With the
festivities of 2005 being almost vague memories already, I hope and trust that
each and everyone of you had a very enjoyable time with friends and family. I and your committee wish you all a happy
and fulfilling 2006, and most important
of all GOOD HEALTH and many achieved
goals. Remember ACHEIVEMENTS are only
Goals that have been set, and done.
Hopefully one of your goals this year is to share time with your fellow
club members on at least 3 outings during the year.
The club events
that have been held in the past few months have been well attended, thanks to
all who have supported our leaders, and I am sure that the day was well worth
spent. The highlight of our activities
was no doubt the Club’s Xmas party at Mark and Mary’s delightful farm
house. A very good turnout of members,
wonderful weather, and enjoyable interaction with everyone made this an
incredible day. Thanks to the
helpers Keith and Margaret. In our midst we have some incredibly
talented “war cry composers and performers”.
Give them ONE word, and 30 minutes of practice, and the most incredible
moments are performed. Those who could
not come for the day missed out - again. Special mention to Mother Xmas and the
incredibly lovely “fairy helper”.
Thanks again to Mark and Mary for a wonderful day, well planned and
executed.
The new agenda is
out with this Newsletter, and it is gratifying to see how many of the events
are already booked up. Don’t Snooze or
you could loose out on an event of a lifetime. Remember, these trips are incredible value for money. Your leader does all the work, the
research, the planning, the advertising, the booking, the paying – once your
money has been collected – No Money – No Go, the leading, everything. All you need to do is get fit, and put your
name down. Where can you get a better
offer than that.?????
We have spoken
about the Club Website at the past meetings, and our Incredible Webmaster, Rod
Hart has done a huge amount of work on the old site – in the past, and now on
our NEW web site. This has taken a
huge amount of time and effort.
On March the 7th,
at our Social, Rod will be launching the site officially to the club
members. However I would urge you to
help and support Rod in his task, visit the site from time to time , it is
under construction and is growing and growing.
Look at it, read it, and if you
have constructive suggestions to make, please contact Rod. Back seat drivers, should be “Buckled up,
and quiet”. The website has a very easy and catchy name to remember - www.mhc.co.za
Thanks to Rod and
his family for this powerful tool that our club has to offer anyone who may
love the outdoors. We ask you to spread the word to your friends
and family, and tell them to visit the site. One day you may be on it.
New Members, the
club keeps growing , and we welcome the following who have joined since
November: Linda Bruss , Kirsten Nieser
, Lyn Gissing , Johannes Becker , Henry and Christine Bro, Dick and Wendy
Gurney, Rory and Faye Balfour, Chris Dobson, Devlin Nossiter. As we have
said in the past we look forward to hiking and sharing the outdoors with you.
Your leaders are
there to help you, don’t feel shy to ask anything you may want to know about a
hike, or kit or anything. Being
better prepared makes the trip more enjoyable.
Club Evenings – we
have a variety of events planned for the next few months, so please diarise
these, and support us, and the presenters, on these evenings.
Time passes very
quickly, this next hiking calendar takes us to the middle of May – where does
the time go ???? Book it – do it.
See you at the
club, or on a hike. Dave
CHRISTMAS
PARTY – 4 December 2005
Our Xmas party at Mark and Mary’s Karkloof farm A delightful
setting full of beauty and salad charm The weather was beautiful if rather hot We (41) all found (or made) shade just like a shot Five teams were we (Boat, Camp, Cave, Sock and Tent) and a war cry was
our goal Time was brief and each of us had to play a role The war cries were entertaining and some hikers let their hair down Our small mature group managed to gain
first crown The judges were kind and had something to say About “outstanding” characters in each little play Oh what fun to sleep in a CAVE.
Yeah! To do so you need to be daft or very brave. Yeah! Your bones aren’t shaped to fit on the ground. Yeah!
