Drakensberg South Africa - Day 5
Cathedral Peak Sentinel car park to Natal Mountain Hut
Distance 10km Climb 500m
Monday 14th May 2012
We spent a few
days in Ladysmith where we visited some Boar War and Zulu War
battlefields. Before returning to the second
walking phase of the expedition. As I
said earlier I am only covering the walking in my blog.
It took a few
hours to get to the Sentinel car park in the Royal National Park which is at 2956m. We soon had our kit sorted and when we were
ready, we set off. We were still in our
two groups and our group set off first.
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| Sentinel car park |
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| Lyle, Steely and Itchy at Sentinel car park |
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| Getting ready to move from the car park |
I certainly could feel the difference in the altitude as we moved on going higher and higher.
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| Looking back at Sentinel car park |
The track was
relatively easy to follow until we reached a slope where we had a little difficulty in
finding the route. It was a little bit
of a scramble.
 |
| Tim, Steely and Lyle after Lyle helped me up the slope |
The track then turned into a much gentler climb with the occasional step up. You could feel the wind pushing against you in the exposed stretches. We then came to the deep gorge where we knew we would find the chain ladders. Our expedition leader who had been here before had told us about them and so we knew we had something to look forward to.
 |
| At the chain ladder looking back at the other group |
Although they
appeared daunting no one had any real problems climbing them. It was when you
got over the ledge of the first set and found another set waiting. I must have been holding Woody up as he went
up the second set like a fly up the side of a window.
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| Lyle on his way up. |
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| Don't stop there that is only half way |
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| Going up |
Anyway once
at the top we had a rest to take some amazing photos. We then followed the path even higher, it was very windy and exposed up here before we joined the path next to the stream. We then followed the stream East that goes to the Thukela Falls. We then saw the Natal Mountain Hut and made our
way there before the other group. This
is where we stayed the night.
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| Superman Itchy at the hut |
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| The lads if only they had stood still this would have been a better picture |
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| Tim, Fatha, Itchy, Lyle, Steely and Woody with a well deserved drink |
Although in
our sleeping bags in the hut I still found it was quite cold and the wind was blowing things about making a lot of noise. Saying that I still got a good night sleep.
The guide book shows we covered approx 10km of walking
with approx 500m of climb. The height of Thukela Falls is 3030m.
More to follow
Boz North
Details correct at time of walking.
If you have enjoyed reading my walk or found it useful you may also like to read other walks I have done in South Africa or other areas. Please check out the links on the right hand side.
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