Vlakkenberg circuit (4/4)

Bridget and I did a late Sunday afternoon hike starting at 4pm from Constantia Nek, over Vlakkenberg, down to the saddle and then on the Bokkemanskloof path to the top of Blue Valley Ave in Hout Bay, and back to the car on Hout Bay pipetrack gravel road.

We parked the car at the Nek, walked down the main road for 200 m and crossed the road to where the trail starts, and headed up through the access path. After we reached the top of the log steps between the vineyards on the left and the Silvermist property on the right, and headed south west on a slightly less steep ascent, we enjoyed this view looking back towards Constantia corner and Orange Kloof.  We had a good sighting of a black kite perching on the very top of a pine tree, having to work hard to balance against the movement from the strong south-easter blowing.

Slightly visible in the above photo, and more noticeable below, were about 7 or 8 cables that had been suspended right across the valley below us on the Silvermist property. Some of them must have had a span of 500 m and construction seemed to be in progress. We debated and decided that it was most likely a new zipline adventure development (subsequently confirmed: http://saforestadventures.co.za/index.php/cape-town-2/cape-town-zipline-tour to be opened apparently on 1 Nov )

From here on the trail runs through lovely fynbos and the flowers are superb at this time of year. We crossed Vlakkenberg and headed down to the saddle on the Hoerikwaggo trail, through dense flowering leucaspermum conocarpodendrun trees, looking across towards the Constantiaberg.

Below, the beautiful marshy area where you cross the saddle.

The Bokkemanskloof path down, new to me, was rather overgrown and wild, but full of interest.

We eventually found a very good position to stop for tea, sheltered from the south-easter and enjoyed the warmth of 6 pm sunshine

The remainder of the downhill went on the right hand side of the stream and indigenous forest.  Further down quite a lot of black wattle was around, with dense stands of slender trees high up on the opposite slopes.

We came down to the residential area and walked down Blue Valley to Fynbos avenue which took us to the gravel road of the Hout Bay pipetrack and a bit of a slog in the fading daylight back to the car at the Nek.

Distance 9km. Climb 400 m. Total time 3h 9m.