You spend all night turning and tossing around. Yeah! Creepy crawlies of all sizes are there by the score. Yeah! If you are not
extra careful you’ll be very sore. Yeah! The sounds of the night will keep you awake. Yeah! And the cold will make your bones shiver and shake. Yeah! |
Irene Morris To sleep in a cave you must be mad. Yeah! But it’s a wonderful experience most hikers have had. Yeah! When the braai fires were ready we all crowded around Besides the delicious aroma lively chatter was the only sound Orienteering was next on the programme, all over the place Some of the energetic ones set a running pace Riding on the foofie slide or swimming in the dam Made a pleasant cool interval before a nice tea, crumpets, cream and
jam Father Christmas (Pat K) arrived with “his” gentle fairy wife (Bushy) And numbers were called out amid laughter and friendly strife Presents of all sorts were bandied around And the party really got off the ground Troublesome, boxes of chocolates and wine often exchanged “homes” But a little lonely purple candle never far did it roam It was a truly fantastic way to end our year Our sincere thanks, love and best wishes and to all good cheer |
LAUNCH
OF THE CLUB’S NEW WEBSITE - MARCH
SOCIAL EVENING
www.mhc.co.za - This is
the address for Midlands Hiking Club's new look Website. Current and archived newsletters and fixture
lists are published on the site together with photo reports, photo of
the month and the new exciting feature of having an index of trail reports.
GOHIKING with MIDLANDS HIKING CLUB!
WEDDING BELLS
Congratulations to Activities Organiser Irene Dickin and Mark Wisdom on
their marriage on
14 January. We wish you both
many years of happiness together. See
you on the next hike!
WISHING A SPEEDY
RECOVERY
To our members on the “Not so well” list - we wish mountain man Chairman
Dave rapid healing of his injured foot tendon as also Iain Talbot and Bushy
Kirby, may you all soon be hiking once more in our company.
SWEETWATERS COTTAGE : DRAK GARDENS
5/6 November 2005 Roseanne
Dix
Keith and Margaret
Ashton; Peter and Christine Connolly; Rob Krogh; Hettie Randall;
Tony Moreno; Dan and Rose Dix.
It was indeed a dark and rainy night as we drove up to
Keith and Margaret’s beautiful cottage at Drakensberg Gardens on Friday. Being welcomed with a cup of the most
delicious gluwein was a wonderful prelude to one of our best hiking week-ends .
Being ..um..”seasoned hikers”… we didn’t allow the
rather gloomy weather forecast to dampen our spirits, so bright and early on
Saturday morning, we parked our vehicles where the Giants Cup Trail meets the
road and set off to climb Bamboo
Mountain – our goal being the Dinosaur Footprints, a hike of 8kms with a climb
of 550m. The hike up is easy with so
many beautiful little surprises around each bend in the path. The mist shrouded the hills as we ascended
so we had to use our imagination to conjure up views of Garden Castle and
Little Bamboo Mountain. On the way,
Keith found traces of the Petrified
Forest – a very impressive log turned into stone – I think most of us have
walked through this amazing site without realising it .
Having reached our destination of the Footprints, we
enjoyed a well earned lunch, but unfortunately couldn’t climb to the top of
Bamboo, because by now the mist was rolling in thickly up the valley. Keith took us down a shortcut which was
extremely exciting because it felt as though we were treading where no one had
trodden before ..(well, that’s how my imagination works!.) The descent was very
steep and slippery but the scenery really awesome with enormous rocky outcrops
falling away into deep valleys green with tree ferns. Descending that way saved
a whole 4kms, which gave us far more time to socialise and enjoy the welcome
comforts of “home”.
Sunday dawned cold and very, very wet, but a few brave
souls dragged on soggy sox and boots and once again set off – this time a
really easy, extremely pretty, walk to Three Pools, where we could indulge the
senses with the sight of beautiful little waterfalls and deep dark
emerald pools ..... a peace-filled place.
Before we could go any further, the rain came pelting down and thunder
battered the hills around us as we hot-footed it back, a sudden hail storm
swirled around us.
It is a moving experience to be walking through these
conditions, as one’s whole focus narrows to oneself and one’s surrounds and
makes one conscious of our insignificance in the general scheme of things.
A truly meditative moment – IF one can stop that wee
small voice from saying “Hope those hailstones don’t get any bigger”
Thank you Keith and Margaret for a lovely weekend,
filled with fun and laughter and thank you for inviting me to write this
article.
DAY HIKE TO ROCK
ART CAVES, KAMBERG
16 November
2005
Peter Wedge
A party of 8 hikers
undertook this quite spectacular hike on Sunday 16 November. Alison Gunning was the leader and we had the
following people in the group:
Allison – Leader; Teresa; Kirsten; Fiona; Antoinette; Linda; Bea and Peter
Wedge.
