October 2021

8.5km (5.2 miles)

  • Estimated time to complete according to brochure: 6-7 hours
  • Our time: 11.5 hours 😳

By just looking at our time spent on the trail today, you can imagine how this day turned out …

After our “night out of hell” (you can read about it here), we were not in the happiest mood to start walking … those damn mouse (or mice)! But we would get nowhere if we were not hitting the road soon and strapped our backpacks on after enjoying a big bowl of oats and two cups of strong coffee!

Let’s go:

We left our hut at around 7:30 and followed the double-track towards the river. Here, the water was overflowing the road and we had to make a choice of how to cross this. There were two poles next to the road (that serves as a bridge) and Berto took that way. I thought I will not be able to balance myself and my heavy backpack on those poles and just walked (in my Bedrock sandals) through the water – how easy was that!

Oorlogskloof River crossing (the bushes on the right are obstructing the view of the poles)

Almost immediately after crossing the river, we got to an uphill which continued for about 15 minutes … I was silently wondering whether this is how our day will turn out.

A steep uphill after we crossed the river

Halfway up the hill, we found a sign reading ‘Brandewynvoetpad’ (loosely translated, it would mean Brandy footpath) where we had to turn right.

Turning right at the ‘Brandewynvoetpad’

Although it was another uphill, the path ascends steadily to the base of the cliffs and it was not that difficult to walk … perhaps also because it was still early in the morning 😉.

Halfway up the hill, we could look down on our (mouse) hut of the previous evening

We also had some pretty flowers and plants close to our footpath – unfortunately, we don’t have the names of these … but can show you some pictures.

We saw so many of these bushes with their tiny yellow flowers over the next couple of days
How pretty is this? Two different flowers growing out of one flower stem

It was also on this path that we saw our first kilometer marker. Remember that I told you (for some unknown reason), the first 4km are not count as part of the trail? Well, I will have to let them know that it CERTAINLY is part of the trail!! We would see the kilometers ticking off for the next 4 days … sometimes it would took hours from one kilometer marker to the next 😳.

We just completed 1km … no, we did not!!

According to our map, we were on our way to the river … however, we first had to walk all the way to the plateau before descending down to the river.

The river was on our right as we continue on the hiking trail

Close to the plateau, we had to find our way through low lying tree trunks and (of course) over a few more rocks!

We had to make sure here that our backpacks did not get tangled in the tree trunks
And find our way over these rocks

Shortly after the 2km mark, we found a seep in the rocks where we could taste the cold mountain water … and it was really refreshing!

Berto tasting the cold mountain water

We then had to choose our steps carefully as we walked on a very narrow path close to the rocks to get to the plateau.

A VERY narrow path

Then our first ladder, rope and chain awaited us! We had to use these to get on top of the plateau. I can’t remember … did I tell you about my fear of heights …

Anyway, after taking off my backpack (Berto climbed up first and used a rope to get my backpack on top) … I took a deep breath and grabbed the ladder, rope and chain to get myself to the top of the plateau.

You can see part of the chain on this picture
On top of the plateau
Berto rolling up the rope after using it for my backpack (he has done it so MANY times on this trail)
Small pools of water on top of the plateau

Now it was time to get down to the river, which included a 3-minute detour scramble down to below the cliffs again and then a steep descent to the river (we had to negotiate a section with quite loose shale here).

We came down this path to get down to the river

When we reached the river, it was time for a well-deserved coffee break! There were some lovely pools and we were looking forward walking along the river … if we only knew – this is not the river path as we know it!

Time for a coffee & cappuccino break

Once we packed up and got back on the road, we soon realised we will not enjoy a stroll on a well-laid out pathway … no, it was steep up hills, a scramble over rocks (again and again) and narrow spaces … did I mention up hills?

This is called ‘Eland stone house’ … not sure who stays here
Some of the trail was under cover of the riverine bush
We found steep uphills and also short bridges on this stretch
This green ‘botterboom’ (butter tree) seemingly growing out of the rocks
We enjoyed the lovely view of the higher rocks (not knowing that we will have to go there later)
Yes, we came from down there …
Oh dear, through this narrow tunnel and then climbing up there again!
Berto carrying my heavy backpack over the large rocks

After walking for almost 5km close to the river, we emerged from the riverine bush and were now ascending a VERY steep uphill towards the cliff base … this continue for 1km (doesn’t sound like much, but it was probably the longest 1km of my life)!

A STEEP uphill – sometimes on loos shale and negotiating our way around huge rocks in the narrow pathway

It took us more than an hour to complete this 1km uphill pathway to the top!

At the 8km mark, we reached the cliff base – finally! After walking in the sun for more than an hour, I was just so glad to sit down in the shade of the cliffs and trees!

My tired (and dirty) feet

We have now reached the Driefontein Waterfall, but since we’re already in spring, there is just a small stream of water flowing down the rocks.

With winter long gone, the Driefontein Waterfall is almost dry
Although the waterfall was almost dry, the rocks were still slippery from the spray of water and we had to choose our steps carefully here

With the sun now starting to set, it was quite concerning to see that the path leading down to our hut, is not really a path!

It was now only the high peaks of the mountains that still had some sunshine
The ‘path’ down to our hut

The route now descends steeply to the Oorlogskloof River, where we will find our hut. At times we had to literally went down on our bums to get down some of the big boulders. The sun has now set and it was getting dangerous to walk on these big rocks … that’s when I decided the best way of getting (safely) down to the hut, was to stay on my bum and use my hands, arms and feet to negotiate my way down! Not surprisingly, we have no pictures of getting down … no free hands!

It took us again more than an hour to walk (or crawl in my case) down to get to our hut!

Reaching our hut – almost in the dark

After more than 11 hours since we started earlier this morning, we fell into the hut … tired and exhausted!

Only to realise there was no water in the hut! We saw a sign close to the hut that indicated we could find some water in a small stream and we walked down to fill a bucket. (Each hut has one bucket – presumably to collet water).

We barely had energy for anything else! Berto prepared our dinner, while I wobbled around in the hut to make our beds.

Dinner tonight – lamb tagine and couscous
It was super delicious – the highlight of my day!

Hygiene time:

Berto mentioned that the only way we will feel better, is if we wash the dirt of the day off our bodies … but how?

I can tell you this … we realised during this hike that you can get clean with just a little bit of water! We each used one cup of lukewarm water to wash our hair (of course outside on the hut’s balcony). Berto then boiled water in our little pot. We applied some of the eco-friendly soap on our bodies and using our washcloths to rub it in. Then we soaked the cloths in the pot of water to wipe ourselves off! How does that sound for a bath?

Oh, and there is one more picture I would like to share with you … the evidence of a difficult descend down the mountain!

The back of my hiking pants

And once again, here are the maps of the day:

Day 2 – Route map
Day 2 – Elevation map (do you see that steep descent at the end?)

After barely sleeping 3 hours the previous night and more than 11 hours on today’s trail, we were totally and utterly drained and hoping for a good night’s sleep.

Tomorrow … tomorrow is the tipping point for me on this trail! We will tell you all about this in the next post!

You can read about Day 3 here