Table Mountain

We were undecided as to whether to hike up Table Mountain or take the cable car but the decision was made for us as the cable car was not running due to high winds. It  was a perfect day for climbing to the top with clear blue skies but a chilly wind. We scrambled up a steep path through the interesting fynbos heath, a flora unique to the south African cape.

We contoured around under the upper cliffs of Table Mountain on a narrow path.

Then we climbed steeply up the Platteklip Gorge on a zig zag path that kept going up and up.

Finally after 2 hours of hiking, we popped out on the flat rocky top of the mountain. The views of Cape Town far below we're absolutely stunning and definitely worth the hike up. It was only 5C on top but warm enough in the winter sun if we bundled up a bit.

Our timing was impeccable as we were able to catch the only cable car of the day down. They had done a test cable car run up but it was still too windy to operate the cable car. However, the cable car operator invited us to join him on the journey back down so on we hopped for the 5 minute ride down. Our knees were very thankful to not have to do the steep descent and it gave us more time to explore this great city.

Cape Town

We arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, after 5 days of sailing on calm seas all the way from St. Helena. The stunning view of Cape Town nestled below the aptly named Table Mountain were especially poignant after so long at sea. We had seen no land and only one ship in all those 5 days on board the RMS, St. Helena is certainly a very remote island! It was quite the procedure to get into port with a pilot coming on board to guide the RMS in and tug boats to help manoeuver the ship to the dock but at least this time we could disembark down a gangplank directly onto the dock rather than being shuttled by boat to shore.

We are staying in a small house in De Waterkant, a very old but now quite chic quarter of town, with tiny colourful houses clinging to the steep hillside.

We wondered over to the nearby Bo-Kaap Muslim quarter with brightly painted houses and mosques.

Then we strolled down town and through the company gardens, a green oasis in a bustling city that use to be the vegetables garden for the early Dutch colony.

To see the city, we boarded the open top red double decker buses of the hop on hop off city bus tour. We stopped at Table Mountain which will feature in our next post, the lovely white sandy beach of Campers Bay

Strolled along the promenade at Sea Point and Green Point

And wondered through the fashionably redeveloped Waterfront

And even held hands with Nelson Mandela, one of four South Africans to receive the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.

Life on board RMS

We are now on the third day of our five day voyage to Cape Town. We thought we would have plenty of time to relax, read and generally chill out but life on board the RMS is action packed.

There are morning deck games of deck cricket, quoits or shuffleboard; afternoon quizzes; documentaries on the islands and countries the RMS calls at;

cocktail parties hosted by the captain;

a visit to the bridge;

and not to mention the 5 meals per day: cooked breakfast; elevensies with beef tea; 3 course lunch; afternoon tea of sandwiches with crust cut of, biscuits and cake; and finally a formal 7 course dinner where ties and jackets must be worn.

this wasn't in my job description

A must do on St. Helena is to visit the Governors Residence and it is not to see the splendid pastel green Georgian house with extensive lawns but rather what resides on the grounds.

The star attraction is Jonathan, the 184 year old giant tortoise and his three friends. And he did not disappoint striding purposefully towards us, all be it slowly and with many breaks.

While we were admiring this mammoth dinosaur creature, the new governor of St. Helena came over to chat to us with pears to feed Jonathan, "this wasn't in my job description" she says!

The Epic Hike

On our first full day on the island we wanted to climb up Diana's Peak, the highest point on the island but we landed up doing much more! We started by walking along the narrow twisty roads through the pastoral fields of the interior. We then climbed up through the tropical forest of the central mountain. As we climbed up Diana's Peak we were in mist but when we got to the summit the cloud lifted and we had marvelous views in all directions - from the newly built and yet to open airport runway with precipitous drops at either end, across green fields to rock fortifications and down to the volcanic pillar of Lot on the south coast. These views inspired the epic hike that followed circumnavigating a good portion of the island. This tiny little island, in the middle of the Atlantic and thousands of miles from any land, packs in a wide variety of biomes and we must have hiked through them all in this one day.

St. Helena has many endemic plants that are barely hanging on in the face of the introduced and invasive plants such as flax that was a main industry on the island for many years. I, of course, was excited to see the weird and wonderful plants of tree ferns, he- and she-cabbage and several more besides.

St. Helena has a long history and on this day we visited many site of historic interest. The Boer War POW camp and Boer Cemetery; Longwood pavilion where Napoleon stayed in exile; and coastal fortifications.

From Longwood we hiked out across the grasslands of Deadwood Plane in search of the endemic wirebird and quickly found it scurrying amongst clumps of grass and flying with its gangly long legs trailing behind. There are only 300 or 400 birds left in the world and they are only found in a few isolated spots on the island.

Then it was on up to Flagstaff peak and views down the precipitous cliffs to the sea 2000ft below. From there we walked along a ridge top down to sugar loaf peak past a desert valley full of prickly pears peppered with purple fruit.

Onward we hiked, contouring around the coastal cliffs from valley to valley on old military tracks that use to connect the headland forts.

And finally we had the long climb back up Jacobs Ladder and the steep roads above back to our lodgings and a well deserved beer.

Jamestown, Capital of St. Helena

Wedged between the steep sides of a volcanic valley is the capital of St. Helena, Jamestown, and our arrival point on the island. A lovely little town, only two streets wide and lined with colourfully painted Georgian buildings and reminiscent of a country village of a by gone era with post office, grocery stores, pubs and hotels lining the high street.

High above Jamestown is the town of Half Tree Hollow and connecting the two is the famous Jacobs Ladder. Originally a funicular railway to transport goods the 700ft from sea level to cliff top. We climbed the 699 steps of the ladder each day to our accommodation in the interior of the island.

We stayed at Princes Lodge, once the Bishop of St. Helena's residence, with a wide veranda and commanding views of the Atlantic Ocean 1500ft below.

The harbour side of Jamestown is protected by a moat and thick castle wall and gate, ostensibly to keep out invading forces but in more recent years has saved the town from flooding from high seas. Along the castle wall is an open air swimming pool. The 33m length, we suspect, is an artifact of the space available as much as anything. As with Ascension Island it was on our tick list to swim in the pool and we managed to squeeze in a 1/2 hour swim while waiting to reboard the RMS at the end of our all too short stay on St. Helena.