8 day rain, Kleinfontein and being sick

After the 2 day rain, it was time to hit the 8 day rain sector! We met Lucy and Ryan at 11 (as always) at the parking and hiked our way to the rocks. Lucy had a project called Golden Rail (6C) and it was a really nice project indeed. But we had to find something else first, because there was a proper carnival by that particular rock. Almost looked like a full school class had made a picnic underneath.

We found nice slabs to start with and then reversed back, stopping by the scorpion boulder. It had a few really pretty lines, one easier one and one harder one (perhaps 6A and a 7A). We climbed them both and the latter I really enjoyed, it had a long lock off (or for the shorter of us: a bit of a more dynamic lock off ;) ) as the only really hard move, the landing was a bit sketchy but not too bad, but it climbed nicely.

Golden rail was extremely nice, we climbed it quickly and then continued to Vanity (7A)! Wow, that's a cool looking line BUT super scary top out. For me, at this point, it felt too high. While Chris and Ryan were figuring Vanity out, I focused on the multiple 6C's and 6C+ses on the same rock. And did climb all of them except one :) Chris climbed Vanity quickly and afterwards we got to admire some professional athletes from US climbing to the top too. I have to say, Chris made it look a lot easier than they did ;)

And then I got sick. Well actually, I got some sort of a food poisoning/ sun stroke / something, after the Lambert's Bay buffet thing (might not have anything to do with that though) and the next week after I was pretty dead. It was (and still is) hard to eat anything and I kept having a low fever (probably from exhaustion) that jigsawed up and down. Probably the long days out in the sun, hiking with heavy gear, not drinking enough water (I truly truly try though!) and just being constantly a bit cold (it's pretty freezing in our little clay hut) are things that are not exactly helping out. But soon it's time for the rest week, more of that later!

After the 8 day rain we went to check out Kleinfontein. What a lovely little sector with absolutely no one else! We found the pretty Fin (7A) first and warmed up on a cool 6B(+?) next to it. Fin looked intriguing but had a very long reach backwards at a quite high spot, which I couldn't quite do, maybe it was the reach or maybe just the nerves :D Chris and Ryan climbed Fin so nicely but with quite some swing! Sketchy stuff.

We moved on to a really really strange 6C called Death Star that actually looked like the Death Star :D Smart Lucy saved us and figured out a superb beta for the first move, afterwards we just needed to practice the awkward little sideways dynamic move. And then it was done!

It was time for the last problem of the day, the Girlfriend problem (7A) which was the first route that I was actually quite excited about! Unfortunately I was a bit too tired already but we figured out the moves in the end. Hopefully we'll get back to it at some point!

The forecast had promised rain again for two days, so on the first one, we took care of shopping and internetstuff. But then the forecast changed for better so we decided to try our luck at the Champside! More about that next.

8 Day rain and a 7Aish problem

Downclimbing after topping out Vanity

Pia on a tricky 6C

Cute little gecko baby

Ryan on the long move of Fin 7A

Chris cruising Fin 7A

Pia trying hard!

Girlfriend problem

Happy Chris with some mac&cheese burger :D

Hot days climbing, rainy days resting

We made it to Clanwilliam and our small little cottage at Traveller's rest just before dark on Monday 11th of June. We purchased our climbing permits ready for the next day and settled in to our little home. And what a little home it was! Little clay hut with a pretty view and perfectly enough space for the three of us. The kitchen was very basic but completely fine, shower great and we even had a big fireplace!

After a good night's sleep it was time for the FIRST CLIMBING DAY! We decided on Plateau because of the easy access and some nice sounding classics. Easy access...well that part we completely messed up by taking a route straight up from the campsite with some heinous climbing even before the actual bouldering. Instead we could've just gone by a nice road lower next to the cliff. Weeelll, next time we know :)

In the end we did find our friend Jarmo and the boulders! We started on some really nice warm up things next to a classic 6B+/6C called Girl on our mind and then flashed that thing ;) It was a very pretty route for sure! By that boulder we met a super nice couple, Lucy and Ryan, from Texas and ended up climbing and hanging out with them the next few weeks.

On the same boulder, Chris climbed a cool 7B called Poison Dwarf, after which we continued to Minky (7B) where he did all the moves without an effort. Sending it next time will be easy. The heat that day was insane and we were really melting in the sun. We called it a day quite early.

The next day we found ourselves next to an impressive looking classic called the Rhino (7B+). Ryan had all the moves done and he really wanted to give it another go. The problem is that one needs quite some pads for it and their two little Mad Rock pads weren't quite cutting it. We promised to help out: exchanging pads for beta ;)

First we warmed up again on some beautiful easy problems on a boulder that looked like a leaf! Then we continued to a pretty tall and proud, 6 meter high 6C called Tiger Claw. Wow. I was a bit intimidated to hop on it, but ended up flashing it without a problem! To be fair, it felt quite a lot easier. We also tried a 7A next to it but none of us could quite figure out the moves. After that it was time for the Rhino! Both Ryan and Chris were really close, they took some huge falls but did some huge moves too. It was nice to watch but also a bit sketchy. Luckily nothing happened. Pia, Lucy and I didn't feel like trying it anymore at the end of the day but next time for sure.

Lucy and Ryan turned out to be enthusiastic bird spotters and I was syked! I love birds and birdwatching, especially with people who know more than I do. We quickly spotted some beautiful sun birds (we found two different kinds!) and later also two different kingfishers, some funny weaver birds, bulbuls and helmeted quinea fowls. So cute, all of them.

