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CONTENTS
QUEST FOR ADVENTURE; CHAIRMAN’S CHIRP; GREAT WALL MARATHON; WE
HIKED TO: BUSHMAN'S NEK HUT, "THE AMBERS", BUFFELSBOSCH, CARACAL
CAVE, FORT NOTTINGHAM; YOUR OUTDOOR CARTOONS, LIBRARY & MOVIES.
Page 1
{go hiking} MIDLANDS
HIKING CLUB
NEWS
QUEST FOR ADVENTURE
MIDLANDS HIKING CLUB COMMITTEE
Chairman: Alistair Nixon ([email protected] Vice-Chairman: Peter Comrie ([email protected])
Treasurer: Sue Rowley ([email protected]) Secretary: Cathy Nixon ([email protected])
Webmaster: Rod Hart ([email protected])
Membership Manager: Peter Rippon ([email protected])
Newsletter Editor & Activities Manager: Brigitta Simpson ([email protected])
Volume 3 Number 17 22 March 2017
GO TO: www.gohiking.co.za
www.gohiking.co.za
Next Social
21 March 2017
By competing in the WORLD'S COOLEST
MARATHON ®, the North Pole Marathon ®,
you can become one of a truly select few to race
at the top of the world - at the Geographic North
Pole. And you will feel on top of the world when
you manage to overcome the extreme sub-zero
temperatures to finish 42.195km (26.2 miles) in
one of the remotest parts of the planet.
But first you must ask yourself if you have got
the nerve and drive to travel to the North Pole
and run on Arctic ice floes, with 6 to 12 feet
separating you from 12,000 feet of Arctic Ocean?
Can you handle the extreme cold? Are you fit
enough? Do you want to push yourself to the
edge? If the answer is yes, then you are ready for
the North Pole Marathon. Join race director Rich-
ard Donovan, the first marathoner at both the
North and South Poles, in a trip of a lifetime. Re-
member, this marathon is not run on land - it is
run 'on' water, frozen water, in the high Arctic
Ocean. You will never have a greater adventure
marathon story.
http://www.npmarathon.com/
”L Life was meant for good friends and
great adventures”
Page 2
EEEEditor’s Noteditor’s Noteditor’s Noteditor’s Note Hiking is always an adventure, es-
pecially if one incorporates running
into your hiking world. Participat-
ing in the Artic marathons is truly
inspiring, not to mention the Great
Wall of China.
For those of us who keep to our
steady hiking shedule locally, we
most certainly experience every
hike is a lovely adventure.
Keith Ashton would agree, yes?
AdventurousAdventurousAdventurousAdventurous hiking! hiking! hiking! hiking!
Brigitta Brigitta Brigitta Brigitta
GO TO: www.gohiking.co.za
Chairman’s Chirp by Alistair Nixon
Without grapes there would be no wine! Without hikes there would be no Midlands Hiking Club!
I’ve watched the hiking schedule for the next quarter being compiled. It is an anxious time as the deadline
looms and there are a few free hike days still available. What it has made me realise is there is a core of
leaders who, every quarter, give without reward (and sometimes praise) their leadership and experience for
our hiking pleasure.
I would like to encourage members who are interested in becoming hike leaders to feel free to chat to our
expereinced leaders to get them going. The more the merrier.
Next Social
16 MAY2017
Dave's Hiking Tip With the Easter holidays fast approaching, and all the schools in the
country on holiday at the same time, the berg camps and caves will
be very busy. Do your bookings early, and if you decided to hike
on the off chance that the cave or hut might be empty, go prepared
to tent, somebody may be there ahead of you, then where do you
sleep? Also carry your booking papers with you, if someone is
there on the off chance, they may leave without a fight if you can
prove you have booked, or you may have to leave if they have
booked.
