We are mostly blessed with sunny days and rain here and there when hiking in the Berg but our luck ran out on this particular weekend. The forecast was cloudy with light rain showers here and there in the afternoon and we had a foretaste of things to come when driving to Bushman's Nek on an incredibly muddying wet road. The water is streaming everywhere with nowhere to go as the ground is so saturated. Ever hopeful we gathered and after a bit of debate between the choice of a dry, warm and chilled weekend at Bushman's Hut and a more than likely wet and miserable hike out in the elements , the decision was made
( notably after some reluctance by some!) Yes, the majority of hardened ( some may say mad) hikers opted in favour of the latter! I have to applaud those that were not that keen – they gave in with good grace and never a word of “ I told you so" was uttered!
Our mission was to try and find the Bushman's Rock Arch that is situated in the valley near the Citadel, something that has been written about, but not yet actually seen close up.
The rivers were full and running hard, so we opted to walk the long way around to avoid this – after donning rain gear we set off and were soon on the path under grey and misty skies with a light drizzle falling. It brightened up somewhat and we really thought the weather gods were on our side, but as we climbed higher, the mist became thicker and wetter. Time to put my camera away so I don't have any images of the miserable conditions. By the time we reached Tarn Cave, it did not seem such fun any more and we were cold and rather wet despite the rain gear. Another decision now – should we continue another 5kms or so to the Citadel where we would have to put up tents in the drizzle or should we stay at Tarn Cave and call it a day? Reason prevailed ( no doubt encouraged by the thought of dry clothes and a hot drink) and we were soon settling down in the cave. The temperature had dropped quite a bit and it was actually pretty cold. We saw nothing the whole afternoon outside the cave except a curtain of white. We were in our sleeping bags early that night, and awoke the next morning to the spectacular sight of the Three Devils Knuckles and a pink and mauve hued sky. Storms were forecast for lunchtime so we headed back down the shorter route arriving back at the carpark mid morning.
So this time we did not achieve our goal, but as I have learnt along the years hiking in the Berg, you win some and you lose some. Hopefully next time we will win at discovering the Bushman's Arch!
Thanks to everyone for the wonderful company despite the rain and cold
