Myburgh's Ravine is not described in many hiking books because it is a dangerous route in the Cape's wet winters. But in the summer, when most of the Cape Peninsula looks extremely parched, perennial water drips down the craggy cliffs to nourish the moss and ferns and other plants, and you'll find many folks clambering up the rocks to see the Disa Uniflora thriving in this small, damp ravine.
On Friday, while Tim was hard at work,I persuaded my long ago hiking friend, Peter Rex, to lead me up the ravine. You would never guess Peter's age the way he scrambles up cliffsides and over boulders as sure footed as a rock rabbit. At 78 he puts me to shame. Peter and I met twenty years ago when we were neighbours for a short while. In those days, if there was ever a difficult hike I wanted to try, I'd ask for Peter's expert guidance. It was very pleasant to be able to pick up on our old friendship again. Photo below shows the steep ravine walls on the left, Peter in the middle and some Disas on the right.You'll have to double click on the photo to see it in a decent size - I can't manage to work out how to get a collage to look as big as a single photo.
One more photo from last week - the four students who came to supper on Wednesday evening with Claire Gibson, their R/A, and Mary Simons, UCT lecturer in Political History of South Africa for the previous program's students. Mary wasn't feeling well and left before this photo was taken.
So there you have, from the left, Andrew Linford, Claire Gibson, Tom McAndrew, Tim, Craig Dabney and Jonathan Rich. It was Jon's birthday so we celebrated with some candles and a big carrot cake!
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