ALWAYS GO PREPARED FOR THE UNEXPECTED
Welcome
Mala Kishuna
Dusty Shaw
Royanda Omar
Denise Maclachlan
Page 3
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Great Wall Marathon
Steve and Eleanor Pienaar
Steve and Eleanor Pienaar are passionate about running
and travel. They have combined these two passions for
an adventure that has taken them across the globe. The
Pienaars recently completed their seventh marathons on
7 continents challenge and are the 1st South African
couple to accomplish this feat. They have run many
marathons in South Africa , including the Comrades ul-
tra marathon (Steve has his green number – 10 finishes
and Eleanor has her back to back medals – 2 finishes).
The Pienaars have also run the New York, London,
Great Wall of China, Sydney , Rio de Janeiro and Ant-
arctic Ice marathons. They have been married for
22 years and have run all the international marathons
together.
The Great Wall Marathon is an
annual marathon race held in May
along and on the Huangyaguan or
Huangya Pass (Chinese: 黄崖关;
Chinese: 黃崖關; Pinyin: Huán-
gyáguān; Literally: "Yellow
Cliff Pass"), Tianjin section of the
Great Wall of China East of Bei-
jing. Since it first start in 1999,
the race has grown to several hun-
dred participants. Aside from the
main marathon, a half marathon,
10 km and 5 km runs were also
held until 2012. 2013 marked the
debut of an 8.5 km "fun run", re-
placing the 5 and 10 km distances.
The course is much tougher than
traditional marathons with partici-
pants challenged by 5,164 stone
steps and many steep ascents and
descents. Wikipedia.
Page 4
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Another beautiful but scorching
hot day as we left the hut, luckily with
several river crossings to cool our feet &
soak our hats etc. The first section of the
route follows the Ngwangwane River
up-stream reaching Cedric's Pool after
about 5 km and this is where the young
family etc joined us increasing our
group size to 22. It was then further on
alongside the river before crossing it and
climbing steeply up to "The Gap" for a
short break to take in the scenery all
around, with a good view of "Vast
Cave" across another valley. From here I
indicated where other bushmen paint-
ings can be found, but continued along
the narrow and partly overgrown scenic
and rugged route to Mystery cave for a
well-earned rest in the shade and to view
the very good bushmen paintings before
having lunch followed by several mem-
bers of our group having a swim in the
stream not far from the cave. We then
took the same way back, quickly build-
ing up a sweat in the scorching sun, but
the thoughts of a swim to cool-off in
Cedric's pool kept most of us in good
spirits but one or two were taking a bit
of strain. However what a joy at reach-
ing Cedri'cs pool to frolic in the cool
water under a lovely waterfall. Then we
still had another 5 km back to the hut,
crossing rivers en-route and making our
return hike of over 16 km in very hot
conditions. At the hut it was cold
shower time before supper and drinks,
and New Year's Eve celebrations aptly
recorded on the photos.
Third Day - 1 Jan 2017 - New Years
Day (To Painters Cave &
Langalibalele Cave) As it was very hot again we de-
cided on an early start at about 07h00,
however, several of our group having
already done 1 or 2 hikes the previous
days decided on a more leisurely time,
but obviously still enjoyed themselves
very much. So 9 of our "stronger hikers"
set off up from the hut to join the Giant's
Cup Trail, our route being in the reverse
direction with a continuous climbing
height of about 600 metres and about an
8 km distance to Painters Cave which
has very good bushmen paintings as the
name suggests. In the heat there was
much sweating and heavy breathing as
we climbed higher and higher ,but we
saw many Eland on our route, from a
couple of groups of 4 to a group of over
30. We deviated from the trail before
reaching Langalibalele cave to the "off
the beaten track" picking up some minor
tracks later as we climbed further, even-
tually reaching the small rock tarn for
"upside-down" photos, then on to
We hiked to ...
