We were woken up during the night by very strong gusts of wind and at times we wondered if our roof would hold. By the time we got up, it was really very miserable outside and we could see clouds of dust over the plains beyond our little kloof. We fortunately were sheltered from this dust storm, but we were wondering about driving through it. One would have no visibility. We checked out the cave and realized that it would be a very cosy place for our braai. One of our plastic water bottles that had blown away during the storm and although we looked thoroughly we could not find it. We wandered around the site and checked out what we would later learn were old mine buildings. One building had been built into a cave wall and there were many other foundations and bits of ruins. There were also a lot of sample cores lying round. A shower setup and a toilet had once been operational for campers, but the toilet had collapsed into its hole and the shower was no more. There was an old wrecked car, but we could not identify the make. It was a pity that there was so much rubbish lying around and it obviously was a well visited campsite judging by all the fire places make around the place. It was a beautiful place tucked into the Tierkloof with its stunning boulder landscape, but the mad-made environment was a rather sad sight. After breakfast Paul and Petra decided to walk around the base of the Ploegberg towards the east and we also started in that direction. If one stayed close to the mountain, one could avoid the dust. There were lots of flowers and especially the Verneuk Halfmens ones were very prominent with their cute purple flowers together with nasty prickly seeds. I noticed a gradual slope that would possibly give an easy access to the higher part of the Ploegberg and I started walking up. The wind was not too bad. Stephen reluctantly followed, but once we were near the base, he found a great route and in no time we were on top where the walking was easy and the views spectacular. It was really wonderful up there. We could look down on a valley just above the boulders that blocked the campsite from the kloof above. We did not have enough water and provisions since this walk was unplanned, but it was tempting to continue above the kloof and come down on the other side. It looked very feasible, but we turned back. For a while we followed what must have been an animal and possibly a goat track and the going was easy. There were some wonderful rock formations and we took a lot of photographs. We were well on our way down when we had to make a decision on which side of the kloof we would go down for the last bit. We chose the side on which we had come up, but we somehow did not find the same route back and landed up coming down some very loose and rough boulders. It took us quiet a while before we finally hit the valley bottom again and now it was a brisk walk back to camp. The wind had abated and the dust had settled and it had become a very pleasant day. We walked into camp rather exhausted at about 14h00 and quickly made lunch. By now it was too late to move on and we decided to stay and chill. The Schoeman’s offered me their shower and I gratefully accepted and even washed my hair. It was sunny and I decided that it would be a good time to try out making roosterkoek from the premixed pack that I had brought along. The mix had to be kneaded and put out in the sun to rise and it turned out to be rather hard work. Petra looked after the bowl of rising dough while we explored a bit more. Stephen went off with his metal detector and found lots of nails, wire and nuts and bolts, but the most interesting thing was the the particles of iron in the sand where we were camping. I decided to have a look at the hole next to our cave and discovered a network of caves and tunnels! We settled down to a braai with roosterkoek for supper in the large cave and it was amazingly cosy there. The roosterkoek was excellent and lasted well enough to be enjoyed the next day. The temperature was dropping and we soon tucked into our mini homes. We had done a great walk up the Ploegberg and it had been a very relaxed day.

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