13 Peaks and Segment 10: The Silvermine River Walk…

Our Thirteen Peak Journey… continues… when you are hiking the 13 Peaks, it is the journey between the peaks that takes the most energy. Anytime we could sneak a segment into the overall journey we did. No peak on this segment, but a mini-family adventure and a picnic… so no complaints from the gang.

We finished the previous segment at the entrance to Silvermine Nature Reserve, and the next Peak on the map is Muizenberg Peak, which we had done previously… We needed to do this little section from Silvermine Gate up to the dam, just to get to the start of our next peak… Constantiaberg.

Just Sorting out Our Segments…

The thing about 13 Peaks is that all your segments have to connect… so we had to cross the road, to and fro, to make sure that we started and ended each route at the correct spot.

Gate 1 to Gate 2 and back again… and we were off…

The Silvermine River Walk

If you are running the 13 Peak Challenge for time, then this is not the route to take… the road is quicker and easier for tired legs. But we were hiking the Challenge, and only a handful of the gang were doing the entire 13 Peaks, we decided to invite the whole family on this easy walk and show the kids that couldn’t join us for the full Challenge, just what they had been missing out on.

It is the most lovely family friendly hike along the river, from the gate and up to the dam, where we had a picnic to celebrate. We have done it down the hill from the dam to the gate with our kids several times, when they were small… but the idea of a picnic supper at the dam was so very appealing… up we all went!!!

The path is a gentle uphill, and I don’t say that lightly. We found all the paths in Silvermine to be really well maintained. The closer you get to the dams, the more peopled it bacame… and of course, the more people, the more litter. I don’t think there was a single hike through out the challenge that we didn’t find a mask hooked on a branch, or fence, or tree…