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NEW YEAR @ BUSHMAN'S
NEK HUT
30 DEC 16 TO 2 JAN 17
Report and photos by LEADER
KEITH ASHTON We always have a good turn-
out for celebrating New Year from
Bushman's Nek Hut and this year
was no exception with 16 partici-
pants. Most were staying 3-nights
(allowing for 4 day hikes from this
base) and the rest staying 2-nights
Our participants were Rose Dix,
Anna Kapp, Christa Gadd, Margret
Kirsten, Saurabh Padwal and two
other friends from India (all living in
Johannesburg at the moment and
working on contracts with a cell
phone company), Marie Gurr,
Neville Walmsley, Rob Krogh, Linda
de Beer, Inky Daly, Eric Essenwein,
Helge Mehrtens (from Germany but
working in S.A. at the moment),
Margaret & Keith Ashton. Besides
our group, Steve Stott had phoned
me before we left home to ask if he
and his young family + brother &
wife could join us on a cave hike as
they were staying near-by at Silver
Streams Caravan/Camping park over
the festive season, so on the day we
hiked to Mystery Cave we had 22
hikers.
First Day 30 Dec 2016 (Climbing &
traversing a long lost Jeep track) As we had to arrive at Bush-
man(s Nek, complete the formalities
and then backpack to the hut, sort
ourselves out and wait for some later
arrivals, we had lunch at the hut and
then we set off on a scorching hot
day to first cross the Bushmans
River, then follow it upstream before
crossing it again to climb up the
route of a very old Jeep track. This
track was originally hand-built many
years ago to zig-zag upwards to a
very high point to allow the building
of a look-out hut with sleeping quar-
ters and for the transport of look-out
personnel and re-supplies when the
area was under the control of the De-
partment of Forestry. It was aban-
doned many years ago as a jeep track
and later became part of the old Gi-
ants Cup Trail before Bushman's Hut
was built and the last section of the
route changed and shortened. This
route now makes a very scenic hiking
route but is very rarely used. The
photos illustrate this interesting
route. Second Day 31 Dec 2016 - New
Year's Eve (To Mystery Cave con-
taining spectacular bushman
paintings)
Twin Rocks" for a group photo and a
shady rest. Not too long afterwards
we reached Painters cave where we
enjoyed lunch and filled our water
bottles from the lovely stream below
the cave. After our lunch and a well-
earned rest, we made our way back,
but on reaching an escarpment I sug-
gested another "off the beaten track"
route down a rock strewn valley to
Langalibalele cave (all of our hardy
hikers agreed to this for a bit more
adventure). After a while we reached
Langalibalele cave and did some ex-
ploring and climbing on the upper
reaches of the cave. Then we explored
some of the beautiful areas towards
Garden Castle including gullies and
magnificent waterfalls. After this we
returned to the hut for supper, social-
ising and a rest - again the photos il-
lustrate our day.
Fourth Day - 2 Jan 2017 - To
"Halfway Cave" which is also
known as "Slab Cave" or
"Fisherman's Cave" & lovely pools. Some of our group had to
leave fairly early in the morning for
home, but the rest of us were to have
a relatively easy hike which included
swimming in "Overhang Cave Pool"
and the big lovely pool beyond
"Halfway Cave", the cave being
named because it is half-way to
"Bushman's Cave" . Once inside be-
hind the big "Slab" (hence this alter-
native name for the cave), I chal-
lenged anyone in our group to crawl
and squeeze into the dark recess of the
mini-cave within the main cave.
Linda de Beer bravely took up the
challenge as I explained that I had
done it several times and she was not
to be outdone by an old pensioner.
Once at the big pool with the gushing
waterfall, we spent about an hour frol-
icking, cooling-off and getting mas-
sages from the tumbling waves. Here
we met Philip Grant with two Swiss
clients returning from "Tarn
cave" (first night) and "Bushman's
Cave" on their second night - the 3 of
them joined us for a long swim.
After another fantastic hike
with much enjoyment in the pools, we
returned to the hut, packed our back-
packs, said our goodbyes and returned
to the car park to drive home after an
excellent 4 days to celebrate New
Year.
Thanks to everyone in our
group for sharing the time, friendship,
good humour and camaraderie with
us.
" THE AMBERS" DAY HIKE
SUN 29 JAN 017
Report and photos
by Keith Ashton
This hike and venue proved to be
popular with club members. I had
over 20 requests but unfortunately,
as per the fixtures, I had to limit the
numbers to 12 (actually stretched to
13 as the last two people able to
book were a couple).
