Day 4 in Cape Town

Today we spent the morning at the "Saturday Neighborhood Goods Market"; to get there, we walked through an older Muslim neighborhood; most of the architecture was vintage 1900-2910. The market itself was an amazing assortment of foods from around the world, fabrics, clothing, jewelry, etc. I would have been happy to stay all day, but nobody else in the group likes to shop, boo-hoo!

After lunch and a short rest, we tackled Lion's Head, which is the rocky precipace across from Table Mountain, a 2195-ft rise! It is called Lion's Head because it is part of a rocky structure that roughly looks like a resting lion, with a raised head. (yes, I know, it doesn't really look like a lion, but the "head" is on the left in this view, and the "tail" is on the right.)

Even though we started the walk at 4 PM, it was hot - 86 when we started, no shade most of the way. The trail started out as a wide path, but evolved into walking on mostly flat rocks, to edging along ledges to scrambling over boulders near the top. There were two 10-foot ladders to climb on the sheerest of the rock faces, and three-fourths of the way up, the trail divided into the "long" way around (more scrambling), OR you could hoist yourself up via chains and handholds. Three of our group chose the chain route, but Karyn and I took the longer way.



Ken, Barb, Karyn on Lion's Head (I'm standing on a rock)



The hike took four hours total, and I lost my gardening hat on the way.  It was grueling - I'm exhausted  tonight, and my calf muscles are killing me. Tomorrow we are going to the Kirstenbosch Gardens (a botanical garden) and  3 of us will tackle another tough hike (not for me - I'll spend the day in the Gardens, perhaps will buy another hat!)