This was an unusual hike
in that it was Alison’s debut as a leader (she passed with flying colours!) and
a first hike with a sole male in the party.
Peter feeling a bit daunted with seven ladies – some with recent mini
traverse experience under their belts – but hikers are hikers – boys or girls! Linda was the new boy (girl) and clearly is
a new potential member.
Peter and Bea arrived at
Kamberg Camp – about 11/4 hours from Howick with no-one
in sight but the rest of the small party arrived 5 minutes later so we were off
by 09h00.
The Kamberg, as the
Afrikaans name implies, represents a cocks comb and the mountain is really
KZN’s answer to Japan’s Fujiyama!
The hike from a point
within 1 km from the Kamberg Camp starts fairly easily and then a degree of climbing
begins after about 3 kms. Our
objective was one of the Rock Art caves and technically we should have had a
guide but there didn’t appear to be any such person readily available so we
decided to find the cave ourselves armed with a good ordinance survey map and
clear instructions from Dave Sclanders.
After about 5 kms we came
across a cottage in total demolition mode – well almost. Remnants of a bathroom
remained with an incongruous “bog” still installed. We took a photo of
Theresa suitably enthroned which will soon be on the website! Nice one Theresa!
Further up the track we
came across Mary Clover’s old family cottage – again in similar disarray, but
its amazing how quickly nature reclaims her own.
Presumably KZN wildlife
prefer to keep evidence of human habitation for future generations. It doesn’t really look out of place –
particularly when it starts to become overgrown and veldt and forest begin to
take over.
We stopped for a snack
break atop a nice rocky outcrop with good views of the steepening valley
contours. We came across the main cave
after about 3½ hours. This is big and
is quite dramatic with a big overhang and very clear and well-defined Bushman
paintings.
We started for home down
the slope to the river (Mooi) and halfway down Bea spotted a pair of Cape
clawless otters cavorting in one of the pools. This was an incredible bonus for us all. These are quite large animals – possibly 1m
in length and very handsome with a white breast and long surprisingly slender
tail. We watched them for fully 10
minutes – they were apparently oblivious of us but the closest we could get to
them was about 25m. Alison took several digi photos which we all
hoped would show some details of these delightful and elusive
creatures. (Regretably, these photos were not good!)
The route down the valley
seemed quicker than the ascent (why is this?) and we arrived back at the cars
just as serious rain began – we had encountered a few spits and spots with
about 4 kms to go.
The route to the cave and
back we estimated at 15 kms with grade 2 for the valley ascent and descent with
a few grade 3 interludes.
A great day with the otter
sighting making it memorable for us all. This hike should be considered for an annual event.
WISHING
EVERYONE MANY HAPPY HIKING HOURS IN 2006
HOWICK MEANDER
Sunday 20 November
2005. Jack Long
LEADER: Aris Hofland
Hikers: Libby, Tessa, Joan, Glynnis, Barbara,
Sally, Selwyn, Graham and Jack
I was looking
forward to this hike as an opportunity to show off the beauty of the area in
which we live. Unfortunately, there
weren’t many to show it off to and they had all seen it before.
However, it was a
happy group that set off from outside the museum to our first stop – a look at
the falls from the view site. We then
proceeded to the start of the gorge walk.
It is wonderful that such a beautiful walk should be so close to the
centre of Howick. On reaching that
section of the path near the river before it turns sharp right to cross the
rustic bridge, we went to a view site on the bank of the river. In my opinion, this affords the most
spectacular view of all.
After viewing the
falls we returned to the cars and proceeded to the top of Lakeview Road to
climb Beacon Hill. By this time it was
starting to get very hot and we were relieved to reach the top where we were
rewarded with a cool breeze. The view
from the top was stupendous. Someone
remarked how more so it would have been if the dam had been overflowing. After a longer return walk through the
wattle plantation, we drove to Aris’s house.
Here we were greeted by a smiling Cina with a wonderful wonderful spread
of eats and cool drinks set out on tables in their beautiful garden. After a relaxing chat we walked down to the
river.
The river walk is
a very beautiful part of Howick and is well maintained by the residents’
conservancy.
After a pleasant
picnic lunch on the banks of the river, we returned to the Deysel’s house in
Umgeni Road where we enjoyed the generous and much appreciated hospitality of
Libby and Ossie.
