45km down, only 6405 to go!

O Hi all!
This won't be a long story, I only have two days to report back on.
Day one: After the interview with Die Burger, I set off at 8h15, yesterday morning. It is amazing how our minds pick up on our thoughts and worries. Within 100 meters, I felt pain in my knee. Half a block further, I thought I had a cramp under my left foot! But both disappeared halfway down Adderley Street and my nerves started settling as I passed the CTICC towards the V&A Waterfront. What a weird feeling to be walking through the city with a backpack while everyone else is hurrying off to work in smart city clothes. I guess I was the odd one out, though... At least, judging by the looks I got.
While it was cool, all went well... maybe too well. I was walking at a speed of more than five kilometres per hour and it felt great, although I soon realised that the pack was heavier than it should be (too much food!).
At the Sea Point Swimmingpools, a 70 year old German lady, Regina, fell in with me and we started chatting as we walked. I shared my plans and motivations with her and she told me about her childhood in Germany and Poland during WWII, when, as a six year old girl, they had to leave their home with no possessions and run, under threat of an air attack. During their first night, her only pair of shoes were stolen, and she had to walk another one hundred kilometres barefoot. By the time she decided to turn back, we had walked together to within a few hundred meters of the Twelve Apostles Hotel! Thank you for the company, Regina!
At that point, it was midday and the temperature was around thirty degrees centegrade. That was still OK. What was NOT OK, was that the tar road was probably another twenty degrees hotter than that. And apart from the prominade and Campsbay beach, I spent the whole day on tar. There was just no other place to walk. By five "o clock, I was almost in Llandudno, but at a snail's pace. There were two big blisters under my left foot and one grandmother of a blister under my right foot. My feet were on fire. Yzelle checked in on me for a progress report and gave me a hand, putting on some plasters, a life saver! I limped on to the Llandudno turn-off, where I camped next to the road... a windy, noisy camp, but I passed out just after 9pm and slept soundly until 5am.
I decided, this morning, to only have breakfast once I get to Hout Bay, to get the maximum distance out of the cool morning and pleasant hiking conditions. It took me just more than an hour to complete the four kilometres to the Baviaanskloof park in Houtbay, where I had a breakfast of muesli and nuts.
By the time I was halfway up Chapmans Peak Drive, my feet were complaining loudly! And then the first real disappointment... I couldn't get through the maintenance control point at the top lookout point. A few weeks earlier, I had gone there, specifically to scout the access (knowing that the pass was closed for maintenance). A passing cyclist told me that the gate there was only to keep cars out but after hours and over weekends when there was no work being done, you could walk, jog or cycle through there freely. Well, that had all changed in the meantime. Apparently, it was NOT OK to pass through there freely. Apparently, the maintenance company had warned locals on numerous occasions to stay out. Apparently, nobody had paid any mind to it. And apparently, the new gate (a very high, sturdy one, manned by a security guard) had been installed just a few days ago. No amount of negotiation could persuade the security guard to let me through and even after hours there would be another guard to relieve him. AND... the CCTV cameras meant that I would be seen going through and the guard would lose his job. Getting arrested on the second day of my adventure was not part of my planning. Anyway, if I had to get arrested at any time in my life, I would at least want it to be for something more original than trespassing!
But that left me with a major problem... Where to now? From my research of maps and books on the Cape's hiking trails, I knew that there was a trail from the Houtbay side, up to the top of Chapmans Peak. But there it ended. Bundu bashing through a sensitive fynbos nature reserve, to me, is like animal abuse, or cheering for Australia in the World Cup final... it is just not done.
So, in the end, after a long mental debate, I called in my admin/media/pr-partner for a shuttle around to the other side of the closed section. That was a mere three kilometres away. The detour turned out to be forty four kilometres. I then had to start walking again just below the Noordhoek control point, towards Kommetjie. What this means, is that I will have to complete those three kilometres when I eventually get back to Cape Town (assuming the pass would be open by then).
Eventually, at about 18h45, I arrived at the parking area at Kommetjie's Long Beach, where my old friend, Mike Bond, met me and took me home to spend the night. Mike and his wife, Sarah, had invited Yzelle over as well, and we spent a lovely evening catching up (I hadn't seen them in eight years!). The worst, however, came when I told Mike that I had to detour the pass. I had to find out from him, that a new hiking trail had recently been opened from Noordhoek to Chapmans Peak! In other words, the trail now actually ran from Hout Bay, all the way to Noordhoek! And I never knew! Not being able to get through the pass, was a huge disappointment, but finding out that after all, there actually was an alternative, was downright
depressing.
However, meeting up with old friends and experiencing their hospitality and enthusiastic support, cheered me up immensely, so we ended off a difficult day two on a high note with renewed optimism and commitment.

We'll chat again soon,