Weather is an unpredictable thing. Through hiking and running over the past few years I've learned to pack clothes for any occasion - even if it's 30 degrees out, pack a warm top. It may seem a bit ridiculous, but if the weather turns it's better to be on the safe side. Recently a friend returned from working on boats in Spain, and we decided to do a hike at Silvermine for old times' sake.
We arrived at Silvermine and the sun was blazing. We decided to go up the far side of the lake towards Cape Point/Noordehoek and do some routes there. The initial stretch has some semi steep inclination, but after getting the blood pumping it's a straight path from there (awesome for a run). As we made it to the top, we looked across towards Kalk Bay as saw clouds starting to roll in. Within 10 minutes we were inside those clouds, wind blowing and the temperature halved. We assumed/hoped that it would blow over, but not so. Sunny Silvermine had now become overcast, although still beautiful in its own right.
We finished the hike up by going around the dam and back towards the parking lot, jacket on. For me, hiking is enjoyable in any weather as each provides different challenges and gifts. In a lot of ways, we were particularly lucky this hike - we almost got all four seasons in ;)
