Cape Town: Table Mountain

Tovah, Wendy, Charlotte, and Kirsten at the top of the mountain
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After an early start moving hostels, Tovah, Charlotte, Kirsten, and I began the 45 minute walk from town to Table Mountain.  In retrospect, it might have been a better idea to take a taxi there and save our legs and energy for the climb....seems we were a little over ambitious!We made it to the hiking path at about 10:00 am and began the more strenuous than imagined ascent up the mountain.  The path consisted of rocks and boulders that really put my short legs to the test.  There were times I had to use my arms to pull myself onto the next boulder.  Anyway, we got up the mountain in record time despite the challenge (took around 1-1.5 hours) and rested at the top for a little while to take in the views and refuel with some more water and Gatorade and our prepacked lunch.  The girls then came with me to the spot where I was going to abseil down.  I signed my name on the release form, gave the guy there my money, and all of a sudden the notorious thick clouds that we heard about rolled in within a couple minutes (no exaggeration) completely covering the mountain from the top to where I would abseil to.  Since I really wanted to see the views below me as I abseiled, I reluctantly got my money back and decided to try my luck another day.

Hike down was harder than up. Still feeling the burn.
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The hike down the mountain proved to be just as difficult if not more difficult and strenuous.  I slipped down the boulders a couple times leaving me with a few bruises for souvenirs.  We took a different route down and walked through these beautiful purplie-pink flowers. We decided to keep with the theme of the day and walk back into town first stopping at the supermarket to get food to make for dinner.  There were times we felt our feet/legs were just going to boycott and stop us in our tracks!

Sore legs- a small price for an incredible experience!

Tovah resting from high up Table Mountain, which overlooks Cape Town and the Bay.
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I was going to take the funicular up Table Mountain on Wednesday to try to abseil again, but Brenda and Pascal (our friends from Australia that we met in Johannesburg) invited us to go with them around the Cape Peninsula that day.  Instead I decided to go Thursday and Pascal who was going to climb it Thursday planned to meet me to abseil.  How great things always seem to work out!  Wednesday was a beautiful day for the peninsula, but too cloudy to abseil.  On Thursday however, it was a perfect abseiling day.  I caught a ride to the mountain with this guy Jamie I met at the hostel, and waited in line for about 1 hour and 15 minutes for the funicular.  By the time I got to the abseil site it was 1:30 pm and I planned to meet Pascal there at 10 am, so I assumed we had missed each other.  I got my harness on, followed the guide over the edge and around the boulders to the spot where he hooked my harness onto a rope. As I waited my turn and chatted with the Irish couple going before me, and the guys that were working there, I saw a familiar red sweatshirt  make its way through the boulders.  It was Pascal who was coming to abseil!  When it was our turn (you can abseil next to someone as 2 ropes were set up) I got my helmet and gloves on and stepped back over the edge.  It was incredible to be hanging over Table Mountain!  After about 10 or so minutes abseiling down the face of the mountain, it drops back and there is no where to walk your feet down, so you just hang in the air while lowering yourself down the rest of the way.  What an indescribable feeling to be looking out over beautiful Cape Town and the ocean and not being able to hear anyone or anything...it was the most peaceful and enjoyable experience!

Wendy about to abseil 112 meters down the 1000 meter Table Mountain.
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The real adventure came when Pascal and I had to hike 20 minutes back up to the top of the mountain and there was no real path.  I thought we should have still been in our harness and roped in.  If Pascal wasn't with me I would have been really scared that I was climbing so far up and across the mountain in the wrong direction that no one would be able to find me.

When I got back to the hostel I found Tovah still in bed and feeling very ill and feverish.  Poor Tovah had to suffer in a room with 10 people walking in and out all the time.  So, I canceled our dinner plans with Brenda and Pascal, made Tovah and I some lunch, and ran out to get Tovah some Gatorade (the only thing she really felt like or could stomach).  So far we have been lucky as that is the only sickness we, or she rather, has incurred...and she was really a trooper!