It was a beautiful sunny day
as our participants arrived at our
house in Amber Valley at 08h00 and
after all had signed the hike register,
we were off into the grassland areas
away from all the houses. We were
soon spotting several of our many
zebra, blesbok, impala, warthog,
duiker and reedbuck. We continued
along the fenceline between Amber
Valley and Amber Lee, eventually
reaching the bottom corner of Am-
ber Valley, then it was a steep climb
upwards over rough and uneven
ground following the perimeter, still
between Amber Valley and Amber
Lee until we reached higher ground
for a brief rest to view the beautiful
scenery all around us and into the
distance beyond Umgeni Valley.
From here we continued climbing
further, but more gently along the
perimeter between Amber Valley
and Kwa Wula; spotting more ani-
mals in both estates. Eventually we
reached the highest corner point in
Amber Valley which is adjacent to
Amber Ridge and at this point we
had a rest near the bench which Mar-
garet and I donated for the benefit of
Amber Valley residents (those of
course who are able to walk up to
this highest point).
It was then a descent down a
grassy track and eventually along the
grassed wall of the lovely Falcon
Dam which is stocked with trout,
courtesy of the Amber Valley Fish-
ing Club. After a detour around
some other grass tracks, we walked
along the banks of Falcon Dam and
it was pleasing to see many Egyptian
geese on the water surface with oth-
ers checking out one of the round
platforms anchored in the dam to
provide nesting spots. From here we
climbed up to the top fence-line be-
tween Amber Valley and Amber
Ridge. Shortly afterwards we en-
tered Amber Ridge to circumnavi-
gate their lovely estate which in-
cluded more climbing and
We hiked to ...
Page 5
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descending. Part of this route was
along the fence-line between Amber
Ridge and Kwa Wula where we were
able to view a healthy herd of blue wil-
debeest.
After exiting Amber Ridge we
re-entered Amber Valley and took a
very scenic route along a secluded val-
ley (Margaret and I call this the "Serval
Track" as a serval took up residence
here for about 3-months and we were
able to see it and photograph it during
our regular very early morning walks).
Part way along this route we had a
short rest and snacks next to a little
stream and waterfall. We were soon off
again behind the two lovely indoor
heated swimming pools and made our
way to the fence-line along Karkloof
Road which we followed until we
reached the Amber Valley main gate.
From here we took the perimeter route
alongside the servitude road and Um-
geni Valley Nature Reserve and even-
tually reached the pedestrian gate be-
tween Amber Valley and the road to
Amber Lee.(security card entrance
needed here). Then it was up the grass
alongside the road until we reached the
main entrance into Amber Lee (again
having to use my security card to gain
entry). Once inside Amber Lee, we did
a complete circumnavigation of the
property, seeing a couple of Nyala on
our route which included some quite
steep and rocky ascents and descents
before we stopped for lunch in a beau-
tiful spot under the shade of trees on
the banks of a lovely dam. Then it was
onwards to complete our circumnavi-
gation of Amber Lee, stopping en-
route to look at the lovely outdoor pool
and club house. We eventually re-
entered Amber Valley and made our
way back along the grass to our house
where we all enjoyed ice cold water
followed by tea and coffee and Marga-
ret's home made scones with jam, and-
date cake. Our route distance was
14.25 km and we climbed a total of
427 meters (these figures being accu-
rately recorded on my Garmin GPS).
The attached pictures illustrate parts of
our route. Thanks to all those who par-
ticipated and sorry to those members
who were too late to secure places.
BUSHMAN'S NEK HUT
30 DEC 16 TO 2 JAN 17
Page 6
We hiked to ...
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BUFFELSBOSCH HIKE – SUN-
DAY, 19TH FEBRUARY 2017.
Report by Libby Deysel;
Photos by John Fourie
“Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in
the midday sun”, but mad Natalians
go hiking in the pouring rain!! Suita-
bly kitted out with ponchos, anoraks
and umbrellas, ten Midlands hikers
namely Stabhile, Heather, Anita,
Julie, Debbie, Keith, Margaret, Linda,
Eric and Libby met John, our leader,
at Piggly Wiggly at 8.15 am. We
managed to squeeze into two cars to
drive the short distance to the start of
the hike on a farm in the Dargle.
