Lion's Head

It's late, I'm tired. Buzzing, though. Things are going to be hectic from now on, I have to be up early in the morning, so I've left the others in the bar (which Alex was going to close two hours ago). From the noise, I'm clearly not going to get to sleep any time soon, so...

Come three o'clock, no-one was up for Lion's Head, so I set off by myself. It was a forty minute brisk stroll uphill to get to the base of it. Lion's Head itself is, basically, a big lump of rock, connected to 'Kloof Neck'. The walk from the bottom is quite pleasant, with an eight foot wide track. This, however, rapidly narrows until you're clambering up rocks like a goat. I ran into Claire on the way down (she of modeling and Cisco networks). That girl has a boatload of enthusiasm, and it's infectious. She'd been at the top doing yoga for a while. She reckons she might come on the Cape tour tomorrow with us, but while she's infinitely enthusiastic, I have a feeling it might be a tad ephemeral. We shall see.

Anyway, I continued upwards and ran into a couple of guys – one Welsh, one American. The Welsh guy was doing some sort of missionary work. He looked a bit like Jesus...well, actually, that's unfair. He looked like John Lennon when he looked like Jesus. Anyway, he chatted on about voluntary work, then mentioned the 'J' word. It all sounds a bit dodgy to me – like they're doing positive construction etc. work, but only to spread the Gospel. It was hard not to get into a theological debate. Anyway, they were heading up the chains and he invited me to join them on 'the chains' (and, to be fair, didn't preach to me either. I had visions of being trapped half way up, and him telling me, 'Only The Lord can help you now...'This was one of the scariest things I've done in a while. You can either do the quicker 'chains' route, or the slower, easier path. Basically, you have to haul yourself up vertical rock faces on these chains with only the odd foothold. I made the mistake of looking down at one point and realised I was one slip from a plummet. I kept climbing.

The top was wonderful. I sat for around two hours, watching the sun turn golden, then pink, then red. There's a three hundred and sixty degree view of the surrounding area, over about twenty square metres. There were a few people up there – a few on their own and a couple of groups. It was great to sit there and stare out to see, although I think it would be wonderful to come back with company and some wine.

I set off back down after sunset, putting my headtorch on after ten minutes. To be frank, I nearly got lost. I think I would have been okay, but the path isn't clearly demarcated in places, and mainly consists of rock-hopping. Luckily, a local guy and his girlfriend came down, so I followed them down the chains. It took me thirty or so minutes to reach the bottom of the trail in the dark, and it was only then that it dawned on me that I'd have to walk back through Cape Town after dark. Excellent.

I tried to remember every film or documentary I'd seen on evasion and diplomatic protection. I looked like a total tourist, with zip-off khaki trousers, rucksack and hiking boots. So, I hurriedly marched down the centre of the street, looking ahead for junctions and potential places where people could jump out. I even had my headtorch in my hand, with a half-arsed plan to shine it in any assailant's face. I figured I'd be safe when I reached Long Street..

Sadly, that theory proved to be very wide of the mark. Long Street was where the trouble started. At least five people tried to 'get my attention' on the way down. I simply refused to make eye-contact, and since I was walking faster than some people jog, they'd have had to assulted me to get me to stop. The most unsettling point for me was, just after some guy had said, 'Sorry...sorry...sorry...' about eight times (I almost turned to him after five!), a not-unattractive white woman I was walking past said, 'Hi'. I turned to her as I walked, thinking she was from the hostel. She said,

'Sorry to bother you, you're clearly in a hurry. I was wondering if I might ask you something...'

She almost had me. I simply said, 'no', and kept walking. In that split-second, I reasoned that if she was going to ask me something, she could have done it already. If she had a problem, orneeded help, she could have stepped into any bar. I try to focus on the fact that no-one is going to offer me anything that will benefit me – and if it does, it's a scam. I'm still a bit shaken by this, even now, as frankly, I didn't expect white people to be involved. Back at the hostel, the opinion was that she would have got me to stop, and distracted me while someone robbed me. Kelly tells me all the girls in the hostel she's spoken to have been robbed at some point, and I can't really wait to get out of here now. Cape Town's beautiful, but it has a nasty underbelly.