Saturday 29 August was bitterly cold across the Western Cape. The type of cold that only comes when there is snow on the mountains. We don’t often get a lot of snow in the Helderberg Basin, but when we do, it is normally a pretty decent amount.
I didn’t get to see any of it, as each time I had a chance to peek out of the window, dark grey clouds had settled on top of the mountains. But, there was no lack of photos on Facebook and Whatsapp, so at least I got some idea of the coverage.
I declared Sunday a rest day. No admin, no DIYing, no worrying about the to-do list. I even slept in until 07:00, but as I sipped my coffee something told me to head to Radloff Park. So I did. It was a beautifully crisp and clear morning, and I could see the Hottentots Holland Mountains capped with snow. Even The Dome of the Helderberg Mountain still had a light dusting. Now that doesn’t happen often!
As I walked around Radloff trying to find the best vantage point, and the caffeine started to take effect, the gears in my head slowly began to turn. I Facebook’d Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve and saw that they had had decent snow on Saturday. Done. Road trip!
I called up a friend and two hours later we were on our way to Mont Rochelle. Driving via Stellenbosch, we spied many white peaks: Stellenbosch Mountains, the Simonsberg, Jonkershoek, and of course, rising behind Franschhoek, the Franschhoek Mountains.
Excitement mounted. We wound our way up the pass and hit bumper-to-bumper traffic. Looks like everyone had the same idea as us! We eventually found a parking spot and set off for the entrance to the reserve. I asked the ranger if people had reached any decent snow, and he replied in the affirmative. Permit paid for, we set off. Up, up, up.
We were cold initially but within 10 minutes had to shed layers to avoid overheating. 20 minutes in to our hike and my legs were burning! I asked a couple with kids coming down if they had reached snow, and they said that they had, and it was about one hours’ hike from where we were. I always take these sort of estimates with a pinch of salt: their hiking pace might be a lot faster or slower than mine. So I told myself that we could probably budget for a 1hr30min hike.
There were a lot of people on the trail, and they ranged from cozy toddlers clad in onesies to folks who looked to be in their 70ies. Some were kitted out in trail running gear, others all sorts of hiking paraphernalia, and then there were those in high-heeled boots, and even one lady in slippers!
Massive respect to the mom’s and dad’s carrying their kids up and down that mountain. While not technical, the trail does ascend quite steeply. We opted to follow the Uitkyk trail, and were rewarded with the most stunning mountain views. The higher we went, the more snow there was covering the ground. And soon, we started to spot snow men, and had to take care not to get caught in the crossfire of snow balls being flung around.
At last, after about an hour,the climbing stopped and we had a choice of: left to DuToitskop, right to Perdekop, or straight ahead to Uitkyk. Perdekop looked steep, and while we couldn’t see it at the time, would have taken us to proper snow. You know, the type of stuff where we could have made snow angels. But I wasn’t prepared for a big trek, in fact, having never been to Mont Rochelle before, I hadn’t even prepared for the hike we had done. I had water and fruit – I always take something with on unknown walks – but I had bargained on just that: a walk.
So, as I wasn’t mentally prepared for a long hike (it was about 3.5km one way on the out-and-back route), and neither of us had extra trail food, we opted to go straight and were rewarded with fantastic views from Uitkyk. For me, it was more about the adventure of exploring somewhere new, and being able to be on the mountains; not so much about the snow. Though we did partake in a bit of snowball-flinging.
We rested, had some fruit, and soaked it all in. In a spot out of the wind, the temperature was pleasant, and I got lost in the sound of the wind funneling down the mountain valleys. It sounded like the ocean. I was in awe of the giant pieces of rock laid out before me.
As beautiful as it was, I was getting hungry, and we packed up and headed back the way we had come.
There was less traffic coming up and we made good time. A large amount of the remaining snow had also melted, changing the landscape. Clouds had begun to roll in, and it was getting colder. As fantastic as it would have been to reach proper snow, I was happy with my decision to stick to a shorter hike.
On our way home we pulled in at Rickety Bridge and had vetkoek and roosterkoek at Paulina’s. For the non-South African readers, vetkoek is similar to a doughnut in that it is a deep-fried dough, but it isn’t sweet. It is traditionally filled with beef mince, but chicken mayo, or cheese and jam are also very popular. This one was filled with delicious pulled pork.
A roosterkoek, which translates to “grill cake” is a dough normally formed into a ball similar to a bread roll, and cooked on a “braai” (open wood fire is ideal) or grill. This tends to give it a nice crisp crust while the inside stays deliciously soft. These can be filled with anything, but bacon, egg and cheese works really well.
The food was well-deserved and hit the spot!
What a brilliant way to end the weekend!
