As a mountain guide I'm often looking for interesting alternatives to guide tourists up Table Mountain, so it was with great interest that I read of the 'Skywalk' in the 2011 edition of Tony Lourens' book (Table Mountain Classics). So I set out with a girlfriend one day to explore this 'route'.

Kloof Corner is a well known route with a very distinct path. And there is also a very distinct path from there to Venster Buttress, so I wonder why he uses the words 'pick a line' .... which is a term used to refer to an imaginary line which describes the edge or border of a feature of some sort (the base of the rock face, or a narrow gap in the vegetation caused by erosion). Well, we found out a bit further on ...

The India-Venster path is also a distinct and well-used path, but there is no 'line' across to middle Arrow buttress, so we found ourselves 'bundu-bashing' through the fynbos and some very loose ground ... which is of course both difficult and tiring.

Then there is some rocky ground around the base of middle Arrow buttress, which is solid enough ... but coming around that corner into Africa Ravine, leads to ... well just more rocky ground and thick vegetation. So, '... keep an eye out for a line across the slopes ...', is more confusing than helpful.

Ok, so now we're pretty much exhausted and my companion demands to get down via Yellowstone gully; but I advise against this, as I think we're going to struggle more to get down, than to just see this through ... and I don't like giving up. But it doesn't get easier ... just more loose, steep ground and thick vegetation to fight through; and even the traverse into Platteklip Gorge is on a very steep, soft grassy slope ... which is again, awkward and tiring.

In a nutshell, it is grossly misleading to refer to this as a 'route' and to suggest that readers follow 'lines' that do not exist. It took us a full 6 hours to battle across this traverse, which he describes as a '... relatively short, easy day out ...', to be done in 3-4hrs.

Be warned! ... there is no path across this traverse and so certainly not much fun, unless you enjoy fighting your way through Fynbos just to prove you can get from A to B.