The morning started cooler and overcast, just perfect to be hiking in the Newlands Forest on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, which give or take a road or two or three, is our backyard here in Cape Town.
There is something so restful about the toned down palette of a forest walk. I was surrounded by early morning bird calls but kept my focus on the paths, the switchbacks that slowly but surely climb to the Woodcutters Trail and then onto the wonderful Contour Path which traverses Table Mountain. Every now and again the forest opens up and we had lovely views of the Southern Suburbs.
The intention of the walk this morning was to get the heart rate up and to start our preparation for the more strenuous days of our Ultra Walk, which will be the Kamies Pass and the trails through the Cedarberg Mountains.
Mission accomplished, I was breathing hard at times as the switchbacks steepen into stairs on the way up.
So I have now walked 30 km in 3 days, I have a sense of the distance, now just need to work up to doing that in a day, and then doing that for 10 days in a row....
- Walking log: Sunday 11th January
Felt strong.
We walked without stopping.
Total kilometres to date: 30.4
Fred has a Polar Integrated GPS Sports Watch which we are using to track our stats. The software is so cool and the GPS function generates a map of the walk.
So nice, I can see Fred playing around for hours telling me how and what I have or haven't done!