start the day. Our plan was to rent a car & drive down the coast to the Cape of Good Hope then back up the coast and swing through the winelands but the hotel & every other car rental place in the vicinity was booked out of cars, some all the way through December…crazy!
So we made our way back to the hotel (we had to walk around town checking out all the car rental places) & made a car reservation for Sunday (they have a rental service in the hotel), changed & took at cab to Table Mountain. We had asked the concierge if we could hike without a guide (to which he pretty much said “duh”) & then which route we should take. Well we took the hard route…at least for us. It was the hardest hike either of us had ever been on in our lives. It was about 3 hours almost straight up. We made it but we sure were dogging it. I was inspired the last part of the hike by a 5 year (and don’t take this like it was an easy hike because everyone we saw was saying how amazed they were this little girl was hiking) that was in front of us with her dad & dog. Man, she was a trooper.
During the hike we met a guy from Chicago & a couple from D.C. – such a small world. The views from the top of the mountain are gorgeous!! Really this is a BEAUTIFUL country. There is a gondola that runs to the top of the mountain as well, at the top it’s very obvious who hiked & who got a lift. All the hikers were sweaty messes while the people who gondolaed up were wearing dresses, high heels, and/or flipflops. The best comment Pete overheard was “wow, this is now like Disney World they let anyone visit” – said the lady wearing Minnie Mouse attire, complete with the pumps. Lady, I didn’t see you hiking up!
Maybe it’s doesn’t go without saying but we took the gondola down. They did have a restaurant at the top which was great – we treated ourselves to power aid & ice pops. We were a bit ill prepared for the hike up & only brought 2 mini bottles of water.
Laughing, Living, and Loving with London 