Day 355 / 120

Date: 2 April 2023
Sleeping location: Away With The Fairies backpackers, Hogsback, South Africa
Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 0 / 22051 / 7214
Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 0 / 208400 / 90400
Waterfalls: 4 (Madonna and Child, Kettlespout, 39 Steps, bath)
Day in three words: With the fairies

Over a hearty breakfast I got talking to a fun guy who revealed he had been in town for South Africa's first mushroom festival the day before. This reinforced the impression that Hogsback was a very spiritual, natural, “magical” kind of place. The group were going out for a nature hike shortly afterwards and he invited me to join; I set off well after them, even accounting for hippy time, but they were ambling to the max and after a short while I caught up and walked with them. They were REALLY into mushrooms, and proper hippies, many of them walking barefoot. This was super dense old growth forest, all gnarled and complicated with loads of mushrooms and other things to look at. The group leader (the Mushroom King*) and some of his mushroom acolytes were pointing out some interesting things that I never would have noticed or known about, such as scat from a “medium sized [wild] cat” on a tree, and a mushroom that had grown itself around another plant. When we got to the Big Tree, a famous attraction round here that is exactly as it sounds, we were told that the tree is 1,200 years old and that it was slowly dying as an invasive fungus has infected it. They were lovely intelligent funny people and I enjoyed hanging out with them until our hiking routes diverged. Also, I donated a plastic sandwich bag so they could collect some samples of mushrooms that may actually be new to science. 

 

Back on my own I was a lot quieter and startled some birds, including a beautiful green and red turaco which left behind a bright red feather as a trophy. I stuck it in the blue bandana tied round my head, like a jaunty pirate, and wore it for the rest of the hike. My first stop was Madonna and Child Falls which were pretty impressive. Here, black ladies in colourful church dress were burning a whole chicken on a fire, next to a load of white Saffers taking pictures for Instagram and some rock climbers. Same place, parallel lives. There were loads of coloured candles and melted candle wax lying around, which I learned at a later waterfall are used for faith healers to perform a cleansing ritual in the falls.

From here I had a very steep climb up to Kettlespout Falls, a little twisting stream that suddenly launches itself off a 100m cliff. It was just me up here and it was a pleasant place to have a splash and a sit and a snack on a well located bench with some excellent views. After this I followed the path less travelled, very overgrown but just about traceable, into the town’s arboretum via some strange ruined ovens which I guess may have been for charcoal production. The final falls, 39 Steps Falls, were a load of individual trickles down a big jaggy rock - I’ve not seen anything like that before and it definitely had a magical fairy vibe to it.

After walking back to Hogsback I was hoping to do some blogging over a couple of beers and a big feed. The town’s brewery was sadly closed on Sundays but the Hogsback Inn was open and quite characterful, like a proper old British pub, and I whiled away a few hours here over pints, cheesy chips and intermittent rain showers. Memories of home. 

Back at the hostel I had a date with nonsense in the form of the clifftop bath, which like the Big Tree is exactly as it sounds. I had booked it for 6pm, the sunset slot. The setting was quite remarkable for anything, let alone a bath, but I had failed to consider a) that the bath faces away from the sunset b) that the air temperature at this altitude around sunset is quite chilly c) that the bath runs on solar power, of which there is none at sunset d) mosquitoes. I put up with the lukewarm water for 15 minutes, long enough to drink my symbolic beer and get the necessary pictures, then retreated to the shower. I did enjoy how the plughole simply empties off the edge of the cliff though. 

*He never introduced himself so that’s what I’m going with. Also he discovered and cultivated a famous strain of magic mushroom.