We took advantage of the good weather on Wednesday by walking on Table Mountain. The near vertical cable car ride gives a close up view of the structure of the rock. It is a very hard sandstone which was laid down as coastal sands. As the continental rock has been uplifted, or sea levels have fallen, over time, the sandstone is exposed. So the flat top of Table Mountain that we walked along was once on the sea shore.
As you can see, although the top looks flat from far away, when you walk across , it is very uneven, with jagged rocks, boulders and lots of plant life, called fynbos; a term first used by Dutch settlers to refer to the finely leafed plants they found growing in the Cape mountains and coastal lowlands. 
Near the summit we came across these enormous proteas, the national plant. The head was about 8 inch (20cm) across, with stunning colours, contrasting with greys and greens of the other plants. The surrounding vegetation had been pressed flat by numerous visitors doing exacxtly the same as us - taking photos.
As we approached Maclear's Beacon, a triangulation point marking the highest point on the Table (1087m), we met a young man from USA who asked us to take a photo of him, so we asked him to take one of us in return.
We also added a small rock to the thousands of rocks which made up the beacon.
This is Platterklip Gorge. It separates the Western Table from the Central and Eastern Tables. People climbing up Table Mountain emerge onto the Table via this gorge.
We needed to climb down into the gorge a little way and then up onto the other side, using these chains to help us. I felt very proud of my 81-year-old Mum at that moment.
We saw two young men preparing to absail down from the top. The peak on the left is called Lion's Head and from certain angles it looks like that - or say they say!
After a welcome hot chocolate at the cafe, we posted our cards in the British red pillar box and then returned in the revolving the cable car. Sandra was relieved that it didn't sway at all on its five-minute descent.
