David
and I had both done this walk two or three times before, but never led it. So we agreed we should do a recce before we
offered it to our Thursday Explorers.
We expected to have just the four of us today, so decided to do the
recce. However at the last minute
Anneke and Toon were able to join us, and brought David (2) and Sabine for
their first walk with the group.
Before
we started I explained that it was a recce, and just as well as things turned
out.
All
went well until we reached the area where we usually have our banana break, and
which I thought was also the point where we started to climb to the
summit. But as soon as I saw it I had
my doubts, it looked different and there was no sign post. However we did a short recce, whilst the rest
had their banana stop, to make sure.
When
we reached the sign post we recognised it at once, it was just as we
remembered it.
We
were pleased to find that the herd of goats, which we had seen on previous
visits, were here today.
These
are particularly attractive animals, and we spent some time watching and taking
photographs. Anneke looks like she
would make a good goat herder!
There
were not at all frightened by us, indeed they seemed approached us to see if we
had anything for them. All except this
beauty who kept his distance and overlooked the rest of the herd.
Despite
our earlier delay we still reached the summit at 1pm, the appointed picnic
time.
The
weather forecast was cloudy, and indeed was correct as this photo shows.
However
the cloud was all behind us. The view
to our front was much better, and the sun even made an appearance.
I
had anticipated that if we had any trouble finding the path it would be on the
way back to the camp site. However we
found it without difficulty, the path was very good and the weather kept fine.
Due
to our extra recce the journey was slightly longer than usual. David provided the stats which are:
Distance
11.5 km
Time
5 hours 50 minutes
Elevation
504 metres
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