I had imagined some serious
bundu bashing through long, wet
grass. However, we were pleasantly
surprised after having walked along a
farm road for a while to be led onto a
well-maintained grassy path which
John said had been specially prepared
for us. He did, however, later own up
to the fact that the farmer keeps the
path mown for his wife to ride her
horse. John showed us a stone wall
running for some distance along the
boundary which Linda correctly iden-
tified as having been built by the Ital-
ian Prisoners of War.
The rain was persistent and
quite heavy at times, but being the
eternal optimists we hoped that by 11
am the sun might have appeared.
There was mist on the hill tops, but
luckily we did not get enveloped by it
and were able to see the views. We
walked through parts of the farm
where many different species of pro-
teas were growing. There were some
beautiful Watsonias, Redhot Pokers
and a very delicate, pretty blue flower
identified by Margaret as an Aristea.
We sheltered at snack time in a lapa
overlooking Midmar.
The second part of the hike
was through a beautiful indigenous
forest. There was a natural spring
which was the source of water for the
farm. We did hear the call of monkeys
in the forest, but they kept out of
sight. There was also a sighting of a
buck as we left the forest, unidentified
as I only had a glimpse of the white
under its tail as it ran off into the
bush. Having left the forest, we were
back on the muddy road where our
boots were getting heavier and heav-
ier with the collection of mud. We
passed a large herd of very inquisitive
Brahman cattle who actually all gath-
ered at the fence to watch us as we
prepared for our departure in the
cars.
Many thanks to John for the
pleasant company and interesting
hike. Apologies to Stabhile if I have
spelt her name incorrectly!
Caracal Cave Highmoor Nature Reserve Central Drakensberg
25 – 26 February 2017 Report and photos by Dave Sclanders.
Another weekend of rather unsavoury weather forecasts for the berg, which
again saw to it that a once fully booked hike suddenly had a few gaps. Never-
theless, 8 of us met at Highmoor at the appointed time. The weather was beau-
tiful, the Giants Range was clear, and only a touch away and a myriad of small
flowers waved frantically for attention amongst the tall veld grasses. As we
crossed the first foot bridge we could see that due to the rains during the week,
the streams were running and dancing in sparkling white and blue, fast cool
and clear.
(Unfortunately – I did not notice that my camera setting had changed
when I put it back into the bag , so pictures 3 – 8 are fuzzy). Nevertheless, the
scenery was magnificent as far as one could see. A little later as we explored
around the old cattle kraal, a huge build-up of menacing and warning bad
weather clouds appeared over the Giant. Who had been pointing? For those
who do not know, there is an old African legend that says, “If you point at the
Giant, expect bad weather”. As the lack of drinking water is a problem at Ca-
racal cave, we stopped on our way to take on extra water for the rest of the day
and for Sunday. The view of the valley below was right up to Centenary Hut –
if you knew where to look!!.
After lunch we went North along an old forgotten path to see where
the cave was that we were to reach the next morning. This cave was unknown,
I had seen 2 years ago and had planned to come back one day and investigate..
We soon saw it down the valley and across the river. It was decided to go
down the valley to the river and see if the cave could be accessed from our
side. However, on getting down towards the river, it was apparent that the
river valley was very deep and steep, and that some mountaineering with ropes
would be needed to get into the cave from the river bed, or from the top of the
ridge above the cave. So, that was that, Sunday was suddenly over.
Some hikers decided to head back to the cave, and some decided to
carry on along the ridge for a while. On the way back, we saw that the Giant
and the whole escarpment was now under a threatening rain storm, and as it
started to drizzle, the wandering group arrived back at the cave, just in time .
Well, the rain came, the mist came, the temperature dropped, and very
soon we were all in our sleeping bags, listening to Margaret rendering
her version of that old story of “Albert and the Lion”. Next morning we woke to a very heavy misty and wet world. We en-
joyed a slow breakfast, and packed up slowly hoping that the mist might start
to clear. But nothing changed so it was decided to head for the cars and get an
early start home for lunch.
