Thursday, November 15, 2012

#15 November 2012 Report Back


In this blog:

1. 1:40 000 or 1:50 000? Some good news!

2. New places to stay, and more private hikes

3. Feedback: Memorials and Howes-Howell photos

4. Cederberg 100

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1. 1:40 000 or 1:50 000? Some good news!

Received a comment from ‘Stephen’ [no surname, no email – step forward please, Steve]:
‘I think the map looks really good but far too busy – cluttered with all sorts of information that you simply don’t need to see on the map ...’
Well, we had that debate some months ago and I have no intention of reviving it, but it has bothered me for some time that 1:50 000 is a very small scale for a hiking map. You won’t find many good hiking maps overseas at less than 1:25 000. The Cederberg area is too big for that scale – think about it, you’d need a map four times larger than the 1:50 000 sheets – or four double-sided sheets with eight maps. However, I have worked out a compromise and the samples are here for your inspection. Click on the sample and it should enlarge. I took the complex area around Heuningvlei/Krakadouw, which is difficult to show without Steve’s ‘clutter’ at 1:50 000, and tried it at 1:40 000.
The difference is significant and so we’ve decided to produce the final maps at 1:40 000. There will be two double-sided maps, approx A1 size each, and we will sell them together as a set, in one plastic pocket. We will absorb the extra cost on the first edition, ie the whole will retail for the same price that the single, 1:50 000 map would have gone for. And we’re still aiming at Easter 2013 ...
The Heuningvlei area at 1:50 000 [2cm = 1km]. The original scale.
[Click on the map to enlarge it]
The same area at 1:40 000 [2.5cm = 1km]. Much clearer?
[Click on the map to enlarge it]
Having two maps means two title pages for North and for South, and I will soon be running a competition for cover photos for each, so if you’d like to see your pic in thousands of grateful hikers’ hands please start sifting your collection!

2. New places to stay, and more private hikes

Welcoming on board Petersfield [John Ross] and De Pakhuys [Thys Kruger]; both have private trails on their farms, and have sent great maps for inclusion. Great maps also received from a variety of others, including Bushmans Kloof [Jill Wagner], Cederberg Oasis [Gerrit Karsten] and Jamaka [Jannie Nieuwoudt] and more ...
We recently visited Kunje and got some great info from a very hospitable Theunis Hanekom.

The following accommodation places have not responded; we might have their emails incorrect, so if you know them please steer them our way:
Laughenis (Agter-Pakhuis); Karukareb (Boskloof); Keurbos (near Algeria); Koedoeskop (off N7); Old Village Greys Pass (Piekenierskloof); Allandale (near Citrusdal); De Eike (near Citrusdal); Wolfkop (near Citrusdal).
We’ve no contact details for the following; do they still exists?
Klein-Kliphuis (Pakhuis Pass); Sawadee (Nieuwoudts Pass); Little Boy’s Farm [Klein Jongensfontein] (off Nieuwoudts Pass); Robyn (N7); Waterfall near Citrusdal; Berg en Dal (near Kunje).
Clockwise from top left: Vlerkboog on Arch Peak; Klein-Beesgat Arch; Spinnekop Arch; Sandfontein Arch. Pics by Andricus van der Westhuizen
3. Feedback: Memorials and Howes-Howell photos

Mike Scott sent this sensible response to the Memorials issue:
‘Agree with you that the SAAF crash site should be marked  for the historical record as it is just like the Boer War battlefields or a shipwreck ... Whether to erect a tidy memorial in a ‘public’ place or not is often bedevilled by emotional views, but mine is that we do not want a proliferation of plaques, etc ... if there is a need, then gather them in one place at the Park entrance or somewhere suitable which is what is happening now in Scotland and elsewhere, like the pillar for memorials at the upper Cable station on TM.’

