I got up early to a lovely healthy breakfast of porridge and wholemeal toast with honey. That should set me up for the long hike I’m going on today. The owner had planned out a walk for us that he said would take about 6 hours. I hike for 6 hours most weekends, so thought it would be a fairly easy walk. The hostel owner Quinton drove us to the national park entrance then at the last minute decided to join us on the walk. I still had a bit of a cold but couldn’t not go walking in Drakensberg, it’s too beautiful. I was wrong about the easy walk! We set off uphill and continued uphill for a couple of hours. We walked almost 1000 meters then stopped off for lunch. Quinton hadn’t brought any lunch so I ended up sharing my lunch with him.
There was an add on to the walk to go to blind mans corner for a great view. We set off thinking it wouldn’t take long but it felt like it lasted forever. It turns out it was longer than the walk we had already done. We kept asking people where it was and they kept saying it was just round the corner. About 20 long corners later, we got there. The views had been amazing all the way up, and this view was no different really, I guess the name ‘Blind Man’s Corner’ should have been a giveaway that the guy couldn’t see anything! That’s a bit harsh, it was actually stunning the whole walk.
We headed back and we eventually got back to the lunch stop and started the long steep decent down. It lasted for so long and was such hard work; I didn’t feel like we would ever get back. I felt quite safe walking in the national park as we kept seeing helicopters flying ahead, and we knew that the national park knew our route and wouldn’t be able to close until we had got back.
We eventually got back as it was getting dark, about 6:05pm, and the park shuts at 6pm. I’ve never been so relived to finish a walk. I was shaking a bit as I was so hungry. It was the longest and probably hardest walk I’ve ever done, up a mountain, and about 14 miles. The scenery was stunning and it was such a peaceful day. I got some great photos. We then had a lovely meal and another early night. I could definitely get used to this lifestyle, but unfortunately I have to leave. Wish I could stay here forever.
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South Africa Blog: Horse riding in the Drakensberg/ Geckos in Durban: Sun 14th Aug | South Africa Travel Guide says:
November 22, 2010 at 4:39 pm (UTC 0)
[...] I felt fine after yesterday’s strenuous activities on my 9 hour hike in the Drakensburg Mountains in South Africa, so I decided to squeeze in a bit of horse riding, as my bus doesn’t leave until [...]
South Africa Blog: Horse riding in the Drakensberg/ Geckos in Durban: Sun 14th Aug | South African Travels says:
November 22, 2010 at 5:14 pm (UTC 0)
[...] a comment Today I felt fine after yesterday’s strenuous activities on my 9 hour hike in the Drakensburg Mountains in South Africa, so I decided to squeeze in a bit of horse riding, as my bus doesn’t leave until [...]