In the evening we all ended up at a beautiful seafood buffet in Lambert's bay. Muisbosskerm restaurant organizes these buffets whenever there's enough people signed up and the setting is great: you sit outside next to the sea watching the sunset and the cooks making the food infront of your eyes. And food there was: fresh fish, veggies, salad, excellent bread, yams, potatoes, and meat stews. Even a vegan like me got plenty to eat! It was all and all a great evening in a great company. And none left home hungry, that is for sure.

Then it rained for two days straight. We did late mornings, second breakfasts, internetting, reading and shopping. The next day we went to meet Lucy and Ryan in a nice pub with a great terrace in Clanwilliam, where we ate a ton of great food, played card games and admired the views! Afterwards we visited Ryan and Lucy's supernice Airbnb! The way there was a tricky one tho: with the rains, the roads flooded! We were looking in disbelief when R&L drove through the river first...yikes. They did make it and so did we, we only hoped that the water level wouldn't rise even more so we would still make it home in the evening.

We took a little walk next to their house and found some baboons on the other side of the river! Last time R&L had been there, they had also seen a spitting cobra!!! They are dangerous but it would be awesome to see one. On our way home, after dinner, more games, wine and beer, and river crossings, we also saw some kind of an small antelope running next to the dirtroad! Can't wait to go on that safari!

Views from the Plateu 

Girl on our mind

Girl on our mind

Evening sun

Weaver birds

Chris on Tiger Claw 6C

And me

Impressive Rhino

Chris taking impressive falls on Rhino

Exploration with the chicas

Sunset at Lambert's bay

Muisbosskerm

The best group

Rainbow from De Kelder Pub's terrace

Little walk to see the baboons

More rainbows

Splashy ride

Cape Town wonders

We woke up happy and excited to a Sunday in Cape Town. We had absolutely nothing to eat at the nice and cozy AirBnb of ours so the first task was to find brekkie. Not a difficult task since we ended up being in the very spot for all the cafes and restaurants! A fully vegan restaurant Happy Herbivore treated us with amazing avo-sandwiches and delicious smoothies. A great start to the day.

After the breakfast, when walking back to our place, an interesting incident happened: we saw some blinking lights some 100 meters ahead of us and...a car in a tree!? I mean, literally, the car was on top of a small broken tree. Curious creatures as we are, we walked past and figured out that there had been a car chase: police had been after the car and the driver had ended up driving into (or rather onto) a tree! Wow...

We decided to just take in the city by walking around. After a delicious lunch at Jason's Bakery, we walked to the waterfront to watch the beautiful old buildings and the whole tourist shebang. The first thing we noticed was that the people here were just SO NICE. Everyone was amazingly welcoming, courteous and helpful. So refreshing! What did break my heart a little though were the many beggars we met on the streets. They were hardly even asking for money, most were hoping for food. I ended up buying one of them a box of cereal (his choice ;) )...unfortunately I could never feed all of them.

All this walking took us back to our place for a little rest, and then it was time for a spontaneous trip to the Table mountain! We drove up to the cable car station, paid ourselves sick for the tickets and up we went to the top of this insanely flat piece of mountain that was always there looming behind the city wherever you went. The views were already great from the cable car itself and at the top you could clearly see the whole town.

The last car down would go at six and we had about 1,5 hours to do a round trip hike to the ”other end”, to Maclears Beacon which was the highest point of this flat top (1086m above sea level). It was about a 5 km thing but we decided to go anyway even if it felt a bit like rushing. I'm glad we did: it was a pretty hike away from the crowds and to some nice viewing spots. The Beacon itself wasn't super spectacular but especially the way back in the soft orange sunset light was fantastic. We saw the city and the coastline below us and marveled at the steep cliffs that went down for hundreds of meters just next to us.

At 17.45 we started hearing this noise that sounded like a war alarm was going off. It was the signal that the last cable cars were about to go down. We hurried a bit but for nothing really: there was still a humongous queue waiting for their turn so we had enough time to soak in the sunset views. AND suddenly the little fat rock dassies came out! These funny-looking creatures were like a mixture of marmot and small deer, their faces looked like they were constantly smiling and later we heard that they are the closest living relative to an elephant (how!? I do not know..) Dassies weren't very scared and we got to take some pictures too, check them out! It got extremely cold extremely quick and we were low on energy too so we headed out for some fantastic Ethiopian food after a short visit at home. Injera bread with plenty of Shiro and other beautiful sauces, yammee.

Next day we had a date in an excellent cafe at 7.00 in the morning with an old dear university colleague of mine, Laura, her tiny baby Jasper and her South African husband Anton. It was great to meet Laura again and of course get to know her family. They told us a lot about the current water crisis concerning Cape Town, gave us tips for our trip and we made a plan to meet again when we come back to the "Mother City".

After brekkie we took a short walk in a colorful part of town called Boo-Kaap, and then it was time for packing, shopping and all that jazz before heading out to Clanwilliam and Rocklands.

Two silly beans, beetroot latte and kombucha

Waterfront

Cape harbour

Tourist touristof Christoph

Up with the car

Hiking on top of Table mountain

Fog surprised us

Maclears Beacon

Little fat dassie!

Boo-Kaap

cutiepia