It is not much fun hiking in thick mist, the most important point is to
stay on the path, and not look for short cuts along the way and to keep your
group close together.
As we had hiked out to the cave on a slightly different route on Satur-
day morning, some of the first time hikers felt a bit lost once we joined the
path where we had not walk the day before. However, the old cairn on the way
put a few minds at rest.
The noise of the river that we had crossed on the old footbridge
was loud in the gloom of the mist, and once on the bridge, the view upstream that had been so pretty the day bveforer, was now a totally different
setting.
Back at the cars, wet clothes were swopped for dry, soggy boots and
hiking gear put into plastic bags, stuffed into the car trunks, and we
were on our way home.
Fort Nottingham Common
KZN Midlands
5 February 2017
Report and photos by
Dave Sclanders.
A large group of day hikers booked
their spots for this new hike, so much
so that I had to put some “would be”
hikers onto a waiting list.
The weather on the day was not
good, the long range forecast was not
good and it was right. Anyway, we all
met at the appointed time and place and
discussed the weather. We decided if it
was ugly, or looked to be ugly, we
would abort the hike and call an early
end to the day, but would give it a go.
Then a convoy of vehicles set
off to Fort Nottingham to meet at Roy
and Val Tabernor’s restaurant, Els Am-
ics, Fort Nottingham.
With everyone kitted out, we
set off for the forest where a steep
climb up the hill using an old loggers
route through the forest towards the
summit started. Early going was diffi-
cult as the brambles had grown consid-
erably in the spring. However, steady
progress was made, and soon we were
out of the forest and finding our way up
a valley covered in tall veld grass,
brambles in patches and only the odd
antelope track to follow. Considering
the overcast weather, the views along
the way were great, and the cool air
kept the heavy breathing down. The
long stretched out line of hikers all en-
joyed the walk and chatted away, not
really taking into consideration where
they were going to or through—it was a
happy sight.
After crossing a second fence
we eased up towards the crest where a
tea stop was planned. On the flatter
more open, and heavily grazed veld,
patches of bright yellow veld flowers
made a very colourful statement.
We reached the “tea hill” , and
sat down for a break, and from here we
could see across a long wide valley the
clump of trees that I was hoping to get
to, to have lunch. However a change in
the wind sort of made me change my
mind and quickly set us off further up
the hill and along the fence-line, and
from there we could see into the next
valley, and down onto the Spring Grove
dam. While looking at the dam, we
could see the Kamberg Hill as well as
the high berg from Kamberg across
towards Lotheni, and the sight was not
good.
Huge black rain clouds were
Page 7
We hiked to ...
GO TO: www.gohiking.co.za
sea sheets of rain falling and heading in
our direction. So, after a quick delibera-
tion, it was decided to abandon the rest
of the walk and head down back to Els
Amics. Raincoats were put on, back
packs covered, and we set off. Unfortu-
nately, in rainy situations, cameras are
put away so no pictures of us “walking
in the rain” were taken, although I must
confess that I did not hear anyone
“singing the rain”. At a point on the
way down, the rain stopped, so it was
raincoats off, but a bit later they were
on again.
We arrived back at the cars
early, but wet and cold. Dry clothes had
been brought so hasty changes into
warm clothes was done, and it was
home for lunch. As we left Fort Not-
tingham, the rain really came down and
the area we were to have hiked in was
covered in a very heavy blanket of mist.
It would not have been much fun to be
out there at that time. Cold, rainy,
misty, but hopefully not “where are
we ?”
Caracal Cave Highmoor
25/26 February
Ha Ha Ha Ha HAHAHAHA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA hAhAhAhA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA hA hA hA hA ha ha HA ha ha ha HA ha ha ha HA ha ha ha HA ha hahahaha hahahaha hahahaha
Page 8
YOUR OUTDOOR CARTOONS
YOUR OUTDOOR LIBRARY
YOUR OUTDOOR MOVIES
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What would induce hundreds of people from all over the world to spend thousands of
dollars each and two weeks of their lives just to run a marathon in Antarctica? Espe-
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