Fool that I am after my experience up Platteklip Gorge 10 days before, I talked Maureen into hiking up Lions Head, the mountain to the east of Table Mountain if your'e looking directly at the front of the mountains.
There are many signs posted along the way reminding one that this is being done at your own risk! The locals added their stories about lives lost on the mountain over the years... we were psyched for this challenge by the time we got to the trailhead. Piece of cake at first as the trail gently circles the mountain with gradual elevation changes... we were feeling good!
Right about then is when we got to the section where we had to climb up a sheer rock face holding onto steel rings and chains embedded in the rock, and holding onto our breath! No looking down or anywhere around for a while, just straight ahead or a little upwards to find the next life saving rung!
It took us an hour and a half to get to the top and worth the shaking knees we experienced at the top as we looked around at the magnificent city at our feet and the ocean stretching to eternity it seemed. Maureen about had a heart attack when two young girls did handstands after they'd made it - people do crazy stuff!!
The descent took almost as long as the ascent and Maureen made me reward her with good food after I "encouraged" her to walk to Camps Bay... the gorgeous beach where we were told single girls go to look at the hunky guys, single guys go to check out the gorgeous girls, and married couples go to get away from the South Easterlies that blow through Cape Town but not on this protected side!!
That evening as we sat on Sharon's patio enjoying our cocktails looking at Lions Head we had a different appreciation for its beauty!
We couldn't believe just hours earlier we'd been sitting atop it.
I thought if I lived in Cape Town it would be a hike to be done once a month along with a good book and a picnic packed in my back pack and plenty of time to sit and breathe it all in...