Cape Town–Day 10

2013.08.30

Koeberg ramble

Still raining and we made a vain attempt to go and walk the boulevard at Sea Point but it rained so hard that the windscreen wipers could barely keep up. We did see however a light patch in the sky towards Milnerton so we headed in that direction. When we got there the light patch had moved north with us so we just continued until we had caught up just beyond Melkbosstrand.

We spotted some Pelargoniums scrambling in the bushes along the road and were amazed that they were P.gibbosum. There were lots of them and the size of them just unbelievable.

With the coastal ribbon development it is quite hard to find a place where you can actually go on the beach, when we did find such a place it was time for coffee with the trusty Trangia serving us well again. I looked for points of interest on the gps and discovered that the hiking trail on the grounds of the Koeberg nuclear power station was a mere 6km away and we decided to give it a bash. The security guard at the entrance thought we were quite crazy but he duly signed us in and drove to the parking area complete with an information shelter.

The sky hadn’t quite cleared so we opted for the shorter version of the trail. It takes you through sandy fynbos with a lot of restios and interesting small plants but to my disappointment no P.fulgidum which I had been sure to find here.

Near the end Ellie did nearly trip over another Pelargonium which we didn’t expect to find here so I suppose that made up for it. No idea what it is.

Then back to Cape Town and some beer tasting in the evening.

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