MARY’S
COTTAGE
25-27 November 2005
Hettie Randall
.
Mary Clover, Mark Nellist, Keith and Margaret Ashton, Hildegaard Lenz,
Irene Dicken, Hettie Randall, Grethe Simkiss, Graham Cullinan, Brian Henwood,
Bushy and Pat Kirby.
Mary's cottage is highly spoken of and for good reason. It is on the fringe of the most spectacular
peaks, one feels within arm’s length of the best! I managed to get a lift from Karkloof with Mary joined by Irene
and Hildergaard. Mark followed up
later. When we arrived at the cottage
early evening, we were met by Margaret and Keith, Grethe and Graham who had
travelled up early on Friday morning and already had a 13km hike to the Blue
Grotto under the belt and seemed very relaxed with it!
In the morning we were
joined by Brian around 08:00 and half an hour later we left the cottage, “to do
a round the top hike” which, after such a good night’s sleep, I cheerfully
acknowledged sounded good. Ignorance
is bliss. We walked from the cottage
going southwards on a lower contour track until we could see Champagne Castle
Hotel in the valley below us, looking east to west, were "Matterhorn"
(1995m) and "Maartens" and further west was "The Sphinx". Flowers, flowers and flowers everywhere,
oh what a sight!
At just over 2km from the
cottage, we turned right to do the "Hlathikulu Loop" and hiked
through several sections of lovely indigenous forest. After the loop we crossed over the Sterkspruit, backtracked on
the south side of the river and climbed upwards to join Keartland's Pass. It was terribly hot and humid and sure
enough the distant rumble of thunder warned us that the weather forecast of
rain was accurate and on its way. The
Pass seemed to go on forever, steeper and steeper and then we were climbing in
torrential rain with hail until we joined the track above the Sphinx. We reached the contour track at Blind
Man’s Corner and took a much needed lunch break under the trees at a picnic
spot below Sterkhorn. We were all
drenched and I was exhausted! It felt
like 20 minutes later and as if my dripped on sandwich was still trying to
cross the gap between my mouth and stomach when our leader, flailing her red
cape, got us all onto our feet and marched us back up past Blind Man’s Corner
northwards along the contour track, below "The Turret" and
"Amphletts" to Hhlatikulu Nek.
Taking the right fork
north-westwards at this point towards the "V", we then continued in
the same direction to the top of the steep Makhulumane Valley (about 7.5 km
from Blindman’s Corner). We were
moving at what felt like a slow jog, the path now a running river between my
feet, was a blur. I had left the lunch
stop ahead of Margaret and Hildegaard, purely because that’s how we shot out the
bottleneck and after some distance, I stopped to catch my breath. Looking back, I had the blazes scared out of
me! Along came Margaret, clad in
nought but her costume and a herdsman’s staff, looking like some apparition of
the “Keeper of the Hlatikulu Nek track”, striding towards me with a mean
look. The adrenalin took me forward
and onwards, all I could do was to weakly keep asking Keith how much further,
getting a cheerful “only 4kms” – not what I wanted to hear, as reply, as I
stumbled after the crazed roadrunner in the red cape ahead.
The storm was now at our
back, with lightening cutting across the sky threateningly and the clock
obviously not on our side. We finally
descended steeply into the Makulumane Valley and through a lovely indigenous forest,
past the largest cabbage tree in the world – I have a photo to prove it, then
past Makhulumane Rock (pronounced MacLamonie by Keith, who challenged me to
climb to the top and have my photo taken – with what strength I asked!) - and
finally back to the cottage. It was
18:00 and 23.3kms later. I would never
have believed I could do it. It took
my legs two days to recover!
Sunday was cloudy and cold,
Mary, Mark, Brian, Grethe, Graham, Bushy and Pat (who had arrived on Saturday
morning and spent a leisurely day waiting for us (long wait!)), took a slow
walk around looking at the adjoining properties while Irene, Margaret and Keith
went for a hike up Steilberg doing about 9km, (there’s no stopping some
people). Hildegaard and I curled up in
the big leather couches, sipping Capuccino and reading magazines, occasionally
looking out at the beautiful, cold and windy view.
A really great weekend with
very good company, all well out of my league but I’ll get there! Mini Traverse here I come!
Thank you Keith for map points and distances.