“Will I be able to see much from the top?”. “No” replied the receptionist at the B&B. There was no doubt in her voice; years of
answering that same question enabled her to give a confident answer. It was quite a nice crisp day, but a layer of
cloud enveloped the upper levels of the mountain. It wasn’t going to lift.
Cape Town would have to be one of the most dramatic settings
for a large urban centre that I have been in.
The wild ocean belts into the coastline and the inhabitants chose to
build their community in the small terrace between the raging sea and the foot
of the mountain. It was my second trip
to Cape Town, after a previous weekend spent touring the peninsula and enjoying
the wineries of Stellenbosch. But this
time I bought my running gear.
I looked up at the massive hill looming above us. I knew there was a cable car that carried visitors
all the way up. But apparently there was
also a trail that would get me to the top: Platteklip Gorge. I say apparently, because it just doesn’t
seem possible when you examine Table Mountain from the city. It almost appears to be vertical from half
way up.
The Platteklip trail begins just next to the cable car
station (at about 360m). I was staying up
the top of Kloof Street and it was a short taxi ride to the cable car
station. The trail starts out at a
reasonable gradient and eventually becomes quite steep, carving its way
diagonally up the gorge that you can’t really see from the bottom. In total, it’s about 3km with a vertical of
about 700m. For me it was a fast hike,
rather than a run. I was passed by a guy
in VFF skipping from rock to rock up the trail.
Impressed, I left him to it and continued my grind up the switchbacks and
steps. Locals regard the Platteklip
trail as a bit soft. It has been climbed
for centuries and is probably the most direct route to the top, but there are
more challenging ways of doing it.
According to a traveller in 1634: “Myself
and 2 others went up by the great opening which the hill makes, being like a
valley but wondrous steep, the rocks on each side upright like monstrous walls,
from which there is a continual distilling water.”
The temperature dropped as the mists surrounded the heights of
the mountain at about 1060m. There was a
fair amount of water coming down the trail, which in the winter turns into a solid
flow. Arriving at the top and looking
back to Cape Town, I couldn’t see a thing.
I went exploring and found some trails to follow in the hope of finding
a break in the mist so I could capture a glimpse of what would have been a
stunning outlook on a good day. I
wandered around, placing some rocks on the cairns, but after getting colder I decided to descend. It was a
great trip down, a lot of steps (1800 I understand) and a bit technical but
easy enough to get a flow on.
Others were taking on the Platteklip that day. I came across a group attired
in what seemed more appropriate for going out to dinner. I noticed a guy’s leather soled lizard skin
shoes and wondered how he was coping with the moist rocks on this fairly solid
climb. He may have been a local who had
been doing the trail for years, showing his disdain for the ease of the route.
On reaching the bottom, I felt like I needed more and headed
down the road back towards town to the track up to Lion’s Head. Lion’s Head is lower than Table
Mountain at 670m, but closer to town. There’s
some chain ladder work to get to the top, but when you reach the summit, it
offers stunning and immediate views of the coastline, the city and Robben
Island just out to sea.
This was a great way to experience the drama of Cape Town’s
setting. A perfect way to end a day like
that would have been to go down to the coast and have a swim, but I ran out of
time. The trail running community of
this city are blessed with the resources available to them so close to town. 