A Camino in Port Elizabeth -- Cape Recife Hiking Trail -- May 2018

A Camino in Port Elizabeth -- Cape Recife Hiking Trail -- May 2018
Wednesday 16th May 2018

The Cape Recife Hiking Trail is one of the many Camino's (Walks) that we have available in Port Elizabeth.
The total distance is probably about 8km and takes us about 2.5hours.

To join this or other Walks; Hikes or local Camino's -- Contact Peter Giddy Guided Tours.
peter.giddy@gmail.com


Today we start at the Pine Lodge Inn.  There are about 35 walkers in the group today including Jimmy who celebrates his birthday today.  Also on the trail is Megan who is my neighbour and swimming partner.
This morning we met at 5am at the Pool and both swam 1300m.  Megan normally will swim a bit more than I do but today Megan spends a lot of time in conversation with fellow swimmers.

Walking the Cape Recife Camino.  We are now leaving the bush area and entering the Dune section of the hike

 The Observation fort overlooking the West side of Algoa Bay.

 Megan enjoying the beach walk

 Our snack break where we have a fruit and water.

 Megan and I with our bags of refuse we collected on the beach

Megan finds a whale Baleen or filtering gill.  Also known as the whale bone.
Our Camino starts at 8.30am. Paul takes the lead and we are on a slightly different trail to the one we would normally do. The trail is a bit overgrown and we will have to take bush cutting tools the next time we do this trail.
We pass the Sewage plant.  There is not too much of a negative oudor and the lake is at its best with a good variety of bird life including Spur Wing Goose.  And the Bird Hide is also in good condition and will make an excellent viewing point.

We continue up and over the sand dunes to where the Military Observation post is situated.  Richard gives us a bit of the history of this structure and its uses during WW2 when it was manned mainly by women who were on the lookout for German U Boats.

 Paul; Peter; Megan; Richard and David on the WW2 observation post

 

 The group with the Cape Recife Lighthouse in the background.

 Robin is our Hike Leader.

Megan is on the Wednesday hike for the first time.  Hopefully she will be joining us again
We then walk over the road and down to the Beach.  I have brought a couple of supermarket packets and Megan & I do a bit of Beach Clean up as we walk.

We stop for a break and snack before continuing on towards the Cape Recife Lighthouse.  With us doing the clean up, the group moves away from us and are soon out of sight.  But we feel the need to pick up as much of the plastic packets and bottles that we can.

Megan is on the lookout for Sponges which she plans to clean up and use in the bathroom.  It will be interesting to hear how that project pans out.

We round the Lighthouse and continue into Algoa Bay towards Summerstrand.  Megan is walking barefoot and braves the rocks and stones.  We walk along the beach to where we finally exit at the Penguin Rescue Center.  On the road we meet up with some men working on the overhead electricity supply.  They offer to dispose of our bags of plastic and other waste that we have picked up.

 Des and Peter.  Des recently completed the Spanish Camino and is leaving for another walk in Spain in a few weeks.  I understand that she has over two months to spend there.

 The trail is clearly marked however Walkers need to be in a group and preferably led by an experienced walker.

Peter on one of the dune trails of the Cape Recife Camino.
Back at the car park -- Di has made some cake to celebrate Jimmy's birthday.  We say goodbye to the group who are delighted to have a young person like Megan join the group today.

The weather was perfect for a beach walk today... Not too warm and almost no wind.  In addition the tide was at its lowest and we had a wide beach on which to enjoy the Camino.

 peter.giddy@gmail.com