Mike also sent a valuable response to the Howes-Howell photos, and I have a ‘wrap’ of almost all the mystery arches from Andricus van der Westhuizen, with pics and coords – fantastic!!, and many thanks to you both. 
Mike van Wieringen sent this:
‘We stood on the same arch this past weekend as the arch on Arch Peak in the picture with the two standing on top of it [‘Vlerkboog’]. It is situated just below the escarpment looking across onto Bloukop in the Sandfontein Peak area. There is a lovely large cave some 50 m below it. The GPS coords of the cave are S 32° 36' 58.9"; E 19° 14' 50.5" to an accuracy of approx 50 m, so the arch should be within about 100 m of that.’
Does anyone have an email address for Mike van Wieringen? I would like to put him on our mailing list.
Sam Jack sent this pic by RA Hayes of Sterrebosbank. This is the shale band that wraps around the northern end of Sneeuberg and it used to carry a popular footpath that has long disappeared. The most popular ascent of the peak also used to start from here.
4. Cederberg 100

Peter Hart has sent me info about the new Cederberg 100 trail –
This is a seven day/eight night, 100km “slackpacking” trail running between the top of the Pakhuis Pass in the north to the Driehoek Resort in the central Cederberg. From the top of the Pakhuis Pass the route leads down via Amon se Vlak, Amon se Poort and Die Toring to Boskloof for the night. On the second day the route goes up Krakadouwpoort and over Krakadouw Pass to the Moravian village of Heuningvlei for the night. On the third day the route heads south via the Boontjieskloof Hut and Boontjieskloof to Brugkraal for the night. On the fourth day the route carries on south via Grasvlei, the spectacular waterfalls on the Grasvlei River and over Middelkopnek to Kleinvlei. The route on the fifth day makes a deviation up Dassieboskloof for views of Skerpioensberg and Sneeukop and then proceeds to Eselbank. On the sixth day the route goes over the mountain (weather permitting) to the little village of Langkloof, and on the last day the route goes over Gabriël’s Pass, with a deviation to the Wolfberg Arch, to Driehoek. There the group is met and conveyed back to Clanwilliam for the last night.
For more info see www.cedheroute.co.za
Torben Wiborg riding ‘The Slug’ on Groot Krakadouw
[Photo: Graham Bellairs]
Inputs already acknowledged [if I have left you out, please let me know!]: 
Rudolf Andrag, Alex Basson, Graham Bellairs, Chris Berens, Willem Beukes, Hendrico Burger, Lizette Burger, Theresa Burton, Eleanore Colyn, Andrea and Moritz Connrad, Louis Conradie, David Donald, Connie & Lizzie du Toit, Laurence Elton, Kerneels Filander, Ferdi Fischer, Carina Hanekom, Theunis Hanekom, Peter Hart, Ronnie Hazell, Tony Heher, Sam Jack, Jeroen Kant, Gerrit Kartsen, Tony Kings, Isak Koopman, Thys Kruger, Paul la Grange, Patrick Lane, Johann Lanz, John Ross, Justin Lawson, Margie le Roux, Nicky Lombard, Tony Lourens, Sandy MacDonald, Quinton Martins, Charles Merry, Eugene Moll, Wim Morris, Greg Moseley, Anneke Nieuwoudt, Cisca Nieuwoudt, Jannie and Katrin Nieuwoudt, Marianna Nieuwoudt, Pip Nieuwoudt, Barry Ockhuis, Joey Ockhuis, Kellie of Grasvlei, Caro & Steve Oldroyd, Paddy O’Leary, Mare Olivier, Linton Pope, Peter Jan Randewijk, Trevor Rennison, Galeo Saintz, Mike Scott, Mariet Smit, Haffie Strauss, Julyan Symons, Gert Theron, Edmund Thompson, Ingar Valentyn, Anne-Marie van der Merwe, Leonie van der Merwe, George van der Watt, Andricus van der Westhuizen, Hennie van der Westhuizen, Johan van der Westhuizen, Mike van Wieringen, Charité van Rijswijck, Kosie Viljoen, Jill Wagner, Torben Wiborg, Ezan Wilson, Steven Windell and Louise Esterhuizen, Mary Anne Zimri

–Kaartman, November 2012