20th January 2008, Hout Bay (20km or 16km) - lots of possible shortcuts :)

This week, we meet at the bottom of Chapman's Peak Drive at 7am.

Depending on the wind, cyclists on the road etc, we will either run the route below or Suikerbossie Route - See the bottom of this entry to see that route description.

Hout Bay 20km

This is one of our longest runs but a scenic one and thankfully there are a number of short cut opportunities :) We start by running up to the top of Chapman's Peak. The first coke stop is at the Lookout point. From here we head back down and the second coke stop is at the car park where we started.

The route now goes right through to the circle next to Imizamo Yethu, here we turn right up Victoria Avenue and the third coke stop at the intersection with Empire (for a shorter route you can go down Empire). The route follows Victoria Avenue down though past the Spar and towards the beach and right to the end of the harbour before doubling back inside the harbour for the 4th coke stop outside Mariners Wharf. We now follow the road back along Princess Street until the circle where we turn back into main street. For those doing the full route, you turn into Promenade just after the Caltex garage, heading down to the beach and then back along beach road to the parking lot. For those wanting to see an interactive Google Earth version, just download this small file (you will need right click and select "Save Target As" option). Open the file in Google Earth and you can Zoom right in on any section of the route - amazing stuff :) Click here to just see an image of the route.

Hout Bay 16km

We start in the parking area at the bottom of Chapman's Peak at 7am. The run is about 16km in duration with lots of opportunities for short cuts :)) We start heading down along the beach road towards Dunes before following the road round and towards the main road. At the intersection with the Main road at the Caltex garage we turn left towards the Circle. The route now goes right through to the circle next to Imizamo Yethu, here we turn right up Victoria Avenue and the first coke stop at the intersection with Empire, outside the infamous La Cuccina Coffee shop. From here we follow the road up Suikerbossie(to virtually the very top I am afraid) before turning into the Ruyterplaats Housing Estate (same turning off Suikerbossie as Suikerbossie restaurant). Here we stop for our well deserved second coke stop. Coke stops are at every three k's, as an interesting point of reference. If you haven't done this run before it is very easy to get lost finding the secret path through Ruyterplaats so make sure you tag onto a "Special Star". The secret path also requires a secret wave which requires years of practice :) The path eventually links up with Valley road and we follow this back to the point of our first Coke stop at the intersection with Victoria and Empire roads (3rd coke stop). For those wanting a short cut you can go down Empire road to Princess Street. From here we go up Victoria Avenue, before turning at the lights down Victoria Avenue. The route follows Victoria Avenue down though past the Spar and towards the beach and right to the end of the harbour before doubling back inside the harbour for the 4th coke stop outside Mariners Whalf. We now follow the road back along Princess Street until the circle where we turn back into main street and follow the road all the way back to the parking lot at the start of our run.

There will be delicious bite size La Cuccina health muffins at the end :) - Thanks to La Cuccina Coffee Shop. Thanks also to Sue and Wendy for doing the coke truck.